Pitching Cider Yeast

[BiotinX]

Preparing to brew my first batch of cider (I'm sorry if this question belongs in the cider forum). I have read a bunch of instructional stuff online and I have two cider books, but pitching the yeast is still confusing me. If you have a minute I would very much appreciate some clarification. I should also add that I'm planning on starting with a 1 gallon batch.

1) Can I pitch the yeast in my must that I have sterilized by boiling (plus adding a pinch of yeast nutrient)?

2) Is there a particular amount of pitched yeast that I should add to my must? I read things like, "Open a bottle of apple juice, pour some out, add the yeast, and the next day add it to your fermenter." No indication of what the size of the bottle, how much was poured out.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Kent88]

You can sanitize the must by boiling. Another popular method is to add some campden tablets to the must and wait a day to add yeast. Then you don't have to worry about pitching into must that is too hot. You could probably also pasteurize it by keeping it at or slightly above 140F for a while (you'd have to look it up). Yeast nutrient should be fine as long as you don't go overboard it with.

There probably is a particular amount of yeast to pitch. What kind of yeast are you using? Danstar? Wyeast? White Labs? Something else?

 

[BiotinX]

Kent88,

Thank you for your thoughts. I was thinking about making more than a gallon of must (maybe 1.5 gal) and removing maybe 100 mL to pitch the yeast. I would boil sterilize that 100 mL, allow it to cool, and add the yeast. I'm thinking of using K1V-1116 Lalvin Wine Yeast. I would add campden tablet(s) to the remaining 1 gallon of must, allow it to sit for 24 hours, and then add the 100 mL of pitched yeast.

Does this sound reasonable? (I'm a scientist, please forgive me, it's hard for me to to work without a defined procedure.)

 

[madscientist451]

You don't have to add any chemicals to your cider. You can dump the packet of yeast in dry, or you can rehydrate using the directions on the package. If you don't have a thermometer, don't rehydrate, just dump it in. To rehydrate, warm up a cup of apple juice in the microwave to the temperature indicated on the package, add the yeast, cover the container and wait about 10 minutes, then dump it in your fermenter. I sanitize a glass measuring cup and a saucer as a cover with star-san when doing this.

 

[porterpounder]

Be careful boiling fruit juice for sanitization. Boiling will usually cause a permanent pectin haze. Use pasteurized juice without preservatives and there is no need to add chemicals or heat the juice before pitching. Search for pitching calculators online. There are many and are based on the gravity, or sugar content of the must and the volume you are fermenting. They will tell you how much yeast to add to your cider.

 

[mikerlynch26]

I agree with porterpounder, I wouldn't heat up my juice at all before fermentation, you're getting rid of flavor and aroma compounds you want in your cider, not in the air.

What's the source of your juice? Are you using store-bought or fresh pressed? Fresh pressed should get some campden, and even then you can just directly pitch your vial/dry yeast pack directly on the cider, no heating/starter needed. If you're using store bought it's already been stabilized, so just pour into a jug, sprinkle the yeast in, and slap an airlock on it.

For yeast, the K1V tends to dry out the cider quite a bit, scrubbing out a lot of the apple flavor. Also tends to throw a lot of sulfur (rotten egg smell) while fermenting. I'd suggest Lalvin 71b, makes for a more fruit forward cider, less sulfur, and it rounds out the acidity of the juice.

Speaking of sulfur, regardless of yeast I'd swirl the contents of your fermenter daily (sometimes twice daily) during the first week or two of your ferment to blow off that rotten egg smell. Otherwise it's possible that it will dissolve into the juice itself and there's no easy way to get rid of it. Yeast nutrient after the first couple days of ferment will help with that as well, but I haven't had first hand experience. I'm trying that experiment with my next batch.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

(and yes, please cross post this in the cider forum )

 

[z-bob]

Get a 4L Carlo Rossi wine bottle from one of your wino friends (it takes a #6.5 rubber stopper) That will ferment a gallon of juice with a little room to spare. I use the filtered apple juice from Aldi that comes in half gallon plastic bottles. Pour two of them in the Carlo Rossi bottle, holding just a little back from the 2nd bottle (put that in the fridge you will add it later) Add maybe 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/4 tsp of yeast nutrient, and shake it up good to get some air dissolved in it.

Use half a packet of white wine yeast. (Cotes des Blanc is a good one. So is 71B) That's too much, but wine yeast is cheap. I like to activate it in a little warm water before I pour it in, but since you're overpitching it anyway you could just sprinkle it on top of the must.

Cover the mouth of the jug with a piece of sterile gauze and a rubber band to keep dust and fruit flies out. You'll keep this on for a few days, until the foam dies down. Maybe a week. Then pour in the apple juice that you held back and put a rubber stopper and airlock on the jug until the cider is clear. (couple of weeks) Then you bottle it like beer.

If you don't have bottling equipment, 1L plastic pop bottles work. You can reuse the original twistoff caps.

 

[Kent88]

I was thinking about making more than a gallon of must (maybe 1.5 gal) and removing maybe 100 mL to pitch the yeast. I would boil sterilize that 100 mL, allow it to cool, and add the yeast. I'm thinking of using K1V-1116 Lalvin Wine Yeast. I would add campden tablet(s) to the remaining 1 gallon of must, allow it to sit for 24 hours, and then add the 100 mL of pitched yeast.

That sounds reasonable. I have made apple wine by just sprinkling in some dry wine yeast a day after adding a campden tablet to the must and it turned out fine. I think a packet of yeast like that is suitable for 5 gallons of must, so I don't really think you'd need to make a starter for it. You shouldn't need a higher cell count than what is already in the packet. If anything just rehydrate with boiled, cooled, chlorine free water in a sanitized vessel for about 10 minutes before pouring it in.

 

[BiotinX]

All good thoughts and suggestions. Thank you all for the help. I will definitly check out the pitching calculators.

Thanks!