Lalvin yeast 71B-1122 for Cider??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Brewkowski

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2008
Messages
1,343
Reaction score
28
Location
Chicago area
I read on one post that this is not necessarily a great yeast for it, but I was looking for a yeast that would enable a little more of a semi-sweet cider rather than champaign dry and backsweetening. I believe the one of the posters said because of the yeast attacking the malic acid in such a way, it would possibly help to add additional tannins or acids? I was going to use a few grains to add something to the recipe, if I mashed those for over an hour would that add any tannins or acid? Any thoughts in general?
 
71B-1122 (Narbonne) will still go to 14% ABV, so it will take your cider dry unless you raise your gravity enough to counter that; but then it would be sort of hooch-like wine. While the Narbonne will take it dry, it will also soften it but metabolising some of the malic acid, there will still be some acid left, just not as much. The narbonne does nothing with ascorbic acid, which depending on your juice, will also be present in varying amounts. If you've ever compared a chenin blanc with a soft chenin blanc, that'll give you an idea as to how the cider made with 71B might finish. Having never used it on apple juice, I can't say for sure, but I think my guesstimation is pretty close. I'm curious to see how it turns out, keep us posted. Regards, GF.
 
IMHO, as well as from experience, if you're going for a semi-dry to off-dry cider, stray away from wine yeasts and look into some strains of ale yeast. I'm working on experiments currently with different ale yeast strains and have used (so far) s-04, s-05, wlp 023, 005, 550, 400, nottingham, and a few others. The one that has kept the highest FG so far is the s-04, which seems to end consistantly at 1.002 (this is with no additional sugar added, just juice and yeast).

As for 71B-1122, I have used it in a cider before, and didn't like it as much, I like good acidic and tannic ciders, and it softened it a bit much for my liking. YMMV.
 
Well, I guess I'll go ahead with this yeast and see what happens. I did some more looking and it said it is recommended for high malic acid wines because of how much acid it takes out, and apple juice is full of malic acid, so hopefully it will turn out. I'm also adding some unfermentables to hopefully bring the FG up a little. Perhaps I'll add a little acid blend if it turns out to be too soft.
 
When my ciders turn out soft, i like to use a blend of malic acid, and sn acid blend from the LHBS. The blend is citric, malic, and tartaric acids. I add a bit at a time to 200ml until i get what im looking for, then do the math, and do a little less than what i come up with as i dont believe that the quantity added to 200ml is arithmetically accurate with larger volumes. So far the technique has worked for me :)
 
Cider needs some malic acid bite to give it balance. 71B will reduce that, so unless I'm using a high acid juice that comes in at 0.7% TA I avoid 71B. Why use a yeast that metabolizes malic acid only to add it back at the end?
 
If you are using a large percentage of apples like Northern Spy, Granny Smith, Mutsu or Honeycrisp, you'll most likely get an acidic cider and 71-B can help with that.
If you use all Yellow Delicious, your cider will be less acidic, but will be somewhat boring and bland. If you are using apple juice you are buying you have to let your specific taste decide which way you want to go. Note that flavor and acidity levels vary depending on many factors so you really can't use a formula when deciding what apples to use. The flavor profile of apples in your area could be totally different.
The apples I can get around my area produce a cider that is too acidic for my taste so I've been using 71-B. But I also use Brewer's best Cider House select and sometimes use WL-002 and do some blending with the finished ciders.
 
Cider needs some malic acid bite to give it balance. 71B will reduce that, so unless I'm using a high acid juice that comes in at 0.7% TA I avoid 71B. Why use a yeast that metabolizes malic acid only to add it back at the end?

I use it in Cider’s I flavor with other fruit or juices such as cranberry to let that flavor come thru. Or in Cysers.
 
Back
Top