WLP775 English Cider Reviews

Anyone used the WLP775 English Cider yeast before? How did it turn out?

My first batch should be ready Friday. It's cleared crystal clear and ready for racking. I will let you know.

It's the only yeast I've ever used and I have found no reasons to change. I also cannot compare it to another yeast.

There is lots of debate on racking cider and I think it is yeast dependant, I never rack unless I'm dropping fresh juice onto a yeast cake, which works just fine also, no need to worry about "overpitching". The sediment in the bottle tastes great, I always drink it.

It really likes to age, I do use sulphites so my opinion might be slanted because of that but it keeps very well, the last of my cider was a year old and was only getting better when I finished it.

Now some weaknesses. It has been reported to have less flavor than some yeasts. although I can not compare I am inclined to agree, I use lots of crabs and put more in every year year to get the flavor I want. Without them (or real cider apples) I doubt my cider would be enjoyable.

Also because it ages so well, I have doubts about using it for a fast cider. I have read several people claim this as there favorite yeast and they all seam to age their cider. On the other hand I have not heard anybody who does quick ciders claim it as there favorite yeast. I also read an experiment using 4 yeasts on the same juice. It scored the worst green and the best aged.

For my methods and tastes it would be very difficult for me to change yeasts. It has been very good to me and I have been extremely happy with it.

Thank you for the info. I'll be excited to see how they all fair, I got a little crazy one day and started 3 batches 1 using Montrachet, 1 Champagne and 1 WLP775. Be interested to see the differences. I've heard that Nottingham also is good, think I may add another batch with that.

I've used WLP775 and get great results from it. I get good results from other yeast as well but 775 turns out really good. It works best if used at the lower part of the temperature range and it will produce a very dry traditional cider. I don't have my notes with me but I think 775 has been a slow starter for me, but quickly picks up and can give a full fermentation in less than a week. It's not a yeast I would choose if you're going for a sweet cider I would pick an ale yeast like US-05 because I've found it's easier to stop the fermentation short if you miss a day of readings you'll still be in a decent window to get 1.010-1.020. With 775 (pretty sure it was 775, again no notes on me for a month) it was always fast and harder to get the right gravity to stop fermentation. Hope my ramblings help some...

I just used it for my 2nd batch. It fermented 5 gal of store-bought juice & 4 lb of sugar in just over 3 weeks at a fairly constant 62° (this temp is about 4 degrees lower than the low end of its stated optimal range).

I don't know what the brewer's term is, but I proofed it for 24 hours at higher temps and then pitched the proofed yeast into the fermentation bucket. It took about 20 hours before my airlock started popping.

At the end of fermentation I was drawing samples every day to catch it at around 1.015. When it hit that, I racked to sanitized plastic jugs that I threw in the freezer to halt fermentation. After the jugs froze as hard as they were likely to, I moved them to my refrigerator. I haven't really seen any fallout, but racking from the primary was very, very clean and very, very clear.

It's good cider, but not knock your socks awesome. But I think this is more likely due to the pasteurized bulk juice I used.