My yeast starters have so far been a dismal failure. It's been 4-5 days for most of them and so far I have gotten virtually nothing. There is but one exception. Look at the picture above, can you guess which one?

It is the far left one -- the only one with the tell-tale signs of fermentation (the white bubbles and the hazy color of the liquid). (The bottle was also the only one remotely firm when squeezing -- again, revealing that the fermentation process is alive and well.).

This is an "upclose" shot. Again, the bubbles and discoloration are obvious. Especially when you compare it to the other bottles . . . .

Ironically, my only success has been with a "clean" apple -- as you will recall the general rule when doing these yeast starters is that you don't want to wash the apples before hand. I tried one bottle with washed apples, the other with not. The fermentation only worked (so far at least) with a "clean" apple -- a pink lady apple for those curious.

With only one out of six bottles fermenting, that a an abysmal 16.6% "success rate." The good news is that when making a batch of hard cider, all you need is one. Still, it is frustrating.

I have no clue why the others are not fermenting at all.