Brewers Best Cider House Select Premium Cider Yeast

[d-will11]

MarkKF
This may be a dumb question,but could you cork the ciders or would they need to be bottled like a beer?

 

[MarkKF]

Bottled like a beer. Temperature changes are scary with corks unless they are caged like a champagne.

 

[MarkKF]

So I started this batch a week ago. Pitched the yeast on Monday. S. G. 1.055

Today (Sunday) the bubbles slowed and irregular. S. G. 1.005

Nice color and smell. No farts!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1420392665.516689.jpg

 

[kgressler]

Wow just a week and it's finished? That's damn fast. How warm was your fermentation temperatures?
My last batch was around 60-62 it took 16 days to get from 1.058 to
1.008. My current batch is in day 11 and I haven't checked it but it been running even cooler 56-58 most the time.

 

[MarkKF]

The basement is in the high 50's but I put a reptile heater under my bucket. It's not hot, you can hold it between your hands and it doesn't feel any warmer than a firm handshake. I estimate it only raises the temp a few degrees. I used a yeast starter & yeast nutrients. Did you use either?

 

[kgressler]

Ah gotchya, no I used neither just unpasteurized cider and yeast.

 

[UpstateMike]

So I started this batch a week ago. Pitched the yeast on Monday. S. G. 1.055

Today (Sunday) the bubbles slowed and irregular. S. G. 1.005

Nice color and smell. No farts!

Did you use a previous yeast cake, or use a fresh pack?

 

[MarkKF]

Did you use a previous yeast cake, or use a fresh pack?

This one was a fresh pack

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

Enjoying some bottling dregs from today. This was fresh pressed. Its got a great apple flavor with a sweetness up front and a crisp dry finish. This yeast has it all!! Love it!

View attachment 1420857457556.jpg

 

[MarkKF]

I just kegged my first 5 gal. with this yeast. It finished at 1.000. I added 1/2 cup Xylitol to sweeten a tad. I also added 1/2 cup dextrose to try and keg condition carb. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421604016.905161.jpg

 

[MarkKF]

Started another 5 gal. last Monday. No added sugar just 5 lbs. Frozen peach slices. Used new yeast packet in a half gal. starter. Added the yeast on Tuesday, one week ago. Thursday had good airlock activity. Sunday it had slowed. Checked S.G. today and it was 1.006! Racked into a carboy to finish & clear. Tasted pretty good. No off flavors or odors. Here's what was left behind:View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1422387403.971654.jpg

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

What's funny about my second batch (which just reached .996, w/ 1 lb of honey added.) Is it had sulfur smell for a day or two as my first did but the first which I added nutrient and energizer to and also needed to be splash racked because it hung around. The second I did with no added nutrients and when it was done no sulfur.

 

[MarkKF]

I think it's a temperature thing. I'm fermenting close to 60 Deg. and it seems to like it a lot. Tasted my first batch which is in the keg today. Soooo good!

 

[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

I think it's a temperature thing. I'm fermenting close to 60 Deg. and it seems to like it a lot. Tasted my first batch which is in the keg today. Soooo good!

Could be. The second one I did keep cooler. First one (bottle carbed) is tasting great as well.

 

[MarkKF]

So I have 5 gal. in the corny keg and another 5 gal. aging in the carboy. I just noticed the diff. in appearance next to 5 gal. made with Safale S-04.
Same juice, same recipe, same S. G. Here the are side by side. Brewers Best on the left Safale on the right. Both same clarity. Just different. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423926489.651327.jpg

 

[stella_tigre]

My first cider was using CHS - it was a bit slow to start (pitching 2/3 of the pack dry) and it took about 14 days to go from 1.050 down to 1.004 at 61-64*F. It's in the bottle now, hoping for some carbing.
What is interesting is I used what was left in the pack to a batch of Malkore's Not So Ancient Orange Mead, OG of 1.096. It marched from there all the way down to 1.000 in 21 days (fizzing audibly most of the time.) I was hoping for some sweet left! So added back some honey water with a bit more nutrient in the secondary, hoping to catch it before it dries out. It's going to be rocket fuel at this rate, will be a long time in the bottle I think.
Seems clean, smells nice, clears well.

 

[Fnitchiefl]

I'm trying it out now, pitched back on 2/20. Added sugar to the cider to begin with, still fermenting today, no off odors coming through air lock.

 

[MarkKF]

I just drank 32 oz. of keg carbed Brewers Best. Yummy!View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425604188.476414.jpg

 

[Skylark]

I started a 1 gal batch this week, using cheap juice fortified with a can of concentrate. The yeast smelled awesome when I opened it! It's bubbling away, trying to adjust my room temp by cracking the window (central air is on the fritz with the warm weather).

Update: my first batch is at 1.010 already. It smells amazing, consistent with the yeast smell. However, it tastes a bit 'thin' to me. I tried a glass souped up with some more juice, but that wasn't sufficient. I then added 2 pinches of malic acid, which helped. I still think it could use more body.

So, for my next batch, I have started 1 gallon of juice plus 2 C Munton's plain light DME, no extra concentrate just b/c I didn't have any. The SG is still a respectable 1.075. I've never tried graff before, and I'm not sure if this is the right yeast for it, or the right flavor of DME, but it is an experiment!

 

[Fnitchiefl]

I've been sampling some right off the primary. It is dry, which I like, but a tad too sweet, a very little carbonation. There is some effervescence on the tongue but not as much as I would like, there's another half batch conditioning downstairs. It is very potent, I'm thinking pushing 10% abv due to added sugar, not bad, interesting to see where this ends up.

 

[MarkKF]

So I have one carboy of Brewers Best cider and one carboy of Safeale S-04 aging in the basement. They had fermented dry back in Feb. Both were clear but different tint. Then in the last month the Brewers Best lost its clarity. Might be active again. There may have been a little sugar left. Is this spontaneous secondary fermentation? I know it happened to me once before.

 

[MarkKF]

OK. Two months later and it's clear again. Gonna taste it then get a S. G. this weekend then keg & carb.

 

[stella_tigre]

I had that happen with a Notty yeast. MLF? It ended up tasting different than my other Notty brews, but still OK.

 

[MarkKF]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443890055.137419.jpg
This is it. Was cloudy a couple months ago. S. G. Before summer was a stable 1.000 now it's 0.998. Just tasted (so good) back sweetened with Xylitol and legged to carb.

 

[MarkKF]

I'm still using this yeast. Good flavor and finishes where I want it. Just bought three more packs off Amazon. I feel a little guilty. Like I'm using a kit. No idea who makes this yeast. Don't even know what strain it is. But it's good!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I'm still using this yeast. Good flavor and finishes where I want it. Just bought three more packs off Amazon. I feel a little guilty. Like I'm using a kit. No idea who makes this yeast. Don't even know what strain it is. But it's good!

I got a pack from LHBS and I have some cider in primary, it smells wonderful. In a week's time the cider has ABV 5.96 and I'll be checking gravity reading tomorrow to see if it has finished fermentation. My understanding is that this yeast is meant to leave some apple flavor, not nessasarily sweetness.

 

[user 211287]

Im giving the Cider House yeast a try today. 3 gallons of unpasteurized Hays Orchard cider with just one cup of added sugar. Love this cider btw, its currently available at Costco for about $4.50 a gallon.

I used this cider for a 1 gallon test batch using 71B and back sweetened with Old Orchard apple juice concentrate. I was very pleased with the results.

 

[MarkKF]

This thread has been quiet. I just used my last packet of this stuff. I think it's been in my frig a year. I rehydrated in half gal. room temp apple juice. After 24 hrs. it was active so I added it to my carboy. Another 24 hrs and it was bubbling away. It never foamed and after 6 days it was done! I racked it into a smaller carboy and there was a thick covering of sludge on the bottom. Don't think that happened before. Well smells good and tastes good so now time to clear, age and finish.
BTW I haven't seen this yeast advertised so maybe it's gone.

 

[Skylark]

I've been using it. I like the flavor pretty well, although it's best if your cider is not dry (ie, probably want to backsweeten). The fact that the yeast cake is almost like a crepe is very interesting... it allows one to pour off the cider without a siphon!
It's still available on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=garden&field-keywords=cider+house+select

 

[dleonard5]

Adventures in homebrewing also has it for 3.49 a pack. I've got some coming along with S-04.