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Reluctance to resign to failure. Please Help!!!
This is my first year breweing cider. I have brewed to batches from my 2008 haul of apples. The first batch went well. I drank it with a couple of mates over christmas and had a great time.
I have just opened the second batch and it appears to have turned into cider vinegar.
I know it's a long shot, but is there anything I can do to save it, or do I know possess 15 litres of cider vinegar?
Have you tasted it? If it tastes/smells like vinegar, well then it is probably vinegar. I don't know of anyway to save the batch, unless you have some good recipies that call for cider vinegar.
Try to make sure that your sanitation practices are up to par and hopefully you won't have the problem again.
That's just my $0.02 maybe someone else has more input on this.
In addition to checking your sanitation methods, you might want to check your brewing vessel over and make sure it is not damaged, and check the seals on your air lock. When yeast ferments, it will produce vinegar if it has access to oxygen (aerobic), and alcohol if it is denied oxygen (anaerobic.) If oxygen can get in somewhere, you are sure to get some vinegar in your final product.
I had this happen to a batch last year and I chalked it up to not stopping any wild fermentation in the yeasts. I took cider straight out of the press put it in a carboy and pitched yeast on it, just seeing what I would get. It's not been in the carboy about 4 months and has a thick film of white bacteria on top and is super vinegar. I did some homework and found acetobacter is the main cause and like ggw pointed out early, it is because of its interaction with oxygen. I haven't figured out where mine got its oxygen or if aceto was just a part of the wild bacteria on my apples.
If it is good apple cider vinegar, I would bottle some small bottles and give them away as Christmas presents! And find some good cleaning uses for vinegar around the house..
I'd put it in beer bottles and give the to friends and tell them it's super delicious brew! then watch as they taste it.... lol
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