Apple juice is not fermenting. Why?

Reads 2700 • Replies 9 • Started Sunday, April 20, 2014 8:23:12 PM CT

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Message joet P admin beers 2900 º places 125 º 20:23 Sun 4/20/2014 I got some Martinelli’s apple juice that’s flash pasteurized and labeled no preservatives. I tried to make an old school rural cider by just exposing it to air for an hour and letting it do it’s thing at room temp for a week. No sign of fermentation. Dumped a slurry of very active yeast which slowly died over the course of a day. What is up here?
Message drowland P beers 11069 º places 430 º 20:37 Sun 4/20/2014 Originally posted by joet I got some Martinelli’s apple juice that’s flash pasteurized and labeled no preservatives. I tried to make an old school rural cider by just exposing it to air for an hour and letting it do it’s thing at room temp for a week. No sign of fermentation. Dumped a slurry of very active yeast which slowly died over the course of a day. What is up here? As for the first part - perhaps just no yeasties floating around or landed in it? As for the 2nd - what do you mean died after a day? Signs of fermentation died or the yeast died? And how do you know?
Message drowland P beers 11069 º places 430 º 20:38 Sun 4/20/2014 Easy/common solutions are probably to shake the yeast back into suspension and keep it a little warmer. Perhaps add a little sugar. Or wait. If you only waited a day after dumping, it might just not be kicking yet?
Message joeneugs beers 6372 º places 240 º 20:39 Sun 4/20/2014 Where did you get the yeast? You mentioned it was very active… was it active with an apple juice starter or something else? Either way, one day is not very long to give yeast a chance to get active. I’ve had yeast floc out and stay dormant for 3-4 days before kicking back up and doing the job smashingly. This would especially be the case if there wasn’t a starter, or if the yeast was taken from something other than an apple juice food source.

Message drowland P beers 11069 º places 430 º 21:20 Sun 4/20/2014 ^good point. The yeast might be getting used to its surroundings. Also, ISO: joet cider hooch
Message HornyDevil 04:51 Mon 4/21/2014 Which strain was it and did you use any yeast nutrient?
Message VsXsV P beers 5000 º places 92 º 05:26 Mon 4/21/2014 Add some yeast nutrition.
Message bitbucket beers 2166 º places 63 º 19:49 Mon 4/21/2014 Originally posted by VsXsV Add some yeast nutrition. This. And be aware that there will be lag time between when you introduce the yeast and when it really takes off. This lag time can be exacerbated if there is too great a temperature differential between the wort (or juice) and the yeast. You will temporarily shock the yeast... which will slow it down a bit. Add the yeast nutrient and aerate the bejezus out of it. Then relax and have a homebrew.

Message bitbucket beers 2166 º places 63 º 19:51 Mon 4/21/2014 If you’re just adding yeast to Martinelli’s, be prepared to drink vaguely apple-like champagne.
Message NobleSquirrel beers 3437 º places 209 º 08:02 Tue 4/22/2014 Originally posted by bitbucket Originally posted by VsXsV Add some yeast nutrition. This. And be aware that there will be lag time between when you introduce the yeast and when it really takes off. This lag time can be exacerbated if there is too great a temperature differential between the wort (or juice) and the yeast. You will temporarily shock the yeast... which will slow it down a bit. Add the yeast nutrient and aerate the bejezus out of it. Then relax and have a homebrew. Also note that appropriate rehydration (I use GoFerm) and tempering will minimize yeast shock and allow for a much reduced lag phase. Consider overpitching as well. That’ll help to reduce the production of sulfur compounds, as will oxygenation and as stated above, yeast nutrient. apple juice is deficient in terms of Free Amino Nitrogen.

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Apple juice is not fermenting. Why?

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