Fermentation Support Forum

So I started a batch of hard apple cider with some ginger in it and the yeast just didn't want to activate even after re-pitching. Guess that's what I get for trying to save some money and buying on Amazon. Anyway, the cider has started to vinegar and I'm debating whether I should dump it or let it go. I already have 10 gallons of Apple cider vinegar going and Im not sure what the end result with the ginger will be but it's not like I have to do anything so what do I really have to lose? What do you think, is it worth letting it go and vinegar or should I dump it?

So you used pasteurized apple juice? Is it possible there was something other than apple juice in it? Did you capture wild yeast or use a bought yeast? Are you using a hydro-meter-whatsit to tell how much alcohol is in it or going by feel and taste?

The first time I made cider, I thought I had made 60 litres of vinegar. It was terrible, so sour with a bitter undertone. But someone talked me into bottling it anyway. It stayed in the bottles for about a year, we tasted one bottle a month to see if it was getting better. If anything it was getting worse. But suddenly at month 13 - about the time I was going to put my foot down and declare this to be vinegar and insist we bottle it as Christmas gifts - the cider was suddenly drinkable. In fact, it was suddenly fantastic but really high alcoholic content. (I used fresh apples and didn't pasteurize the juice, relying only on wild yeast. Every batch since tasted great once the initial fermentation died down, but no where near as good at drinking time) No, no-one switched the bottles on me.

The moral is, all may not be lost at this stage...

Do you have any food loving friends? Anyone who likes to cook? Would home made ginger, apple cider vinegar go over well for holiday gifts? Also, vinegar is fantastic for cleaning! Would save money on your household budget to keep it and use it around the house.

No it was fresh pressed from Apples I picked. It has a bit of a sulfur smell to it. I am turning it into a science experiment, best case scenario it vinegas into something tasty. Middle case scenario it vinegar's into something not tasty but good to clean with or other uses. And worse case scenario is that I dump it and don't really lose anything I wouldn't if I dumped it right now anyway.

Sounds good. Let us know how it turns out in the end.

Just out of curiosity, were any of the apples grounders? In other words, did they touch the ground before you used them? If so, what was the ground like? Is it a pasture with animals, or a place that fertilizes/pesticides their lawn?

nope, all from unsprayed or trimmed trees. A long time ago it was a horse pasture, they are the ones who planted the trees and until a couple years ago no one has touched the land or trees at all.

No apps from the ground where added to the cider either. Out of 35 gallons of cider I have fermented in five gallon batches so far this is the first one I had trouble with so that's really not bad. The yeast I bought on Amazon didn't do anything so it must of been dead. I will spend the little extra money and keep buying from my local home brew store from now on. I hoped the wild yeast in this batch would take over since it is the only one I didn't have good yeast to add to it.