CvilleKevin

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I just crashed 4 of the batches that I started last Monday. After 6 days of fermenting, with temps ranging from 65 to 74, the S04 and two US05 batches were at 1.008. The Brupaks Ale and Wy3333 batches were at 1.010. They all tasted pretty good. I added raspberries to one of the US05 batches and crashed the other four.

Fortunately I just got a new fridge a few days ago, so I can handle crashing 4 carboys in one afternoon without resorting to ice buckets. Its not quite the fridge I wanted, but it seems to be doing the job. I ordered a new Summit SCR1400 fridge about a month ago. But on Tuesday I found out that it was backordered until October. So I scrambled and bought a used Beverage Air MT21. It was a quarter the price but needs a new door gasket. It might also need a coolant charge. It can get from room temp to 32F in about an hour empty, but after loading it up with 4 carboys, the temp went back to 65 and so far its taken a couple hours to get back down to 55.

The 3056 batch is at 1.028 and tastes great. It does not taste nearly that sweet. The finish is clean and not sticky. I'll probably stop it around 1.020. The WLP041 is at 1.032 and the Wy3068 is at 1.034. Both are good but way too sweet

The layout of this fridge is really nice. The exterior is 27x27 inches, so not too bulky and interior is 24x24 inches, which means it can hold 5 corny kegs on the bottom and 4 carboys on the top. Once I get a new door gasket and coolant charge, I'm hoping to replace my old fridge with this one.

ChemEMc

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You mentioned Brupak yeast is hard to find in the states, any hints on how I could get it? And Congrats on the awesome win in the Dominion Cup! Cider as 2nd place best of show in a big beer comp is damn nice work.

CvilleKevin

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Thanks!

Yeah, Brupaks is hard to find. I've been ordering it from the Hop and Grape in UK. Prices are good, shipping is very reasonable for light stuff like yeast and they have all sorts of interesting equipment

http://www.hopandgrape.com/public/catalog.asp?catid=DRI2123070

They have some other interesting yeasts as well. As near as I can tell Gervin English Ale is the same as Notty and unlike Danstar, Muntons did not jack their price this year, so it is half the price of Notty. I'm going to do a couple kegs side by side later this year to see if I can tell them apart. Youngs cider yeast is good for a crisp but very dry cider.

This year the H&G website has been a little flakey for me. Not sure if it is my browser or what, but if you have any problems, email is patsy@hopandgrape.co.uk

smyrnaquince

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CvilleKevin,

Have you ever tried Lalvin ICV-D47 yeast? We did a tasting over the weekend of ciders that I made in the fall that I fermented dry. This yeast seemed to leave the most apple taste.

(I'm using S-04 for cold-crashing to make a sweet cider, following your lead.)

JLem

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Kevin -

It is impressive how this thread keeps growing and growing. There is so much great info here! I am finding it difficult though to search through for specifics about any one strain of yeast and I wonder if you would consider consolidating your impressions of the yeast you've used into a single pdf or even excel file. With over 500 posts in this thread, it would really help a lot of folks out if they were interested in trying something new-to-them, but not new-to-you.

Nothing like doing great work to make other people ask you to do more work, huh?

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CvilleKevin

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Yes, I did a gallon with D47 several years ago. I agree, it makes a very good dry cider

Yeah, I've been meaning to consolidate all of this for a while. I keep thinking that I will have time after cider season, but that didnt happen last year. In the meantime, you can use the forum search on four letter yeasts eg US05, 3056, etc and get lots of good info. But the search doesnt work for 3 letters like S04 or D47

Here's a question for the forum mods - how hard would it be to allow 3 letter words in the search function?

slipperypick

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Thanks so much for this exhaustive info!!!

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CvilleKevin

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what other yeasts did you compare?

smyrnaquince

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Nothing as extensive as yours, of course! I've got my list at home, but IIRC, they were:

• White Labs - WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast
• Lalvin 71B-1122
• Lalvin ICV D47
• Safale S-04

The WLP720 was my first attempt, one batch from cider and one from Whole Foods apple juice. Also, one batch that had cherry juice and lemonade added, from the book "Strong Waters".

I tried the 71B because my first batch with the WF apple juice was too acidic. (When I bought more a month later, though, it was less acidic and more "appley" flavored. Different apple crop.) From the Lalvin spec sheet: "71B also softens high acid musts by partially metabolizing malic acid (20-30%)." It took out too much acid and made the cider taste watery.

The WLP720 was winning for the dry cider until we tasted the D47.

We all liked the sweet cider from cold crashing the S-04. Surprisingly, though, we were not too keen on the cider fermented to dryness with the S-04. S-04 was the only one I tried to cold crash.

These were all made in the November 2010-January 2011 timeframe.

The one with cherry juice had a nice cherry flavor a few months back, but tastes rather "vegetal" now. The feeling was that it would go well with sushi!

I've got my notes at home, but I think I got this right.

motobrewer

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is aeration advisable during fermentation, similar to mead?

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