Danstar windsor

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octo

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I recently decided to do a cider with windsor yeast. I did 3 gallons of apple juice, roughly a pound of turbinado sugar, and a pack of windsor. my OG was 1.061, is there a rough estimate to what my F.G. should be with this yeast?

also, I did a small starter with this yeast simpy because it was old and wanted to see if it was still viable, anyways I know danstar says not to because they do some special thing to the yeast or whatever, anyways I mixed it with about 16 ounces of apple juice and some sugar and it got a large krausen on it almost immediately. I used this in my cider the next day and its not really krausening (?) but is getting little bubbles in it instead. did I damage the yeast by doing a starter with it? Thanks.
 
i dont think you damaged to the yeast, but my understanding is there is a large enough cell count in dried yeast to negate the use of a starter. Did you use any yeast nutrient? From my experience there isn't enough nutrient in apple juice to give the yeasts enough gas to finish the job, but I've only done 2 ciders, so others may have more info on that matter
 
I wasnt sure if i should use a nutrient with it since it took off so well when i mixed it with the 16 oz of juice. and i only did the starter thing because the yeast was old (a few years past date lol, was an experiment i suppose) but it definitely was still viable. should I use a nutrient?
 
Better safe than sorry I would think. try searching the cider forum for yeast nutrient info, they should have all the info you need
 
seems like most things say its unnecessary to use a nutrient, but thanks
 
I brewed some cider earlier this year with Windsor slurry, turned out great. I have since just been using White Labs English ale for everything. I just recently opened some of the cider made with the Windsor and can't believe how well the it worked. I didn't get any krausening with the Windsor but when I switched to the English ale it was a different story. I always add yeast nutrient in my ciders to avoid an extended fermentation. Did I mention how well Windsor worked? After fermentation I'll back sweeten with two cans of juice concentrate for 5 gallons.
 
I always thought ciders had little to no krausen and had a very long and slow fermentation

I never had krausening until I started using White Labs 002 English Ale yeast. If you stick with a modest gravity and add some nutrients it'll ferment in about 5 weeks. Some claim to have it fermented in about 14 days but I call it done when it drops clear. That's not going to happen in 14 days.
 
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