Bread yeast, cider, bentonite, and 10 days

Here goes.
I've read up basically 10 cents worth of the millions of dollars of information out there on cider.
I got 5 gallons the other day, brought it home, and realized I had no S-04 left.
You know what waiting 24 hours is like? It's stupid. So in goes fleischmann's yeast, bentonite, a bit of nutrient, and some potassium carbonate.

What I've read is bentonite is widely used in wine making as it clears while the sugars ferment, picking up dead yeast and crashing them to the bottom.

I've also read that bread yeast takes a long time to clear, forms a very light "fluffy" cake, and is easily disturbed.

I put 1+1 together, and am seeing if I can get this baby drinkable, at 1.008 at the 10 day mark.

Currently sitting at 68°, was pretty active after just 8 hours.

I'll letcha know.

Clearing cider often involves removing pectic haze and to remove pectins you need to add pectic enzyme... but if you like your cider cloudy then that won't be a problem.. but bread yeast will add its own character to the cider... not one that everyone prefers...

bernardsmith said:

Clearing cider often involves removing pectic haze and to remove pectins you need to add pectic enzyme... but if you like your cider cloudy then that won't be a problem.. but bread yeast will add its own character to the cider... not one that everyone prefers...

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All the juice I used was crystal clear to begin with, so no issue there!
But I do have some pectic enzyme...

gravity is at 1.012, added sodium bisulfite & benzoate.
Expecting it to drop a bit over the course of the day.
Hoping to get 1.010, will cold crash.

Will end up around 4.5% ABV.

I must be missing something... why do you think your gravity is going to drop after adding something to inhibit yeast growth?

MindenMan said:

I must be missing something... why do you think your gravity is going to drop after adding something to inhibit yeast growth?

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I've inhibited yeast reproduction, but the yeast present will still live out their cycle

Got it. Keep us posted, will you?

Tasted today, the haze isn't going away, added extra bentonite. If it does not clear again in 24 hours I will rerack. Due to the cheapness of cider making, I can sacrifice loss in volume for quickness in drinkability

Seems there was no stopping this at 1.010 - the yeast went straight through the benzoate and metabisulfite!

Looks like I'll have to ferment dry and backsweeten for a still, but since these guys are still eating up the sugar, I may try the bottle-pasteurization method. At the moment don't have the sheer number of bottles I need to begin bottling though.

I'm kind of conflicted, I've heard still ciders can be delicious as well, I may just go for that, due to ease.

At any rate, I need these yeasties to finish up and drop out! It tastes too beer-y right now.

How's it tasting so far with the bread yeast vs. S-O4 (I'm assuming from your post that you've made ciders in the past with ale yeasts)?

fosaisu said:

How's it tasting so far with the bread yeast vs. S-O4 (I'm assuming from your post that you've made ciders in the past with ale yeasts)?

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I have never made a 'pure' cider. I usually add berry blends or make a cyser.

It tastes really good, but there is a major off flavor from the suspended yeast. I'm sure once it clears it will be good, however I expect it to be bone dry.

So, after backsweetening with additional cider concentrate I'm sure it'll be just fine!

So yesterday was 10 days.
Collectively we drank about a half gallon.

Backsweetening with the frozen concentrate was not that great, the stuff tasted like corn syrup more than apples. So I added some acid blend, and it's ok, especially considering its a still cider.

I will be making S-04 later next month... bentonite clears this stuff so quick!

So this is totally doable. Better yeast and better concentrate for backsweetening would produce an outstanding 10 day cider