Arg!!! I know this! I have read it here! I know to check the ingredients! I was so careful! So, what the hell happened!!!
If you hadn't guessed I screwed up. I grabbed two gallons of Ziegler's Apple Cider to make my first ever 5 gallon batch of cyser. I swear I looked but missed that label on the side (not the back where you would expect it) listing the ingredients. So I figured the front said it all, apple cider pasteurized. WHY WAS I SO STUPID!!! The first two days were slow, occassional burps from the airlock, but I figured that was due to the 60s temp in my house. Today it hadn't sped up... in fact I didn't see any burp. Time to take a good look at those cider bottles. ARG!
So, I tossed some brown sugar, aerated, and threw in a couple of prayers. I know it is a lost batch. But maybe it will start and overcome the obstacles.
I don't know which is worse, having to toss the $45 down the drain and replace it all... or having to go back to the brewstore and tell the guy why I need another pack of Lalvin EC-1118. He told me to make sure I didn't accidentally add preservatives when I said I was making a cyser. He even threw in a free pack of Lalvin as long as I promised to pitch them both, "To get it off to a great start," he said. Now, I have to go back and buy more yeast. Telling him how I cruelly sent those poor yeasty soldiers to certain doom in a five gallon bucket of death.
*shame* Seriously, I read everything I could to avoid stupid first-timer mistakes like this. So why did it happen? Time to sit down and write 10,000 times: "NO PRESERVATIVES... NONE... NOT EVEN IF THE LABEL SAYS 100% JUICE!"
If you hadn't guessed I screwed up. I grabbed two gallons of Ziegler's Apple Cider to make my first ever 5 gallon batch of cyser. I swear I looked but missed that label on the side (not the back where you would expect it) listing the ingredients. So I figured the front said it all, apple cider pasteurized. WHY WAS I SO STUPID!!! The first two days were slow, occassional burps from the airlock, but I figured that was due to the 60s temp in my house. Today it hadn't sped up... in fact I didn't see any burp. Time to take a good look at those cider bottles. ARG!
So, I tossed some brown sugar, aerated, and threw in a couple of prayers. I know it is a lost batch. But maybe it will start and overcome the obstacles.
I don't know which is worse, having to toss the $45 down the drain and replace it all... or having to go back to the brewstore and tell the guy why I need another pack of Lalvin EC-1118. He told me to make sure I didn't accidentally add preservatives when I said I was making a cyser. He even threw in a free pack of Lalvin as long as I promised to pitch them both, "To get it off to a great start," he said. Now, I have to go back and buy more yeast. Telling him how I cruelly sent those poor yeasty soldiers to certain doom in a five gallon bucket of death.
*shame* Seriously, I read everything I could to avoid stupid first-timer mistakes like this. So why did it happen? Time to sit down and write 10,000 times: "NO PRESERVATIVES... NONE... NOT EVEN IF THE LABEL SAYS 100% JUICE!"