[BrewBama]

Did you read the label?

Did you buy this cider off the grocery shelf?  You pitched a healthy pitch of yeast (it was foaming) so something killed it. I am thinking the cider has an additive that kills yeast to inhibit fermentation while sitting on the shelf.

Sorbate is a commonly used food additive that kills yeast. Cidermakers that don't want to take back “fizzy” cider will use sorbate to kill any wild yeast that may have been on the skins. Unfortunately, it will kill your yeast too.

* If you forgot to get the initial specific gravity it can be calculated from the Brix number only in the absence of alcohol. However, if you measure the Brix number AND the specific gravity after fermentation, the %ABV can be calculated from the following formula:

% ABV = (1.646*Brix) – (2.703*(145-145/SG)) – 1.794

Bier bewusst genießen

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[denny]

Most apple juice has an OG in the mid 40s if you just want to estimate

[Steve Ruch]

Most apple juice has an OG in the mid 40s if you just want to estimate

My last two batches came in at 1.044.

[denny]

Most apple juice has an OG in the mid 40s if you just want to estimate

My last two batches came in at 1.044.

The last 2 batches I've pressed from my trees were 1.044 and 1.045

[erockrph]

Most apple juice has an OG in the mid 40s if you just want to estimate

My last two batches came in at 1.044.

The last 2 batches I've pressed from my trees were 1.044 and 1.045

I've seen as low as 1.039 in a year where we had very wet conditions leading up to harvest, but my local orchard has run between 1.042 and 1.046 every other year over the past decade.

[jeffy]

There is something wrong with your refractometer readings. Back in reply #3 you wrote, "I just checked a sample of beer from my kegerator that was 1.003 (refractometer)"  A finished beer could not possibly measure that low without some sort of correction figured in. 

[Joe_Beer]

There is something wrong with your refractometer readings. Back in reply #3 you wrote, "I just checked a sample of beer from my kegerator that was 1.003 (refractometer)"  A finished beer could not possibly measure that low without some sort of correction figured in.

Good catch.  That's just an old fashioned typo though . I meant 1.030 which is usually around 1.010 on my hydrometer.

Did you read the label?

Did you buy this cider off the grocery shelf?  You pitched a healthy pitch of yeast (it was foaming) so something killed it. I am thinking the cider has an additive that kills yeast to inhibit fermentation while sitting on the shelf.

Sorbate is a commonly used food additive that kills yeast. Cidermakers that don't want to take back “fizzy” cider will use sorbate to kill any wild yeast that may have been on the skins. Unfortunately, it will kill your yeast too.

Yeah, I read the label but I think you're right. The gravity reads 1.070-ish on the hydrometer today. The juice smells fine (infection doubtful?) and is still really sweet but airlock activity subsided to nearly nothing within two days of pitching the new yeast.

I was at the same store this morning and was going to pick up some more to try again. They moved the cider to a different place in the store so not sure it was the same stuff. The label only said "100% apple juice" under the ingredients: but then off to the other side, written sideways, it said something like "potassium sorbate added as a preservative". I'm pretty sure I would have missed that just casually scanning the label so looks to me like this is an educational experience in how effective p. sorbate is in preventing fermentation.  Gotta hand it to the 1450 though. It still managed to drop 6 points off the cider and carbonate it a bit.