Cider experiments

[Viking_Brewing]

So I'm pretty new to cider making, and after screwing up a 10 gallon batch of mead, I decided not to take lot of risks until I know what I'm doing with cider. I bought some really cheap juice (75¢/L) that was preservative free, not from concentrate. I started with two 3-Litre jugs. In one I have pure apple juice, the other apple-lime. I used regular baker's yeast and it seems to have worked great, though I haven't tasted either yet. I also added a bit of brown sugar and dextrose to each. They both seem to have stopped now (9 days later) and I'm letting them clear up. For fun, I've started another with the same kind of apple juice, but I added some maple syrup as the sugar. Then in another jug I started one with Concord grape juice (not sure if that technically means I'm making wine or grape cider) and I added blueberry concentrate (from IKEA, I know its not ideal) to boost the sugar level. When I pitched the yeast however, instead of settling at the bottom like with the others, it stayed floating on top, even after stirring. If anyone has any ideas about anything I've done so far or should do, let me know!

 

[MarkKF]

Experiments are good. I start with a one gal. batch whenever I try something new. But IMO your crazy to use bakers yeast. Wine yeast like EC-1118 is very cheap and very forgiving. The final result will be dry and lack flavor. I use cider or ale yeast which costs more. I recommend getting some 5 gal. batches of plain Apple cider under your belt before doing spices or fruits. That way you can taste test the experiments to a baseline.

 

[Viking_Brewing]

OK, that's good advice. And I only used bakers yeast to see what it might be like. I'll do a big batch with good yeast

 

[MindenMan]

Unless you like your ciders bone-dry, EC-1118 is not for you. I use 1084 Irish Ale yeast for my ciders now, and they don't finish bone dry and they still taste like apple. Some people like to use "Sweet Mead" yeast when making cider as it leaves a bit of residual sugar at the end of fermentation. I get a smack-pack of yeast an put it into a starter; 1/2 into wort and 1/2 into apple juice, and then I step it up from there, so I have yeast that are happy for malt sugar, and yeast that are happy for fructose.