Safcider

I'm sure this has been shared before, but I just wanted to share the neat experience I'm having with this yeast. I went to my LHBS and asked for Notty to use in a cider recipe I'd found here at HBT. They were out, but he recommended trying Safcider. I pitched yesterday and waited. 12 hours later when I left for work, still no activity, though I noticed that the juice in the carboy had grown quite cloudy. I came home this afternoon and knelt down to look in the side of the carboy, and I heard a hissing sound. Upon further inspection, I could see tiny bubbles popping on the surface and a Rice Krispies like fizzing and popping inside the jug. Pretty neat stuff. Zero krausen, but righteous activity. Anyone ever used this before and had a similar experience?

I'm glad you posted this. Im using this for the first time this week for a cider after using Notty for my last batch. (new to cider, not beer though.) Ill use it and let you know how it goes.

Ended up brewing that cider and your description was spot in. Though my fermentation took 30 hours to kick off. I pitched in Saturday might and it didn't start bubbling till around midday today. (I assume since it wasn't when I left for work this morning.)

My ciders ferment so much more slowly than my beers -- they take a while to get going, there is minimal activity visually, and no krausen. I use US-04

I've read here recently the lack of krausen is due to the protein makeup of the cider itself. That there isn't a particular binding protein or something like that so you won't normally see it. I don't have enough experience with different strains of yeast tho so I'm not sure if I can say you won't have krausen with any type of cider. Either way the experience I have had with cider is similar to yours. Its still kinda neat even if there is no foam layer.

Let us know how it tastes once its done.

I had a very similar experience about 8 weeks ago. I had never done a cider before and it went just as you described it. The weird thing was that the fermentation never really slowed down, it went at a racing pace until it ended after 5 days. 1.051 OG to 1.013 FG, still quite cloudy when I bottled it. I bottled it and it only ever carbonated slightly. I opened another bottle every day to check as I had read that they would turn to bombs quickly and after a week I just pasteurized them all. It took a couple weeks for them to clear but taste great now.

Civicrice17 said:

I had a very similar experience about 8 weeks ago. I had never done a cider before and it went just as you described it. The weird thing was that the fermentation never really slowed down, it went at a racing pace until it ended after 5 days. 1.051 OG to 1.013 FG, still quite cloudy when I bottled it. I bottled it and it only ever carbonated slightly. I opened another bottle every day to check as I had read that they would turn to bombs quickly and after a week I just pasteurized them all. It took a couple weeks for them to clear but taste great now.

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Weird. I'm still waiting for mine to take off. I pitched Safcider yeast about 48 hours ago and right now my lock is popping off around every 12-15 seconds. My OG was 1.050, does anyone know how low Safcider will take it?

--0o0o0-- said:

Weird. I'm still waiting for mine to take off. I pitched Safcider yeast about 48 hours ago and right now my lock is popping off around every 12-15 seconds. My OG was 1.050, does anyone know how low Safcider will take it?

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In case anyone out there in radio land is paying attention; I have an update. It took about about 72 hours but the safcider yeast has finally started to go to real work. As of last night, my lock was bubbling at about once every five seconds and this morning it was even quicker. Plus there is a steady stream of pin point bubbles breaking all over the surface of the cider. My OG was 1.050, and I used UV pasteurized cider from my local mill. I didn't add any nutrient and the ambient temperature in my basement is about 65 degrees right now.

That is all.

--0o0o0-- said:

In case anyone out there in radio land is paying attention; I have an update. It took about about 72 hours but the safcider yeast has finally started to go to real work. As of last night, my lock was bubbling at about once every five seconds and this morning it was even quicker. Plus there is a steady stream of pin point bubbles breaking all over the surface of the cider. My OG was 1.050, and I used UV pasteurized cider from my local mill. I didn't add any nutrient and the ambient temperature in my basement is about 65 degrees right now.

That is all.

Click to expand...

It seems consistent with everyone's experience. This yeast is slow to pick up but gets going well after a while. Thanks for sharing!

--0o0o0-- said:

In case anyone out there in radio land is paying attention; I have an update. It took about about 72 hours but the safcider yeast has finally started to go to real work. As of last night, my lock was bubbling at about once every five seconds and this morning it was even quicker. Plus there is a steady stream of pin point bubbles breaking all over the surface of the cider. My OG was 1.050, and I used UV pasteurized cider from my local mill. I didn't add any nutrient and the ambient temperature in my basement is about 65 degrees right now.

That is all.

Click to expand...

It seems consistent with everyone's experience. This yeast is slow to pick up but gets going well after a while. Thanks for sharing!