Flat Cider

[PeakyBlinder]

Hi newby here!

I am previously a beer brewer but now being gluten intolerant I am moving to cider

I have a Mangrove Jacks Craft Series Apple Cider ready to start brewing and I have been advised to use a champagne yeast in aid to try and make it dryer as I prefer that.

I also would prefer it to be a flat cider rather than fizzy, so I would like to ask the at the usual carbonation stage, do I just do that process without adding any carbonisaiton drops?

Also any other tips for making it a dry cider?

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[jnesselrode]

Hi and welcome to cider making!

Many yeasts will ferment to dry, not just champagne yeast. So, it may be worthwhile to research them a bit because they can have other characteristics you might want to encourage or avoid. Here's an article you might check out. I just finished up an experiment with three different yeasts: Cote des Blancs, Nottingham and Safale S-04. CdB and S04 fermented out to 1.000, so pretty dry. The Nott finished at 1.002, so a touch sweet.

For flat, just let the cider finish fermenting, rack off the lees and let it clear for a bit checking SG along the way. If it bottoms out and doesn't decline further over a week or two, you should be done and will get a flat cider that's ready to bottle.

 

[Chalkyt]

As above, you will find that some yeasts have a reputation for leaving flavour characteristics or sweetness while others ferment robustly and "blow-off" flavour. Scott Labs have an interesting chart showing some of these characteristics for their yeasts.

I have had ciders that stop before being fully fermented thus leaving some residual sugar. This is usually because the yeast runs out of nutrients (particularly YAN... Yeast Assimilable Nitrogen). This can happen with juice from apples that are over-ripe, late season or from old unfertilised trees. This can be overcome by supplementing the juice with nutrients like DAP, Fermaid etc to ensure complete fermentation.

The point of this is that you can ensure a dry cider by using the right yeast and nutrient regime (champagne yeasts like EC1118 do have a reputation for finishing very dry whereas ale yeasts like S04 have a high nutrient demand and can finish slightly sweet). Others might have some useful suggestions regarding the best yeast to use, so do some research.

 

[Rish]

Welcome to HBT! You might find the thread of interest:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/three-cider-experiment.729253/#post-10315087
Good luck!