Cider with wine yeast

[Geobrewer85]

I'm thinking about picking some apples and pears from a local tree, juicing them with my juicer, and fermenting them with MA33 dry premium wine yeast from Vinters harvest. My goal is to make 5 gallons. This is my first cider and would love some pointers. What should I shoot for for an og?

 

[smyrnaquince]

I've never used that yeast, sorry.

As for the OG, I go with whatever the apple juice is. Some (many?) other folks add extra sugar to bump the alcohol level.

 

[CvilleKevin]

MA33 is OK if you like it real dry and dont mind waiting. I used MA33 a couple seasons ago - it had an interesting, somewhat nutty taste with a crisp finish while it was fermenting, but it is hard to stop this yeast. I tried to cold crash it at 1.002 when it was quite tasty, but no dice and within a couple days after the crash it fermented just about all the flavor out of the juice. After a year, still no flavor. I recently drank a bottle with some friends, nearly two years later. It is getting some flavor back and just starting to be drinkable if you like it real dry.

For a first cider, I'd use an ale or wheat yeast, which dont require so much aging to be drinkable. Or maybe do the MA33 batch first and sock the bottles away for a couple years, then make something you can drink this season