A nice Yule gift

[Tw0fish]

Going to a potluck and pollyanna in a few weeks and I figured that it'd be pretty cute to make some kind of cider kit.

I figure I could include a bottle of juice, suitable for use as primary, a balloon (as prison-grade airlock), a packet of dry yeast and some instructions. Ain't I clever

I think the ideal yeast for this would be low-foam and high flocculation. And with my friends it hopefully won't be too terribly slow. Any suggestions for that? I have more questions, but let's start with yeast.

 

[SeattleMatt]

You could use Montrachet. I made some of Edwort's Apfelwein with this yeast. There was no foam at all. Search for his thread... There's a picture and some advice. I'd post a link but it's not easy from my phone.

 

[ajbram]

I've had low foam with EC-1118. It's also wicked fast and seems to flocculate pretty well... It's a pretty tidy yeast for the most part, which might be easy on newbies. You would have to give them some instructions for sure.

 

[DMartin]

Couple of notes:

Yeast: I recommend RedStar's Cote des Blancs. It's a little on the slow side but is very low foam (you kinda have to pick one or the other). Also it is a good flavor for fruit wines and ciders.

Equipment: for $2-3, you could pony up for a stopper and airlock, and add a bit of professionalism to the gift.

Technique: how do you plan for them to get the finished cider off the yeast cake?

 

[Tw0fish]

Wine yeasts! Glad I didn't say Nottingham. Heh.

D- I'm hoping to make something that'd be drinkable without having to go to secondary. If not - Perhaps a well washed out 2 liter PET bottle would work (heck, it'd even carb! but that might be dangerous for newbies.)

My instructions would be along the lines of (besides equipment prep and such) : Pitch, wait, cold crash. What cider I have experience with had been "aged" (that is, sat while we drank it over the course of perhaps a month) on the lees with no ill effect.

Shoot, now would that change anybody's yeast nominations?

 

[Tw0fish]

derp daderp dadoubleposted

 

[ajbram]

I agree with Dmartin... pony up for an airlock and add in the instructions to cold crash when it stops bubbling. I'm still sticking with EC1118. Worked well for me.

 

[smh]

Just give them instructions to pour off the lees after a month or so. Ive been successful without siphoning as long as youre careful.

If they put it in another bottle/jug in the fridge at that point all will be fine. Maybe suggest they use plastic. If you stick to 1L quantity they'll likely drink fast enough without worrying about it too much...

 

[DMartin]

I was basically trying to say you should have instructions for decanting off of the yeast when it is finished. Perhaps include an extra empty bottle to transfer to?

Another thing, you might include a tsp of sorbate and a 1/2# of sugar per gallon to sweeten. You could put the sugar and sorbate/k-meta in the second bottle.

 

[Tw0fish]

This thread is just getting awesomer and awesomer.. thanks for the ideas guys!

I'm gonna have to do a little bit of looking around, but.. I'll report back with how it went