Mixing yeasts

[The_italian_cider_maker]

Hi all!
I was thinking about the possibility of mixing two or more type of yeast, in proportion.
Does anyone have ever tried?
Any inconvenience?

For example, mixing safale 04 30% with lalvin 70%.

 

[dwhite60]

What's your goal?

Blending won't be a problem. You could get the best of two worlds.

One of the canned kit manufacturers does a kit with a blended ale and lager yeast. I read the idea was for beginners to get a good ferment if it was a little cool or a little warm.

 

[Joeywhat]

Absolutely nothing bad can come from it. I would do some research on what you're mixing and see if anyone else has tried, to get you an idea of what you're mixing will give you the results you expect. Or, if it's just for fun or research, have fun with it and take notes.

A lot of old school fermented drinks were blended anyways, purely because no one was able to separate the different yeasts that were floating around in their fermenters (or they didn't know that yeasts were a thing yet...).

 

[Maylar]

Be aware however that some yeasts don't play well with others. Some wine yeasts have the competative "kill" factor that will literally kill any other yeast present. Ale yeasts are all "susceptable" to the kill factor. Any wine yeast that's approved for restarting a stuck fermentation will have the K-factor. So if you intend to mix yeasts be sure to research them for that (Lalvin always specifies if their yeast is competative, neutral, or susceptible).

 

[The_italian_cider_maker]

What's your goal?

Blending won't be a problem. You could get the best of two worlds.

One of the canned kit manufacturers does a kit with a blended ale and lager yeast. I read the idea was for beginners to get a good ferment if it was a little cool or a little warm.

Well... My goal is essentially to find a yeast blend which is good to give a nice flavors combination.

Maybe this will require a lot of trials trying to find the right proportion and the right combination... However mixing is not a crime

Thank you @dwhite60

 

[The_italian_cider_maker]

Absolutely nothing bad can come from it. I would do some research on what you're mixing and see if anyone else has tried, to get you an idea of what you're mixing will give you the results you expect. Or, if it's just for fun or research, have fun with it and take notes.

A lot of old school fermented drinks were blended anyways, purely because no one was able to separate the different yeasts that were floating around in their fermenters (or they didn't know that yeasts were a thing yet...).

I'll keep you updated but I'll try during the next season on September. The apples are not good enough now to do experiments.
Thanks @Joeywhat

 

[Maylar]

There's a thing in craft wine making where they let the wild yeast from the grapes ferment the first 3% or so then pitch a commercial yeast. They say it adds a unique complexity to the wine. Could do the same with cider I think.

 

[ncguire]

Not sure how well some yeasts would ferment together in the same vessel, but it is worth a try. If it were me, I would do separate trial batches with different yeasts and taste them after fermentation is complete to see how they taste, then try blending the separate batches together in different combinations till you get your target flavor profile. In the future, you can either repeat the process with separate batches, or try combining the yeasts in a single batch with similar proportions and see how it compares.