DILLIGAF Cider. Read for a good laugh

[ashton]

Three days ago my wife and I bottled our most recent beer, a stout, and within five minutes of the last cap going on I felt the urgent need to brew again(you know the feeling). I have a brew day scheduled for tomorrow, but was bored this afternoon and realized it is just about time to start looking for cider!

On a total whim, and with about 20 minutes of research, we went to Henry's Farmers Market and bought...
1 gallon of pasturized organic apple juice (OG was 1.050)
1/2# brown sugar
1/2# raw wildflower blossom honey
7g Active Dry Yeast(for breadmaking, but I've heard rumors it is similar to ale yeast? who cares)

I dumped the hydrometer reading flask full of cider into a soup pot, added the brown sugar, 1/2tsp dry active yeast, and boiled for about 5 minutes

I cooled this mixture down to 70 degrees F and poured it back into the 1 gallon glass growler of cider, also adding the 1/2# of raw honey and the rest of the package of yeast.

I tried to take another gravity reading but the honey was lingering up on the top of the juice so I wasn't able to read anything that I trusted as accurate. who cares.

So now what I've done is used a few layers of tin foil to hold a blow off hose above the mouth of the jug which leads into a bucket of water. simple enough.

I'm almost embarrassed at how much of an amateur move this whole experiment is and would never be so free lance with a beer, but I don't hold cider to the same level as beer and figured the worst thing that could happen is I'm out about 10 bucks.

What I hope happens is that there is a crazy, messy fermentation from either the dry yeast activating or some weird wild yeasts that were in the honey come out and turn this baby into something half way palatable!

If you have any insight as to what I can expect, or just have some witty comments to make about what I have done and why it will never work, PLEASE respond. I'll be posting results even if nobody responds!

 

[ACbrewer]

Well my first thought was 'yeast nutrient?' but the boiled yeast pack might do that for you.

I'm seeing your sanitation is not the best, so maybe wild yeast I think your OG based on your ingredients is like a 1.080 to 1.090 - I'm rough figuring there. about 18 pts from the honey... and like 20 from the sugar.

 

[ashton]

I was recently listening to a podcast on starters and one of the guys mentioned that dead yeast provide nitrogen usable by active yeast, essentially serving as a nutrient or energizer(Am I correct to assume those words are interchangeable?). I've had a few of these dry bread yeast packs in my pantry for about a year, so I figured I'd give it a shot and if nothing else, the wild yeast would overpower it

 

[discooby]

Don't give up on it! It sounds like it will turn out good!

Though I haven't heard about "boiling yeast" I see what you are saying.... the dead yeast getting eaten is a source of nutrients but 'yeat energizer' and 'yeast nutrient' isn't expensive and lasts a while...i.e. you don't need to use a lot of it.

Wild yeast is a possibility since you boiled (?) half of the yeast? usually they (healthy yeast) will kill any other mild pathogens... they want to be king! But there are ways of cultivating wild, cider yeast and it's not that hard. I haven't done it yet, but I live in a desert; if I can relocate to an "apple friendly" environment then I plan on using only the natural yeast from apple farms as my primary fermentation yeast. I feel 'those yeasts know the apples from that area best'! Cheers and keep us posted... btw, it will take several months, if not a year, for the true apple flavor to show its self!

Edit: yeast nutrient and yeast energizer are NOT the same... they are two different products, at least from what I know and use...

 

[ashton]

Thanks! She's rip roaring away right now. I checked about 18 hours after pitching and there was a ton of activity so I'm not sure exactly how long it took to start. I can post some pictures, but it really isn't any different from what you'd expect.

One of the only noteworthy bits is that this seems to be bottom fermenting. Is it possible that I have a lager yeast in there? I was trying to googleimage some wild yeast fermentation but couldn't find much information. It's at 70 degrees F so I'm a little confused.

Smell is pretty mild, a hint of honey and even less apple.

1/2 inch of small white bubbles on the head.