Yeast for fresh cider

Yesterday I picked up 5 gallons of fresh unpasturized cider from the local orchard. I added in 2 lb of corn sugar and 5 campden tablets and it is currently in my sanitized carboy awaiting yeast. I read the sticky about yeasts but it seems to be more targeted towards using apple juice instead of fresh cider. I know a lot of people use Montrachet to make EdWort's Apfelwine. Would this same yeast work well with fresh cider? What other yeasts would people recommend when using fresh pressed cider?

blazin said:

Yesterday I picked up 5 gallons of fresh unpasturized cider from the local orchard. I added in 2 lb of corn sugar and 5 campden tablets and it is currently in my sanitized carboy awaiting yeast. I read the sticky about yeasts but it seems to be more targeted towards using apple juice instead of fresh cider. I know a lot of people use Montrachet to make EdWort's Apfelwine. Would this same yeast work well with fresh cider? What other yeasts would people recommend when using fresh pressed cider?

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Cville's sticky deals mostly with fresh pressed cider.

Fresh-pressed "cider" is simply unfiltered juice. Only in the US is this confusing, everywhere else juice is called juice & fermented apple juice is called cider. Here in the US there's "sweet cider" (juice, filtered or not) and "hard cider" (fermented juice). You can use any yeast strain you want, but you'll likely have the best results with either an ale yeast or a cider yeast; all of which should be available at your LHBS or from an online HBS. Hope that helps. Regards, GF.

Thanks Gratis, that makes sense now. I was just getting mixed up on the terms. I think I'm going to go with Safale S-04 if my local homebrew shop has it. If not then I'll go with nottingham, I know they have that. Thanks again!

Depending on how you want it to ferment out, I'd be looking for Wyeast Cider or Sweet Mead. Not a big fan of White Lab's English Cider.

I used Nottingham Ale yeast packet in mine.

I did a parallel ferment of a fresh juice cyser last year with nottingham, cote-du-blanc, redstar champagne, and the white labs dry english cider yeast. I let them all ferment in the 68 degree range.

IMO the cote-du-blanc and the nottingham were the best. The nottingham left a little more of the residual apple flavors, while the wine yeasts were more dry and a little more floral. I only let mine go about 3 months. I would bet that the wine yeasts require more aging to really "mature."

The champagne yeast was too dry and stripped a lot of the flavor away. The white labs yeast I didn't like as it left too much vinegar flavor (although that may have been technical on my part).

Cville kevin's sticky seems very well informed.

My favorite yeast for cider has turned out to be my 'house' yeast for beer, too - WLP028 Edinburgh. I've tried California (WLP001), Nottingham, US-05 and Windsor. I like the Edinburgh by the best. Its a little slower, which makes it easier to time when the cider is done. Its clean when fermented at temps in the 60s, it flocculates (clears) really well, and produces a compact and relatively solid yeast bed, making it clearer and easier to rack.

McKinley said:

IMO the cote-du-blanc and the nottingham were the best. The nottingham left a little more of the residual apple flavors, while the wine yeasts were more dry and a little more floral. I only let mine go about 3 months. I would bet that the wine yeasts require more aging to really "mature."

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I have a similar experience with cote-du-blanc. A few days ago I tasted a cyser I made with UV pasteurized juice and this yeast when racking it to secondary. It was dry (0.999), with satisfying apple flavors and other interesting flavors. It had some "green" tastes and needs more time.

I also have a cyser with the same juice going in primary with Nottingham (started two weeks later). I plan to let this one ferment to dryness and can post how it tastes when I rack it to secondary.

This is mine going to town with Nottingham

I ended up going with Safale S-04
So the final recipe is as follows:

5 Gallons fresh unpasteurized cider
2 lb corn sugar
1 Packet Safale S-04
1 tsp yeast nutrient
5 campden tablets crushed and added 48 hours before pitching yeast.

I would like to bottle carbonate my cider and have it be slightly sweet. I was planning on bottling it when it gets down to 1.008-1.010 and adding some more priming sugar to get it carbonated and then using the stove-top pasteurization method to stop carbonation when it gets where I want it. My question is am I going to get a lot of sediment in the bottle because the cider did not spend a long time in the carboy for the sediment to fall out? Would I be better cold crashing it to stop fermentation, letting it sit for awhile and then warming it up again before I bottle. Also will the cider age well in bottles after they have been pasteurized? I am not really sure how the aging process works. Do the yeast still have to be present for the cider to age or will it age on it's own? I would really like to get it into bottles as soon as possible and let it age there so I can free up the carboy.