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I may have just shot my first cyser in the foot

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AbnormalFire

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 27, 2014
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Just finished everything up last night and I've just realized the apple juice I've used has some of our good friend potassium sorbate in it (rookie fuckup on my part).

Looking at the juice bottle it might just be a small amount of it, if in a few days things don't seem to be moving is there anything I can do?

Recipe:
15lbs Orange blossom honey
4.2 Gallons of apple juice
5 sticks of cinnamon
125 Raisins
1 pack of EC-1118

On a more positive note I also did 2 x 5 gallon batches of a JAOM variant that are bubbling away rather nicely.
 
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U could try making a starter and adding that to it, however from my knowledge you are out of luck my friend. On the plus side of things, you'll have some deliciously sweet apple juice to drink


Sent from The Age of Legends, trapped inside a Stasis Box
 
Update 1: After 2 days of no activity I made a starter and added it.

Effect: (times in relation to adding more yeast)
00 hours: ~0 bubbles
24 hours: ~1 bubble a minute.
36 Hours: ~1 bubble every 30 seconds.
48 hours: ~1 bubble every 10 seconds.
Now: ~1 bubble every 7 seconds.

Will do another hydrometer reading in a couple of weeks, for reference OG was 1.150
 
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1.150 is a final alcohol content of over 20%? I would have also step fed that honey as it seems to give the best chances of your yeast reaching their alcohol tolerance, especially in a must that has some of that sorbate which might stress your yeast. I'd suggest aerating 3 times a day till at least the 1/3 sugar break. I think you could also go a bit beyond the 1/3 sugar break for high gravity musts, but I'll have to find where exactly I read that. Take those hydrometer readings more often, high gravity musts need more care. Also you might need extra nutrients for this batch as I think those nutrients would only take you to a lower gravity
 
Whoa! 1.15 is uncharted territory for me as well. My highest has been 1.120 and it was with a batch of apple cider that...guess what? Same sorbate saboteur as you've got. I hit it with some extra nutrients and energizer, pitched another pack of champagne yeast with a good headstart for several hours in a slightly-sweet starter bottle and then aerated again and pitched that second pack, PLUS I also boiled in a small amount of distilled water some off-brand ale and champagne yeast I didn't ever expect to use, killing it of course in the short boil, but used the dead leftovers for nutrients too. That batch finally turned out okay, but it was never quite "right". It got finished off though, so I guess it wasn't a total loss. I knew nothing about step feeding (okay, I chose to ignore all step-feeding advice I'd read about) and aerating up to the 1/3 sugar break, but it came out okay.

Glad to see yours is starting to show some signs of life. You might want to name that batch "Step Back Outta The Light" or something similar, if it reaches maturity. ;)
 
Holy crap!!! That's gonna be some potent stuff if it ferments out!!


Sent from The Age of Legends, trapped inside a Stasis Box
 
I screwed up when making a pumpkin cyser when I first started and forgot about the sugar in the apple juice and ended up with a OG of 1.155 and ended up at 1.033. I think the only thing that kept it from stalling was that I used EC-1118 and ended up at approx. 18.5%, just above it's published tolerance level. Because of the residual sweetness it was enjoyable in only a couple of months of aging even with the high ABV.
 
We had one member play this game before a few years back. What he ended up doing was making a great big starter (not using the must) and pitching it in every time the yeast fizzled out. It took a few times but he eventually got it so it had fermented enough bot be palatable. You may consider diluting this batch just a bit too, that's a pretty strong sugar solution you're expecting those poor yeasties to deal with.
 
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