ale yeast in cider?

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bgrand281

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I read alot of you stating to use an ale yeast in cider to keep it from being too dry, which makes sense. But noone says which yeast adds what different flavor profiles. I am going to the lhbs in the afternoon tomorrow and want to know which yeasts are what I want to be looking for?

my recipe is goings to be 5 gallons cider, 1lb brown sugar, 16 oz. of allspice/cinnamon vodka extract. and an ale yeast. I want it sweet and easy drinking, light carbonation.
 
ale..champagne and "cider" they will all have different tastes...

ale yeast will keep you cider sweet and smooth a champagne will give you a very dry almost sour taste.. cider yeast will be in the middle
 
Thanks, this is exactly what i was looking for. this should be linked to the first page so its easy to find and get this kind of info for us guys who are new to brewing and want cool ideas and don't want to waste a lot of money on ingredients and have the products suck
 
Thanks, this is exactly what i was looking for. this should be linked to the first page so its easy to find and get this kind of info for us guys who are new to brewing and want cool ideas and don't want to waste a lot of money on ingredients and have the products suck

Um, it is on the first page. it's a sticky in the cider forum. :drunk:
 
hey yeah, there it is. I just missed it.

I just made mine. 4 gallons of pasteurized apple cider ($3.88 a gallon at walmart), about a pound of brown sugar (no scale, just about half of a 2 lb bag.), nottingham ale yeast. SG of 1.046.
 
thanks, the temp is 68-71 degrees. at least i haven't screwed it up yet. will it start to kreusen? or will the airlock just bubble
 
Ciders can start slow, I have never used nottingham, but it depends on the yeast population you pitched, the temperature, along with aeration, yada, yada...
I understand nottingham does a nice slow and even fermentation with just a bunch of tiny bubbles.
When I use large pitches of WLP300, or US-05 it has an extreme fermentation. Wine yeast is has been an invisible fermentation, but two weeks later it's done.
Right now don't worry about it until two weeks from now, then take a SG reading, if it is down to 1.001 or lower rack it to secondary.
 
I've used Notty a lot and usually get a pretty good krausen, which drops after a few days. But it does depend a lot on the juice, how much sugar, etc. sometimes there is not much krausen
 
Also, make sure you re-hydrate the yeast properly when you pitch it. Best practice is to make a starter. I just pitch the packet in thirds on top of the carboy so that the yeast spreads out, rehydrates slowly and sinks (its a little faster and less to clean). But dont just dump it in the carboy or it can go into shock and be a little slow to get going. I usually get ferment starts within 8 hours. Always by 24.
 
i followed the directions on the packet to rehydrate the yeast. Does it matter that the apple cider has preservatives in it?
 
i followed the directions on the packet to rehydrate the yeast. Does it matter that the apple cider has preservatives in it?

Yes. If it has sorbate in it, or other preservatives besides vitamin C (ascorbic acid), it won't ferment. The point of the preservatives is to, well, preserve it so it won't ferment (spoil).
 
I once dumped a gallon of cider treated with potassium sorbate directly onto a slurry of nottingham from the primary of a pale ale. It was probably a pint or so of slurry into a gallon of treated cider. The idea was to pitch big to deal with the sorbate, since sorbate inhibits reproduction.

It took about 3 weeks, but the nottingham fermented it completely dry. I sweetened with some gerber pear juice. It was absolutely delicious!
 
so go get another packet of nottingham and pitch into one gallon of cider? maybe some without any preservatives? but will the alcohol content be enough to blend in the rest of the batch? and what is a pint of slurry exactly? I think I know, but wouldn't know how to make it anyway
 
I've fermented out sorbated juice a few times, but it always tasted like crap. Pitching a batch sucks, but if you figure the value of your time, you're better off getting some good juice and restarting
 
so go get another packet of nottingham and pitch into one gallon of cider? maybe some without any preservatives?

It's definitely preferable to start with cider without sorbate, as CvilleKevin is saying. My point is that it's possible to do it with sorbate if you pitch a high enough cell count, and that the results in my case were quite good.

Adding another package of yeast really isn't going to help. You need a much higher cell count.

and what is a pint of slurry exactly? I think I know, but wouldn't know how to make it anyway

The "slurry" was basically the dead and inactive yeast from the primary of a pale ale that I had just racked to secondary. The idea was to pitch a huge culture to deal with the sorbate. I did a pint to a gallon and it took about 3 weeks to complete. Admittedly, I have no idea what the viability of that yeast was and I'm probably lucky that it worked at all.

Basically, you'd need to pitch a huge starter to ferment that cider. It's probably not worth the effort.
 
I used the guidelines of that previously noted yeast experiment for a batch earlier this year.

I used the Weihenstephan SmakPak. I was expecting a "normal" attenuation of 75%, but by the time it was finished fermenting the final gravity was 1.000.

My point is that ale yeasts may work differently with juices.
 
Hopefully it comes out well for you, I have noticed some off flavours when I bought AJ with preservatives before, damm fine print and me not paying attention.
It will be drinkable, but next time go with AJ/Cider without preservatives and your most likely notice that it's better.
 
well with no more activity, i did get the preservative cider to drop from 46 to 40. am now going with 2 gallons of fresh cider (although it has been pasteurized). I am mixing in 2 packets of lalvin ec-1118 white wine yeast.

now I have no idea how long it should take? what temp should it ferment at? what it will taste like? what kind of alcohol content i am going to get? anyone have any of these answers for me?

Feel free to ridicule me if you give me answers with the sarcasm.
 
I just did my first cider with Notty. After 2 weeks it has great flavor compared to the Wine and Champagne yeasts I've used. A little off flavor and smell but I'm sure that will mellow with time.

So from the experienced how do Notty, S-05 and S-04 compare in performance and taste?
 
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