Home Distiller

Made a mash from half a bushel of apples, sugar, water. Everything went perfect even specific gravity. As I cooled it to the recommended temp I pitched the yeast. 1 week later I checked and still no fermentation. I decided to pitch some more yeast and nothing still. Can this be because I left the apple mash in the juice?

Wondering where to go from here. Tastes sweet like cider and air locks releasing apple smell but still no luck.

Advice? Dump it or wait?

Peace

Thinking now...was told bread yeast was OK to use but maybe not enough. Recipe called for what I thought was small amount...like 1.5 tbsp. And then I pitched 2 more 8g packages after this for total of 10 gal mash.

Even if the yeast you pitched was bad the natural yeast on the apples should be fermenting it after a week. what was the starting gravity and where are you now?

Leaving the apples in the wash is fine and not the problem.

Bread yeast is OK, not the best for flavor to my taste but it will ferment it fine. Only thing I can think of is high acidity if using very tart apples. I have had apple wine stall when using very tart apples. In that case I added a bit of potassium carbonate to increase the PH and then pitched D-47 which tolerates low Ph.

Biff, (clever screen name, huh?)

What recipe did you try? You didn’t specify the OG, or brix of your juice, so it’s impossible to discern the alcohol “potential in the ferment. More than likely, someone as inexperienced as you just tried to start with too high of potential (too much sugar) and you killed the yeast. Plus, if you didn’t rehydrate the dry yeast before pitching, you decreased your chances of success even more. When dry yeast is pitched into a high sucrose solution, the osmotic pressure will cause the fragile (brittle) yeast cells to rupture, rendering the yeast unusable.

So, you may get it to ferment in time, but you also may get wild yeast and/or bacteria to take the must (“must” is what you call the ferment for a fruit mixture, not “mash” which is reserved for grain ferments). Another thing which will help yeast in the early stages is aeration because oxygen is needed for cell propagation. Only after the cell population is great enough will the ferment begin anaerobic (without oxygen) activity.

You can wait on it. It may work, or it might turn stinky. Either way, it’s a “crapshoot”. Next time, find an appropriate recipe from our Tried & True forum and follow that, and leave the “adlib” to the more experienced brewers.
ss

Starting gravity was 1.013...after sugar add was1.06. Numbers could be wrong didn't ready instructions till now. Finally have an alcohol smell after 2 weeks. First pail is 1.002...(1 hash below 1.000). Other pail started at 1.013...1.075 after sugar...now at 1.020 (at the 20 hash mark where it says beer). Tasted both. Starting to taste like alcohol and bubbles appearing after I moved the mash by stirring it up.

Biffy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:04 pm
First pail is 1.01...(1 hash below 1.000).

Wouldn't that then be 0.99x something ?

Greggn....no sir. Between 1.000 and 1.100. Looking at the chart...it's less than 0.7 abv.

Peace

Biffy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:04 pm Starting gravity was 1.013...after sugar add was1.06. Numbers could be wrong didn't ready instructions till now. Finally have an alcohol smell after 2 weeks. First pail is 1.002...(1 hash below 1.000). Other pail started at 1.013...1.075 after sugar...now at 1.020 (at the 20 hash mark where it says beer). Tasted both. Starting to taste like alcohol and bubbles appearing after I moved the mash by stirring it up.

1st pail is almost done. 1.060 - 1.002 let it sit awhile to make sure.
2nd pail needs more time. 1.075 - 1.020
Next time you add lots of sugar, add some yeast nutrient.

So yeast nutrient is different from actual yeast? How much would you suggest for this volume of 10 gal? Still new and completely diff way of doing things.

Thnx forvthe advice btw. Will look it up if I can find out what this is.

What is your fermenting background? You said "completely different way of doing things", different from what?

Yes, yeast nutrient is different from yeast. Yeast nutrient is like fertilizer for yeast. Some people take cheap yeast, like bread yeast and boil it then add that to the wash/mash/must as a nutrient. Commercially you can get products such as Fermaid and DAP. Look on a home brew site for info on yeast nutrient.

Biffy wrote: ↑Fri Dec 01, 2023 5:11 am So yeast nutrient is different from actual yeast? How much would you suggest for this volume of 10 gal? Still new and completely diff way of doing things.

Ya want something like this, it's a mixture of nutrients that works great for making wine.
Just follow the directions as to the amount needed.

Also keep an eye on the fermenting temps for the yeast being used. Some beer yeast like cooler temps - as low as 50F, most wine yeasts around 70F, while bread yeast especially like it warm - like 80F. A little research will go a long way.