siletzspey
Well-Known Member
Since my wife and I just pressed 14 gallons of cider for our 2016 vintages, it was time to do our annual blind shootout of our year-old 2015 vintages involving 5 different yeasts. From the bottom up, the results were:
#5 - Nottingham
Compared to the others, had the thinnest taste and was dull. No bad notes, but overall boring. Very clear, lightest in color.
#4 - Cote des Blancs
Was ok, nice. No breadth of flavor or wow factor. A tad sour. Light in color, fairly clear.
#3 - Lalvin 71B
Nice round flavor. Breadth of flavor. Hardy and full. Unfortunately had a sour note on the backside. Maybe a touch of sugar would cure the sour backside. Darkest of all, slightly cloudy.
#2 - Safale S-04
Yum, very good. Nice fruity apple up front and on backside. Full. Only minor fault was a little sourness. Light in color, minor cloudiness.
#1 - Pasteur Red
Obvious apple flavor. Full and complex. No bad notes. Wow. 2nd darkest, very minor cloudiness.
In summary, Pasteur Red and S-04 were our clear favorites and essentially equal in most regards, but the slight sour in the S-04 gave the win to the Red. That said, the S-04 was a little more crisp. In prior years, the Red and S-04 also topped our list.
The Cote and 71B were good and acceptable. We actually tasted them before the Red and S-04 and felt they were very good, but once compared to the Red and S-04, their rating fell a little.
The Nottingham was just dull. It's the only yeast I won't do again.
The above were in carboys for ~4 months, then bottled, and all were right at 1 year old. I also have 3ga of each still aging in carboys, and it will be interesting to see if they shootout the same way.
Cheers,
--SiletzSpey
#5 - Nottingham
Compared to the others, had the thinnest taste and was dull. No bad notes, but overall boring. Very clear, lightest in color.
#4 - Cote des Blancs
Was ok, nice. No breadth of flavor or wow factor. A tad sour. Light in color, fairly clear.
#3 - Lalvin 71B
Nice round flavor. Breadth of flavor. Hardy and full. Unfortunately had a sour note on the backside. Maybe a touch of sugar would cure the sour backside. Darkest of all, slightly cloudy.
#2 - Safale S-04
Yum, very good. Nice fruity apple up front and on backside. Full. Only minor fault was a little sourness. Light in color, minor cloudiness.
#1 - Pasteur Red
Obvious apple flavor. Full and complex. No bad notes. Wow. 2nd darkest, very minor cloudiness.
In summary, Pasteur Red and S-04 were our clear favorites and essentially equal in most regards, but the slight sour in the S-04 gave the win to the Red. That said, the S-04 was a little more crisp. In prior years, the Red and S-04 also topped our list.
The Cote and 71B were good and acceptable. We actually tasted them before the Red and S-04 and felt they were very good, but once compared to the Red and S-04, their rating fell a little.
The Nottingham was just dull. It's the only yeast I won't do again.
The above were in carboys for ~4 months, then bottled, and all were right at 1 year old. I also have 3ga of each still aging in carboys, and it will be interesting to see if they shootout the same way.
Cheers,
--SiletzSpey
