Cider question

[jshancock]

Hi all. I have a quick question. I have some cider in a fermenter right now. I used some Kroger Apple cider (no preservatives) and used some OLD Mr. Beer yeast. There was no action after three days so I threw in some baker's yeast because I had nothing to lose. We'll, it worked. It went good for a couple weeks and I racked it off. It's sitting in the secondary fermenter for two weeks (one month total). It is dry, which is fine, but it also is very bitter and tastes like bread. Should I toss it or let it mellow for a long while?

 

[Pappers_]

Hi and welcome to HBT. I've never used baker's yeast, so can't speak from experience here. You might find it more palatable if you back sweeten it a bit. I would at least let it age a little bit, a few months, before tossing it out as irredeemable. No harm in letting it sit.

 

[jshancock]

Hi and welcome to HBT. I've never used baker's yeast, so can't speak from experience here. You might find it more palatable if you back sweeten it a bit. I would at least let it age a little bit, a few months, before tossing it out as irredeemable. No harm in letting it sit.

Thanks a lot. I've heard bread yeast is bad but mellowing it works well. Still it tastes bad right now. I will let it mellow. What is back sweetening?

 

[MarkKF]

That's baker's yeast for you. Don't dump it. let it age 4, 6, 8 months. It'll get better.

You can always get good brewers yeast, overnight if needed, from Amazon.com
It's where I get all mine lately. I think it's fresher than my LHBS.

 

[Pappers_]

Thanks a lot. I've heard bread yeast is bad but mellowing it works well. Still it tastes bad right now. I will let it mellow. What is back sweetening?

Here's a good introduction to cider making https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-beginners-508303/

If you are making a still cider to bottle (not sparkling), backsweetening the cider is straight forward - you add sorbate and sulfite to 'stabilize' the cider, which basically knocks the yeast out, keeps it from reproducing and doing its work. Then you can add some more unfermented juice or cider to taste, to bring out the apple flavor and provide a little sweetness.

I don't know abut the right amounts of sorbate and sulfite to use, I don't usually use this method in cider (I do use it for wine making). Perhaps someone else will pop in with some more details. @Yooper

 

[hubs731]

I used bakers yeast for my first batch and can definitely tell. After tasting a sample, it is extremely dry but also has a bread taste to it. Call me crazy but that's what I taste. I will add some Sorbate to kill the yeast and try to sweeten with concentrate.

 

[b-boy]

Next time try using either champagne yeast or a beer yeast like Nottingham. I prefer Nottingham. In fact I'm drinking one now.

The secret to cider is time. It take a long time to ferment and to age. It definitely gets better with time though.

 

[MindenMan]

Isn't there an old school version of mead made with bread yeast?

 

[Yooper]

I've never used bread yeast in cider or wine, just the above mentioned Ancient Orange Mead, and one of the things I noticed about it in the mead is that it drops light and 'fluffy' lees and seems to be harder to rack to bottle. I imagine the cider made with bread yeast is the same way?

I'd get it cold (in the fridge) and then siphon it off of the bread yeast lees as much as possible, and then age it a bit. The bitter bready flavor may go away, as it might just be in the sediment.

For stabilizing, I don't use sorbate in my cider (I like mine unsweetened and dry) but if you want to, it's just as Pappers says. You can use some sorbate and campden tablets, generally 1/2 teaspoon sorbate and 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, mix that together in a little water to dissolve, and rack (siphon) the clear cider into that. Then you can sweeten the cider to taste as desired.

 

[AidanSavage]

Next time try using either champagne yeast or a beer yeast like Nottingham. I prefer Nottingham. In fact I'm drinking one now.

The secret to cider is time. It take a long time to ferment and to age. It definitely gets better with time though.

I'd probably avoid champagne yeasts if they dont like their cider dryer than a skeleton in the Sahara. I definitely do like cider made with nottingham yeast as well. It's hard keeping enough of my first batch left to celebrate with on New Year's Eve since I only make single gallons. I want to keep my second batch sealed until it starts clearing in the bottles, but if the first batch goes real fast, I may not have a choice

 

[CorporateHippie]

My first batch of alcohol that I ever made was about 5 years ago. I watched 1 youtube video on "how to make fast cheap homemade wine". I went out and bought a few things: hydrometer, ale pail, corker, funnel....and went to work. I bought a case of frozen juice from Walmart and used a package of baker's yeast my wife had in the cupboard. I let the wine sit for two weeks, bottled and began drinking the next day. I drank a bottle a night until it was gone. It tasted fine to me at the time but looking back....WOW, I had NO idea what I was doing.