Cheap try at cider

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Kristopher

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I was strolling through grocery store today and for some reason bread yeast caught my eye. I got the brain wave to add it to a 1.5 litre apple juice. Not Motts, but something similar. Label said no additives.
So basically I came home, poured out a couple inches of juice, added about half a teaspoon of yeast and stuck in an airlock.
Will the end result be drinkable?
 
Probably, but the bread yeast is real fine and powdery, hard to cleanly rack off. Joe's Ancient Orange Mead uses bread yeast and finishes over 10%, so store bought apple juice should ferment out.
 
Yes, your cider will be drinkable.
But considering how wine yeast are less than 1$ a packet, why would you even bother using bread yeast?
 
My last batch of cider was 6 gallons of Aldi's cheap filtered apple juice, 12 oz of sugar, 2 tsp yeast nutrient, and a packet of wine yeast. (K1-V1116) It really didn't need the sugar nor the yeast nutrient. Really cheap, and it's starting to taste pretty good. (I started it end of August, don't remember when I bottled it but probably around the end of October)

Bread yeast should work, but it will take forever to clear. Adding gelatin might help, but not sure how you'd do that with such a small (1.5L) batch.
 
I was strolling through grocery store today and for some reason bread yeast caught my eye. I got the brain wave to add it to a 1.5 litre apple juice. Not Motts, but something similar. Label said no additives.
So basically I came home, poured out a couple inches of juice, added about half a teaspoon of yeast and stuck in an airlock.
Will the end result be drinkable?

Yeah but you could've used different yeast. You can get bulk distiller's yeast on ebay for cheap. I do store bought cider with that and it turns out pretty good.
 
I am with you on the cider bug, I have been making ciders for the last few months, I've just been racking my juice (from Costco) right on top of the cake of whatever beer I just made.

I don't like a dry cider so I'm making it with 4 gallons and adding campdon tabs and the back sweetening with another gallon and that seemed to work out good.

That's a good try and if it turns out good you'll be making more cider.
 
I like to prime mine with sugar water and make them carbonated. It makes it better
 
Have you guys read the beginners thread? Camden won't stop and adding more sugar will restart sooner or later. Be careful.
 
Thanks for replies. It was just a cheap experiment, if it's decent I'll look into the proper ingredients. I knew it was wrong yeast, but it was what was in front of me. I was actually more curious as to the plain apple juice off the shelf working or not.
 
Thanks for replies. It was just a cheap experiment, if it's decent I'll look into the proper ingredients. I knew it was wrong yeast, but it was what was in front of me. I was actually more curious as to the plain apple juice off the shelf working or not.

Plain filtered apple juice off the shelf works great. The cloudy juice in gallon jugs that they call fresh cider is problematic because it almost always has benzoate or sorbate preservatives, even if you buy it direct from the orchard.
 
Thanks for replies. It was just a cheap experiment, if it's decent I'll look into the proper ingredients. I knew it was wrong yeast, but it was what was in front of me. I was actually more curious as to the plain apple juice off the shelf working or not.

Replace the bread yeast with a pack of nottingham ale yeast and it makes a delicious cider.
 
Look into Ed Wort's apfelwein... It's a dry German-style cider. Just store-bought apple juice, some extra sugar the raise ABV, and a white wine yeast. There's a "Man, I love apfelwein" thread on here and a "how many gallons..." thread as well...

I wait for juice to go on sale for $0.99/ half gallon then whip up a batch. I prefer it sparkling to still, so I prime with table sugar and bottle it.
 
Bread yeast should taste okay, and it will ferment very fast. But it will take a long time to drop clear, and it will taste yeasty until it does.

One of these days I'm going to make a small batch of wheat beer using bread yeast. Then harvest the yeast and make another real batch. (first batch is to acclimatize the yeast to making beer) But I've got way too many other experiments on my list to do first. :)
 
Thanks for replies. It was just a cheap experiment, if it's decent I'll look into the proper ingredients.
Nothing wrong with cheap experiments, I've done plenty myself with all kinds of store bought juices that were on sale. But my results were not decent", that is, I just didn't like the way they tasted. So now I go out of my way and pay good money for high quality apple juice and wine grapes.
It just isn't worth my time to make something I don't like very much, even if it is cheap.
But everyone has different tastes, and some like cider made from big box stores, so maybe it will work out.
When your bread yeast cider is done fermenting, I'd put it in the refrigerator or out side if its cold and get the yeast to settle out.
It might take a while, but when it clears out, carefully pour it off to another container. If it doesn't taste too good, let it age a while and come back to it.
 
Thanks for all the info. It's been about 3-4 days now. Bubbling has stopped and haven't noticed any burps in airlock for awhile. Might leave it another day or two and stick it in fridge. Should I leave airlock on in fridge or put cap back on?
 
You need to be careful. If the container is glass and the cider has not finished fermenting then it can still produce a great deal of CO2. (by weight, half the sugar will be converted to CO2). If you cap the bottle you need to constantly open the cap a smidge to let the gas escape. However, if you have an hydrometer and can check for changes in gravity or check to see if the gravity has dropped below 1.000 then you can monitor the cider to see if the yeast is still active and /or if there is any residual sugar left for the yeast to convert to CO2 and alcohol. If the container is plastic it can swell like a balloon and the danger of bottle bombs exploding and sending shards of glass across the room is far less a problem...
 
Thanks for all the info. It's been about 3-4 days now. Bubbling has stopped and haven't noticed any burps in airlock for awhile. Might leave it another day or two and stick it in fridge. Should I leave airlock on in fridge or put cap back on?

Bread yeast has a pretty broad temperature range...I keep a biga in the fridge for bread making and it's mildly active at 40 degrees.

Also, you need to rack it in my opinion.
 
Racked today just into a growler and put it in the fridge. Tastes like crap.
Was in the local brew shop and picked up some proper yeast to give it another try. Just going to try same type of store bought juice and thought maybe I'd try a couple cinnamon sticks for some added flavour.
I also picked up some corn sugar to give it a bit more alcohol.
Other than those ingredients what else should I get? Any other tips?
My local brew shop is more focused on wine so some supplies may not be at my disposal.
 
Try using cheap store-bought juice again, no extra sugar, no cinnamon, and use Cotes des Blanc wine yeast. When it's clear (a month or two) bottle it like beer, with a little priming sugar. Use that batch as your baseline. It may take a month to carbonate.
I made 3 gallons like that last year, and it didn't last very long. :drunk:
 
Racked today just into a growler and put it in the fridge. Tastes like crap.
Was in the local brew shop and picked up some proper yeast to give it another try. Just going to try same type of store bought juice and thought maybe I'd try a couple cinnamon sticks for some added flavour.
I also picked up some corn sugar to give it a bit more alcohol.
Other than those ingredients what else should I get? Any other tips?
My local brew shop is more focused on wine so some supplies may not be at my disposal.

Boil up some sugar water and prime with it. Carbonation is the only way to save it in my opinion
 
My suggest to anyone first try is frozen apple juice concentrate. Use a little less water to get a little higher S.G. Don't add anything else. Try EC-1118 or 71b. $1 a packet!
Rack and let clear then add some more juice to end product to get desired sweetness and flavor. Refrigerate!
 
My suggest to anyone first try is frozen apple juice concentrate. Use a little less water to get a little higher S.G. Don't add anything else. Try EC-1118 or 71b. $1 a packet!
Rack and let clear then add some more juice to end product to get desired sweetness and flavor. Refrigerate!

That's what I do except I just use distillers yeast I have on hand
 
This thread inspired me to try making cider so I did the exact same thing; bread yeast and 1.5L of Martinelli's apple juice (not the sparkling kind). It fermented fast and cleared slowly. The bread yeast does not cake like beer yeast. It picked up into the cider from handling during bottling. The gravity is low, 1.000 it looks like. The taste is ok but the yeast is too dominant still. I primed it and bottled it. In a month or two I will taste it again. I only got 3 bottles so not really much for the effort but I will try again with proper yeast and a larger batch.
 
In a month or two I will taste it again. I only got 3 bottles so not really much for the effort but I will try again with proper yeast and a larger batch.

Really hope you do! You've already done all the work, you deserve a nice cider - with proper yeast you won't taste those off flavours at all, and a big batch is as easy as a small one.
 
In process of 2nd attempt. In primary I have 3 litres of store bought apple juice, about a cup of corn sugar and 2 cinnamon sticks ( I know the cinnamon is against advice I received).
I pitched the yeast ( a wine yeast, not exactly sure of type, it started with an E I believe) and left it in a room around 15 degrees Celsius.
The next morning, no activity, so I moved it to an area around 20 degrees Celsius. Still nothing. I then pitched another pack of yeast, approx 24 hours ago, still nothing.
Could it be both packs of yeast were no good? I followed pack instructions both times by rehydrating.
 
In process of 2nd attempt. In primary I have 3 litres of store bought apple juice, about a cup of corn sugar and 2 cinnamon sticks ( I know the cinnamon is against advice I received).
I pitched the yeast ( a wine yeast, not exactly sure of type, it started with an E I believe) and left it in a room around 15 degrees Celsius.
The next morning, no activity, so I moved it to an area around 20 degrees Celsius. Still nothing. I then pitched another pack of yeast, approx 24 hours ago, still nothing.
Could it be both packs of yeast were no good? I followed pack instructions both times by rehydrating.

The yeast is probably fine, are there any weird ingredients in the apple juice?
 
Not that I know of. I used the same juice in the first batch. That was my thought too.
 
Yeast and cinnamon IME don't get along too well, but I am referring to the ground up variety. Is there a possible preservative of some kind in your juice?
 
I ended up dumping it, I was also suspecting it may have been the cinnamon. I checked label on juice, it did not label anything about preservatives.
I just tried it again, this time without the cinnamon sticks. If I decide I want cinnamon I may add it in the secondary. I'll find out in morning if fermentation starts.
 
I ended up dumping it, I was also suspecting it may have been the cinnamon. I checked label on juice, it did not label anything about preservatives.
I just tried it again, this time without the cinnamon sticks. If I decide I want cinnamon I may add it in the secondary. I'll find out in morning if fermentation starts.

My first toe in the water was using apple juice, and I've tried several variations on it too, adding sliced up apples to the ferment and such.

Always turns out watery and bland, with very little to no apple character...though if you're looking for something cheap with a decent base mouthfeel to make different alchoholic teas...it is a good choice. Dry hopping that kind of cider can be pretty good.
 
So I tried again, without the cinnamon. Apple juice, some dextrose and wine yeast. Same result, did not ferment. Could the container stop fermentation? It was about a 1 gallon plastic container from the dollar store, the type used to put a box of cereal in.
Needless to say it was dumped.
I now have about 3 litres of Apple cider with only wine yeast added, fermenting great for about 5 days now in a glass jug.
I still have cinnamon on the brain. Would adding it to the secondary work?
Any other suggestion?
 
So I tried again, without the cinnamon. Apple juice, some dextrose and wine yeast. Same result, did not ferment. Could the container stop fermentation? It was about a 1 gallon plastic container from the dollar store, the type used to put a box of cereal in.

I think it's highly unlikely that the fermenter container had anything to do with it. Something else in your process is amiss. Yeast, temperature, rehydration protocol if any, how much sugar. Tell us more about your recipe and methods.
 
Sanitized container and added 3 litres of Apple juice.
I then added about a cup of corn sugar.
I warmed about 2 cups of water to 40 degrees Celsius and stirred in yeast and left it for about 15 mins.
After stirring up juice and sugar I added the yeast and put cover on.
I left it for about 3 days and nothing.
Room temp was around 16-17 degrees Celsius, maybe 4-5 degrees higher when wood stove was on which is in the next room.
The only thing I can figure is the juice was too cold when I pitched the yeast. It was on the basement floor for a couple days prior to using.
Would the juice being too cold when I pitched the yeast result in it not taking off?
 
I don't see any real problems. 40°C is a little on the warm side, and 17°C is a bit cool, but neither should kill the yeast. Maybe try using 1/2 cup of 30°C water to rehydrate the yeast? So it's less of a shock when you pour it in.

Put a pinch of sugar in the yeast-water next time to make sure it bubbles.
 
Thanks.
For the batch I have on now, which is about 3 litres of store bought cider, I intend to moe it to a secondary and add a couple cinnamon sticks. I will let it sit for a week or two then bottle. I will prime with prob 9-10 table spoons of sugar. Any other suggestions?
 
Sanitized container and added 3 litres of Apple juice.
I then added about a cup of corn sugar.
I warmed about 2 cups of water to 40 degrees Celsius and stirred in yeast and left it for about 15 mins.
After stirring up juice and sugar I added the yeast and put cover on.
I left it for about 3 days and nothing.
Room temp was around 16-17 degrees Celsius, maybe 4-5 degrees higher when wood stove was on which is in the next room.
The only thing I can figure is the juice was too cold when I pitched the yeast. It was on the basement floor for a couple days prior to using.
Would the juice being too cold when I pitched the yeast result in it not taking off?

If the temperature difference between the yeast and juice was more than 10 degrees you could have killed them.
 
Update. Should have only used about half a cinnamon stick or none. I used 2. The taste is overpowering.
Also I didn't test it but alcohol content seems low.
 
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