Moving from Beer to Cider

[RPh_Guy]

Here's my process; take from it what you will.

Prepare the rehydration solution:
I measure the Go-Ferm (1.25x the weight of yeast) in a 500mL borosilicate beaker. The large beaker provides lots of surface area.
I add the RO water (20x the weight of Go-Ferm) measured with a graduated cylinder.
I stir to dissolve with a glass stir rod.

Make a water bath to help hold the temperature:
I run tap water until it's about 99°F and I use that to fill a small bucket. In the bucket there's a little platform made from a vegetable steamer. This increases the amount of water in the water bath (increasing thermal mass) and allows water to circulate under the bottom of the beaker.
I heat the rehydration solution in a microwave in very short bursts (like 2-3 seconds) until it's 99°F. A rapid digital thermometer is very helpful for this.
I pour water out of the bucket so that there's not too much. I don't want my beaker floating.
I put the beaker in the bucket. Now they're both approximately 99°F.

Rehydration:
I sprinkle in the yeast after sanitizing the packet and scissors.
It sits undisturbed for 15 minutes. There are no clumps, so I don't stir and let it rest again.
At that point I remove the beaker from the water bath to begin attemporation. It has probably dropped to around 90°F. Covering the bucket can also help hold temperature.
I go very slowly, adding small amounts of must at first -- 10-30 mL at a time depending on the temperature difference, and later 40-60mL at a time. I avoid dropping it more than 10°F in 5 minutes.

I don't have a scope to measure viability from my method, but I can see slight CO2 production begin within 3-5 minutes after I add initially sugar and the yeast is very active in the beaker about 15-30 minutes after attemporation completes if I leave it sit. Be careful it doesn't climb out of the beaker.
My lag time for a 6 gal batch is under 12h at 60°F. When I'm fermenting lower like for cider, I pitch at around 60°F and then I'll drop it when I see activity.

I should take some photos next time.

No worries about your batch; it's just slow because it's cold.

 

[SEndorf]

Thanks for your detail and assistance!
You use more water than my previous instructions. Next time I will use your ratio with a hot water bath. Makes sense that it will better stabilize the temp.

 

[teddyearp]

My, my, my, how clinical you guys are. I mean no offense but it makes me wonder how my method even works if you use all that fancy equipment and serious measurements and time.

My last batch, I took the room temp juice, added the sugar I wanted to and shook the heck out of it. Took the 4-6 oz of juice that I poured off before mixing, put it in a glass that size (<----), 'nuked' it for about 20 seconds, added a tsp of DAP, and then tossed a couple of grams of EC-1118 on it. Twenty minutes later it was all foamy on top, gave it a good swirl and poured it into my must. 24 hrs later, my bubbler was going crazy.

Of course, the biggest variation for me is that I'm fermenting at about 65-67 F.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You use more water than my previous instructions.

The ratio is straight from Scott Labs, so any other instructions are wrong.
https://scottlab.com/goferm-goferm

 

[SEndorf]

This EC-1118 champagne yeast is a mystery.
What little developed krausen has dissipated.
It's gassing off a bit.
Thinking of hydrating another packet.

 

[RPh_Guy]

There shouldn't be much/any kräusen. Leave it alone or check gravity if you're worried about it.

 

[SEndorf]

LOL....
I'm like a noob worried about my bubbles....
I'm used to beer foaming shmutz into the blowoff.
I'll leave it alone then....

Thanks

 

[bkboiler]

Wow, this is great information. I've made cider a few times and had great results maybe just barely over most of the time. I'm excited to try out some of these techniques on my next batch.

 

[SEndorf]

I'm finding this cider fascinating, as it does not emulate beer fermentation at all.
I initially had a slight krausening that dissipated. I did step it up from 50 to 52F. Now at day 7 I have a half inch of clean white foam and the airlock shows continuous activity.
My only guess is the yeast needed quite some time to replicate into some biomass sugar munchers.
Based on the recent activity, it seemed pointless to take a gravity reading yet.
We'll see when things calm down.... again !

 

[doublejef]

I'm a semi to sweet cider fan and use a cold crashing and refrigeration protocol to consistently achieve this without pasteurization or chemicals.

I would love to hear more about your technique. Maybe you already explain it somewhere but I haven't seen it yet.

 

[SEndorf]

Very tasty… extremely dry and not very "appley".....
Next run will be a bit more scrappy.......