Cider with bread yeast

Picked up some local cider and its SG is 1.07. If I toss some bread yeast in a gallon for the heck of it how can I expect it to come out? How long should I wait to do gravity readings to check if done fermenting? Never used bread yeast but I'm trying JOAM so thought it might be a logical step.

Would this produce anything palatable at all or is it a waste of time?

Print Page - Hard Cider Yeast Test is a comparison someone did using a number of different yeasts including bread yeast.

Tenchiro said:

Print Page - Hard Cider Yeast Test is a comparison someone did using a number of different yeasts including bread yeast.

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Hmmm seems like a waste of time based on those results. Though it's not my situation exactly since I'm starting with cider and he started with juice. I think I'll try for the heck of it anyway.

Interesting link!

It can't hurt to experiment, especially on one gallon batches. I have mostly used wine yeasts myself and tried a good number of them. They all came out with really good results. Yesterday I started a batch with some Safale S-04 to see how it comes out.

Joe's Ancient Orange Mead recipe uses bread yeast. I've done it, and it was good. The only thing I'd be concerned about is the attenuation of the bread yeast. In Joe's mead, the end result is very sweet. In a 1.070 cider, I'm thinking the results would also be very sweet, and probably not as good as using an ale yeast or wine yeast.

Under the heading of I was bored, I once took 1 gallon of sugar water with an SG of 1.080 and pitched a 1/2 teaspoon of quick rise bread yeast that was re-hydrated. It fermented out to 0.996. Thats 11.413% ABV. I was surprised it went that far. It only took 9 days. I had heard that bread yeast normally poops out at 5 or 6%. Maybe because it was the quick rise version.

Whatever you do, don't use rapid-rise yeast. I thought it would be a good idea once for carbing some soda. The soda was undrinkable. Smelled like sulfur.

I agree with that. Since mine was just a test it was not for drinking but it did taste really bad.

I'd have to agree... Don't use the bread yeast, it's simply not good! I tried it a few months ago out of boredom and it ended up horribly sour and left no apple flavor. Save your apple juice!

Back in July I used bread yeast on a one gallon batch of Hard Lemonade.

I added 1 and 2/3 cups of cane sugar to the mix and had an OG of 1.074 and a FG of 0.999 ten days later.

It was wonderful!

Pogo

Everyone keeps saying they used apple juice and it doesn't come out well. Has anyone started with cider and tried this?

mcpastore said:

Everyone keeps saying they used apple juice and it doesn't come out well. Has anyone started with cider and tried this?

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I do believe cider=Juice..

Cider and Juice (here in america at least) are essentially the same thing. The common difference used is that cider is unfiltered, be it fresh pressed, pasteurized, unpasteurized, or whatever. But I used bread yeast on a batch of cider (unfiltered) and it turned out to be my worst batch, oh well, it was a 1 gallon experiment.

mcpastore said:

Everyone keeps saying they used apple juice and it doesn't come out well. Has anyone started with cider and tried this?

Click to expand...

Dude - in July I started a 5 gallon batch of Simply Apple juice from the store. I added a little brown sugar and bread yeast. I also added cinnemon, nutmeg and allspice. It has turned out really well. Very tasty. I've even been enjoying it this evening. So if you feel so inclined to go with bread yeast, it won't be bad assuming there's no contamination. Don't be ashamed of the bread yeast!