fruit juice for a starter

[morky92]

Has anyone ever used a juice in place of wort for a yeast starter. I'm doing a cider and was just wondering if it would make any difference.

 

[gstrawn]

For a cider I don't see any reason why not. For beers I would say no because of the lack of complex carbohydrates in juice, but if you're going to be fermenting straight aj then I'd say it's fine

 

[morky92]

You think just treat it the same? Start a day ahead? Similar amount of juice as wort? Does a cider even need a starter? Using safale-05.

 

[MarkT]

For cider I haven't needed a starter with Nottingham or 05 and I don't notice much difference in pitching it directly vs pitching on the previous cider's yeast cake (which I often do). The sugars are very ferment-able compared to beer wort, and either one will drive it all the way down to dry, but I also don't get much of krausen or air-lock activity like I get with beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

You think just treat it the same? Start a day ahead? Similar amount of juice as wort? Does a cider even need a starter? Using safale-05.

you don't need to make starters with dry unless it's washed. and then it's not dry anymore, it';s liquid and is treated as such.