First spontaneous cider attempt

[goodbacteria]

This is my first attempt at the Spontaneous Cider recipe. I brew water kefir for myself, but this is my first alcohol ferment. I started in the carboy style glass jug my apple juice came in. Once mold started forming, I found it hard to remove it with such a small opening, so I moved it to two larger necked glass vessels. It's been two weeks, and only one vessel appears to be fermenting. It's a bit cold in my area, maybe that's why. It get's down to around 60 degrees at night approximately. At first I was removing white mold spots daily, but I didn't want to waste all that time so I decided to do it less frequently. Well, the white mold spots developed green centers and there's thin transparent film like stuff which I'm assuming is the start of more mold which is very hard to remove. The vessel that is fermenting is now slightly bubbly but I think it smells like blue cheese, presumably from the mold which I find very disgusting. I pulled some cider out from below the nastiness with an eye dropper and it still smelled like blue cheese, but tasted OK. Is there anything I can do about that? I'm planning on repasturizing the cider once it's done to kill any mold. I'm probably going to rack it, although I didn't want to have to bother with all that.

The one that smells nasty had a little white foam the past few days, and just today developed around an inch of brown foam. The other vessel isn't even bubbly yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks!

[aehebay]

I did the same thing you are doing on my first attempt at spontaneous cider. I found that using a vessel with a wide opening solved the mold problem.

Now, I use wide glass vase/jar that is about 12 inches tall and 10 inches in diameter. I pour in the apple juice, cover with a white cloth, secure the cloth with a rubber band and set it on the counter in an out-of-the-way place.

I make sure to mark the date on the jar with a Sharpie marker, and I stir it a few times a day. Since I started using the wide-mouthed jar, I have had no mold.

It is quite warm here still, and my house is in the low 70's all day and night. At this temperature, I ferment the juice for about a week, pour it back into the glass bottle it came in (of course I washed the bottle first!), cap it loosely and put it in the refrigerator. I suppose I could cap it tightly and get more carbonation, but after a grape juice water kefir incident, I am too afraid to do so!

I hope this helps- enjoy your cider!

[rygo796]

The fermentation process requires a relatively sterile starting point. Make sure the vessel you ferment in is as sterile as possible and doesn't allow contaminants to come inside.

[Tim Hall]

You definitely want your fermenting vessel clean. But that it's "spontaneous" already negates sterility. You just want the flora on the apples to be doing the job, not the flora that might be in the vessel.