mold on cider!?

[sisteeesmama]

I pressed my CSA apples through the juicer per the NT recipe and did everything it said to do which included putting it in a bowl on the counter with a cloth over it for three days.
@Went to strain it and put it jars and through it in the fridge and lo and behold......MOLD! What do I do, ditch it?

Thanks!

[spughy]

It depends how bad the mold is - it usually floats on the top, so you can use a siphon tube to suck out the non-moldy cider from underneath and discard the top inch or so. BUT take a good sniff of the "clean" stuff after you've done that - if it smells at all like mold, toss it. And I doubt it will last very long in the fridge - I buy fresh apple juice from a farm and I rarely get 10 days out of it before the top of the jug goes moldy. I drink it after that point, and it's never made me sick, but it looks a bit icky.

If you're at all sensitive to mold though - like allergy-wise - I would toss it completely. As far as I'm concerned, those directions sound like a bit of a crapshoot - depending on temperature, you probably would not get sufficient fermentation to retard mold growth in 3 days.

[sisteeesmama]

I tossed it, didn't want to risk it! Thanks for the response.

I'm dissappointed though, 14 apples down the drain

[Gentle~Mommy :)]

Originally Posted by sisteeesmama

I'm dissappointed though, 14 apples down the drain

literally!

I sorry that happened, I have never had much luck with cider, we get the organic from Trader Joe's now.

[MamaGwynn]

I did the NT cider recipe and ended up with mold as well. I just skimmed it off of the top, because I didn't have a way of siphoning it. I really don't like how it turned out. It tastes like a basement lol. I think I used something like 24 apples... or was it 48? Either way it was a bummer! Next year I won't be fermenting our cider unless I'm doing it with commerical yeast to make hard cider. The NT recipe is definitely a crapshoot.

[kl5]

We ferment cider every year with no added yeasts and it's been consistently fantastic. We do it in a carboy (5 gallon glass jug) with an airlock on the top. Maybe there was too much surface area and that was the problem? As long as the juice you get is not pasteurized (or irradiated), there should be plenty of ambient yeast from the skins to get it going pretty quickly. Then you can ferment it as long as you want, the longer the drier. We tend to ferment it dry and then put it in bottles with raw honey, which makes it both a little bit sweeter and carbonated (after it sits for a spell).
So, I would encourage you to try again! It's become a great fall tradition for us.