Favorite Cider Yeast?

So, as the fall comes around it's time to start thinking about cider! What's everyone's favorite cider yeast? What makes it special? What does it really bring to the party?

 

I'm doing a pear/ apple cider fresh off my buddy's tree, think I'm using a Ale yeast any thoughts or advice? This is my 1st go at a cider

 

Brewing a apple / pear cider fresh off the tree. Using American Ale yeast, any thoughts or advice? This is my 1st attempt at a cider

 

Not a cider yeast specifically, but of the ten batches I've done, I have found that I like nottingham with the desert apples and juice that I can get a hold of. If I could get kingston black apples, I'd probably use a traditional cider yeast.

 

Nottingham, I use to use EC-1118 but it stripped it too dry.

 

Cider yeast was to tart, tried mead but it was oddly buttery. Nottingham is good. I have heard of using Belgians, has anyone tried one?

 

Notty for me. It's all I've ever tried, but I felt that it let my cider maintain it's Apple character. From what I've read, most of the cider or mead or champagne yeast will dry the cider out. But I guess you could always let it dry out and then back sweeten with cider to maintain some Apple flavor.

Just my thoughts

 

I'm still using Red star Champagne yeast.

 

Same here. Makes a dry and strong cider

 

safale 04 is one of my favorites.

 

Has anyone tried WLP005? Or any if the low attenuating English strains? I'm not as interested in the sky high ABV, instead I'd like preserve some sweetness and apple flavor. Also, considered a Brett cider. Anyone done this?

 

I'm considering a brett or rosalaire cider.

 

I've often wondered what quality yeast you could harvest from the fruit itself?

 

I have made about 50 gallons over the past 2 years and have had great deal of luck with Wyeast wine, mead, cider yeast number 4766

 

I've used a bunch of different yeasts for my ciders; Nottingham, White Labs, Wine yeasts etc...

Now I'm sticking with these two:

For normal ciders, Danstar Windsor Ale yeast is my go to yeast.

For high alcohol ciders, I like Red Star Premier Cuvee.

 

I have only used Nottingham (which I am pretty fond of) but this past weekend, I tried my first attempt at harvesting some wild yeast from some organic apples. Its currently fizzling away in my Erlenmeyer and I plan on stepping it up for a 1g test run. If all works out, I will be washing the yeast for a 5g batch next.

So far, it smells incredible so I think I am on the right track.

 

Nottingham or S-04.

 

I love my redstar Champagne yeast. Yes its dry and wonderful.

 

I killed off the natural yeast, I will be pitching Nottingham Ale yeast with energizer and nutrients tonight. I added sugar and brown sugar to boost my SG to 1.070 should have a little kick to it. ,

 

I also like red star champagne yeast. It clears very well and ages nicely to a dry and mildly bubbly cider. Can't wait for fall to come so that I can crack open some more of the bottles waiting for me.

 

I use primarily Nottingham and like the quick turnaround. I reuse the yeast cake for three batches.

I generally start with a gravity of 1.065 and ferment down to 1.005 or .010. Once fermented, I usually back-sweeten with ACJ or some variant of ACJ and fruit or peppers. I don't do a great job of controlling fermentation temperatures, however.

I recently did 15 gallons of cider with S-05 accidentally and it tasted "cleaner" but also took twice as long.

 

Verto, can't you just pitch that directly into a 5 gal batch?

How did you harvest the yeast off the apples?

 

Tipsy,

Probably, I just want to guarantee a good, solid yeast before I toss it into 5 gallons worth of organic juice.

As for how I harvested it, I didn't do anything terribly complicated. I picked out 2 healthy looking organic apples from the farmer's market and peeled them with a sterilized peeler while wearing some gloves. I then put the peels into some organic apple juice in my Erlenmeyer. The juice itself was already pasteurized - I don't have access to a local orchard or a good source of non-pasteurized juice.

So far, I have some small bubbles along the edge of the flask. I am just aerate it like I would a regular starter and hoping for the best. So far, it smells nice so I think its a good sign.

 

Vereto,

do you think this would work by just letting unpasteurized juice sit?

 

Absolutely, sir. I just do not have access to some fresh unpasteurized juice so I am trying this more round-a-bout method.

 

I have used champagne yeast for a few ciders, Safale S04 for a couple and now a couple with WLP775. I really do like the ciders made with the S04 but i wish I had found WLP775 sooner, it leaves such a fresh apple flavour and character I cant see myself using anything else from this point on!

 

I picked up the following to try in ciders this fall:
Lallemand Nottingham
Lallemand Belle Saison
Fermentis Safale S-04
Lallemand Munich

I think the Saison and Munich will be interesting. Does anyone have a good reason why they might be bad?

 

I say give them a go and let us know how they turn out.

p.s. the apple skins are going to town. Will be pitching the yeast this weekend I bet.

 

Vereto, keep us updated on your wild yeast experiment.

I don't kill my wild before pitching nottingham and have been lucky to rarely have off flavors. But, I may be drowning out the wilds in a sea of nott.

 

I've used WL English cider yeast and the cider was a little watery tasting. Hopefully age will help.

Looking forward to a batch with Nottingham.

 

My friend and I started off killing off the wild yeast and using english cider yeast for the 1sr 40 gal batch. The next year we decided to ditch the sulfite and use english cider yeast for an 80 gal batch. Tasted a lot better. The fall of 2012 we juiced 180 gallons, with no cider yeast at midwest or northern we said screw it and didn't add any yeast. Fermented in one container. Wild yeast and who knows what kinds of bacteria fermented out to nearly very dry. The wild batch does have a ''smokey'' flavor. We may be doing the same this fall.

 

I'd love to see your experiment get its own detailed and documented thread. This is a really interesting approach and is very doable for those of us who have never attempted yeast harvesting. I would wager there are others who would find this information extremely helpful and it would spawn some good conversation.

 

I've used and liked both commercial liquid yeasts. I can not remember what yeast I used on my very first cider ever, but it was a dry yeast, and it was not that good.

White Labs WL775 English Cider Yeast - this one ferments regular cider down to 0.999-1.004 in my experience. At a few weeks old its tart, dry and does not have much apple character. At 6+ months old it mellows the acid and apple character returns. This is stellar at 1 year +. I have made several batches with this and would again...

Wyeast 4766 Cider yeast - finishes in the 1.001-1.003 range. In a side by side test with white labs this one was chosen by every taster. Even though it finished lower gravity than the WL, it had a sweeter presence, more fruitiness, and loads more apple character. Still was crisp, well rounded, and mellowed with age. This one seems to be better faster than WL. I took a BOS cider with this yeast, and the counterpart (WL English cider batch) was 2nd BOS... And both were cider from the same orchard and same additions. This is my preferred yeast. I just pitched it into a fresh pressed cider and caramel spice cider this morning.

 

Did a 4 set this past weekend. it's all happy and getting going! very excited. will post results here in the next few weeks!

 

So i didn't add any sugar to my cider just the juice, yeast nutrient and yeast. a krausen has formed but the bubbling seems to be anemic at best.....should i add sugar at this point?

 

that was my feeling from last year as well which is why i didn't add any. just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything i was missing.

 

turned the temp up a bit. they are happier now!