Wild yeast in Mott's apple juice?

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MikeRLynch

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Wow, interesting.

I recently made a cider last week with a few gallons of Mott's apple juice, but had about a pint left over in one of the jugs of juice. I capped it and left it on the counter for the next week, as I am lazy and rarely clean the kitchen. Today I'm finally cleaning things up a bit, and I look into the jug, and notice bubbles on the surface! Thinking nothing of it I twist off the cap to pour it out, and BOOM! The damn thing had a ton of co2 in there! I poured out the contents and it fizzed like a mother. On the bottom of the jug, there is a nice layer of what looks to me exactly like yeast sediment.

My first thought was, to find some sugar, boil it, and toss it in there to make a starter out of whatever yeast it was. But then I thought, "is that same wild yeast in my cider now?"

I pitched nottingham in the cider, so it's not a particularly aggressive strain (like a wine yeast would be), so I'm a little concerned.

At the same time, I'm going to get more Mott's and see if I can get a wild cider going, with only the contents of the jug!
 
Bad A$$! Let us know how it turns out!

All fruit has yeast in it. I think that's pretty universal, but I'm not exactly sure. However, I think it would be awesome to brew some wild cider! :rockin:
 
Crazy, I'd think it would be pasturized...it probably was, but when you opened it some yeast from your HOUSE got in there!
 
Crazy, I'd think it would be pasturized...it probably was, but when you opened it some yeast from your HOUSE got in there!

That's the weird thing, it wasn't really open that long. I don't remember exactly how long it had the cap off, but it couldn't have been more than 15 minutes. Makes me want to scrub my whole apartment to get the wild yeast out!
 
I usually have motts white grape juice and i once got a bottle that had an "alcoholic" taste. I also noticed that there was sediment on the bottom. QC was definately slackin off that day :D.
 
That's the weird thing, it wasn't really open that long. I don't remember exactly how long it had the cap off, but it couldn't have been more than 15 minutes. Makes me want to scrub my whole apartment to get the wild yeast out!

If you poured out some of the juice, you pulled local air into the bottle. That air probably wasn't sanitary.
 
If you poured out some of the juice, you pulled local air into the bottle. That air probably wasn't sanitary.

So the air in a traditional lambic brewery is? Get a copy of "Wild Brews". It will change your life.

Your air might not be filled with wild yeast ideal for fermenting apples or beer, but there is no hurt trying. I've always thought about trying to ferment cider with the skins of fresh picked apples. The natural wild yeast found on the apples would be perfect for wild fermentation of cider.
 
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