Best yeast to use for cider??

[Sttifyd35]

I just did my first hard cider and used red star champagne yeast. Fernented all the way down and i carbed it. Tastes good and is dry. My question is this; which yeast will give you a good finish product and have more of an apple taste? Thanks for the help.

 

[BeeDeeEff]

Yeasts that stall out a bit earlier will mae a product slightly less dry, and that tiny bit of sweetness can really bring out the apple body. Many recommend Ale Yeasts, I've had good luck with Nottingham myself.

However if you want a prominent apple taste you still need to start with a good cider, store bought apple juice likely won't ever give you that.

 

[1bottlerocket]

My first batch of cider I used a Champagne yeast and it went a bit too dry for my taste.

I have now been experimenting with 12l batches of cider using different strains of yeast. So far I have tried the Wyeast 4766, White Labs 775 English Cider, and White Labs 720 Sweet Mead.

So far the Sweet Mead yeast seems to have the best flavor of the bunch. I let them run until they fermented out all the sugars and racked to secondary. They all cleared nicely and are sitting in secondary aging away. I am planning to bottle and sweeten them up with xylitol next week.

For my next yeast experiments I am planning on trying White Labs 028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast, the White Labs 002 English Ale Yeast, Lallemand Nottingham Ale, and Mangrove Jack's Cider yeast.

 

[theDREWery]

If you're stuck with store-bought juice, you can always try adding a can of frozen apple juice concentrate. It ups the flavor and sugar content. I usually do this as fermentation slows, but it could also be done upfront.

 

[user 211287]

My Wyeast 4766 and FAJC added upfront is coming along nicely. Sofar it is my favorite combination. Ferment as cool and slow as possible. I used 2 12oz cans of Old Orchard FAJC to roughly 2.5 gallons of Kirkland and Sam's fresh pressed apple juice.

I also had good luck with Montrachet when the cider was combined with fresh cranberries or blackberries.

Next experiment will be Nottinghams ale yeast, FAJC and fresh ginger. Hoping to start it today with a blend of Motts and Sam's juice.

 

[1bottlerocket]

What temperature did you ferment your Wyeast? I kept mine at 19°C ambient temperature. The cider was registering 22°C during primary.

White Labs recommends 20-24°C for their cider yeast, while Wyeast gives a range of 15-24°C. I cannot imagine I would go much more than 19-20, as the juice was much warmer.

 

[sashurlow]

I use a mix of English cider and I've been getting wild yeast recently too. In the end, I'm probably getting more wild yeast then English Cider these days. I have heard that slow and long give better tastes so I make sure they are active, then put them in my basement for a long slow ferment.
To clarify what bottle rocket said... 19C=66F, 22C=71F, 24C=75F. I agree with bottle rocket about the temps. I've also heard that wild yeast like it colder.
As far as how I get wild yeast... I use campden and still get growth. I'm guessing that campden does not kill everything and the yeast around my house are just tougher. I've done this for the past two years and do not get bacteria contamination but do get dry, very well fermented and very tasty brew. I've never intended to find wild yeast, they just appear and I don't complain.

 

[rivalry15]

I've used WLP002 and 775 with good results. 002 comes out with a little residual sweetness that the 775 does not. 775 goes dry, nice flavor to them both howevee

 

[CKuhns]

I have had good success with S04 Ale Yeast. Ferment at 62 Deg F or so and 1.060 to 1.065 OG ends up with a little residual at 1.004 to 1.008. Good apple flavor even with Store bought apple juice and frozen concentrate.

 

[JonM]

Here's everything you need to know:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=83060

 

[maxtpower]

I have used WLP775 English Cider yeast (dry hopping), S04, and EC 1118 with good results.

 

[Lefou]

I have had good success with S04 Ale Yeast. Ferment at 62 Deg F or so and 1.060 to 1.065 OG ends up with a little residual at 1.004 to 1.008. Good apple flavor even with Store bought apple juice and frozen concentrate.

I've used S-04 and S-05 with a gallon of pasteurized Motts, right off the shelf. Added either a half cup of table sugar or 4oz. of clover honey fermented at about the same temps.
SG was about 1.055-ish and ferments out a bit tart and dry. I've found the S-05 gives me a weak Chardonnay taste, and it's a cheap alternative for cooking wine - especially if you buy more than one bottle of Motts and re-use the original yeast.