Holy puke in a bottle!!!

so i poured apple juice from concentrate over the trub from the last batch of cider just as i had taken it out. The first batch was treetop juice with 2 lbs of brown sugar and cider yeast and tasted amazing, but this batch now 3 weeks and filtered tastes like peppered puke.

What the heck?

I've never repitch a cider on lees, but I'm not surprised it tastes bad. Sounds like it's picked up the flavor of the dead yeast and other items in the lees. I use wine yeast for my ciders and wines, so I just buy a new $.79 pack.

I've heard that others have done it, but I've never heard it recommended.

I reuse yeast from cider batches all the time with no problems. It may be more of a sanitation issue.

i dont understand how it could be a sanitation issue, if so why didnt the other batch taste bad?

dude, I couldn't get that taste out of my mouth for like 2 hours....

YooperBrew said:

I've never repitch a cider on lees, but I'm not surprised it tastes bad. Sounds like it's picked up the flavor of the dead yeast and other items in the lees. I use wine yeast for my ciders and wines, so I just buy a new $.79 pack.

I've heard that others have done it, but I've never heard it recommended.

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$.79 isnt worth the experience i just had, ill sure pick up fresh dry yeast if i can find one for cider that i like.

agreed for .79 not worth it. i use liquid yeast (wyeast 4184) thats about $8 a pack so its worth it for me. Besides, people harvest yeast and reuse yeast cakes all the time. Even professional brewers reuse yeast.

that sucks about the bad taste, and maybe wine yeast is different, but I wouldnt write off yeast harvesting completely.

wreckinball9 said:

agreed for .79 not worth it. i use liquid yeast (wyeast 4184) thats about $8 a pack so its worth it for me. Besides, people harvest yeast and reuse yeast cakes all the time. Even professional brewers reuse yeast.

that sucks about the bad taste, and maybe wine yeast is different, but I wouldnt write off yeast harvesting completely.

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I harvest and reuse ale yeast and lager yeast all the time. But if I'm reusing, I wash it to get rid of the trub. Ciders and wines drop plenty of lees, and that tastes very bad. Also, I make mostly wines and they are all over 12.5% ABV, so I wouldn't try to reuse it since it'd be pretty stressed yeast.

I know some wineries age sur lie, but I think they stir the lees and have other ways to not incorporate the rotten yeast flavor into the wine.