Cider w/ various yeast experiments

[chippermonky]

Since I started homebrewing I've learned 2 things

1. The fermentation process and yeast used has a huge influence on flavor
2. At 8 bucks a gallon for the best apple juice already in a glass jug that is perfectly good for fermenting (add yeast and put cap slightly ajar), there's basically no reason not to make a lifetime supply of cider RIGHT NOW.

So putting 1 and 2 together, I finally decided to do a side by side comparison of several yeasts on cider. It's only been 3 days and there's already very noticeable differences between the four yeasts I used.

The contenders:

1. Lavlin EC-1118 (champagne yeast)
2. Lavlin D-47 (cider yeast)
3. fleischman active dry yeast
4. wild (using a previous batch as a starter, and that batch used a grapefruit peel as a starter)

I made 8 oz starters with all of these and let them go for 36 hours. They all ended up fairly foamy. Pour starters back into jugs. Shook vigorously and put cap back on slightly ajar. Threw some cling wrap over top just to be sure. I doubt much air is getting inside. I would have used valves but I ran out of gaskets that could fit in the tiny openings.

 

[chippermonky]

Preliminary results (2 days in):

EC-1118: tasted, most bland of them all. A little spunky.

D47: tasted, sharp (acidity and effervescent). Most fizzy when poured. Apple flavor most notable. In fact... It really not that diff than sparkling cider. I can see why this is cider yeast...

Bread: this one has some bready spunk to it but not in a bad way at all. Appple flavor second most notable I guess.

Wild: bland. I think even a little bitter. Murky apple flavor? This one was the most foamy in the carboy i.e. best head retention I guess.

All of them taste roughly equally alcoholic at the moment.

 

[chippermonky]

Clear winner right now is the D47 and I think may be a good choice for immediate consumption although I'm doubtful it'll pick any particularly impressive flavors with age.

I've made previous batches using the EC-1118 and wild and the bread yeast one is surprisingly similar to one I made with a dollop of sour dough starter. Of those, I think the wild was by and far the best with the most complex flavor but it's hard to say because a lot of that flavor came from the cara cara orange peel I added for yeast (btw cara cara orange + apple juice is an amazing combo). It did get sour but I like my cider a little sour. The EC-1118 gets pretty putrid but that goes away with age but leaves some offish (but not bad) flavors. Can't remember what the sour dough one was like but it was not bad and I think it had fewer off flavors than the 1118.

 

[chippermonky]

I will keep this updated! Bottling and tasting again in a week or so. Will probably do a side by side tasting after a month of aging and again after a year of aging.

 

[Keith66]

Ever try Nottingham?

 

[chippermonky]

Nope, I just used what I had laying around. Though I made a point of using the bread yeast since I love encouraging people to make grocery store homebrews. Of course, there's no reason for me not to do this 100 times over with every yeast I can get my hands on .

Is nottingham suppose to be good? I looked it up and I hear mixed things.