starter from last years bottles of cider?

[wildman]

so i still have 2 cases of cider from last year and i super pleased with the way it came out. the only thing i really need to do this years batch is yeast. out of 20 cases i have not had one sick bottle. from my thinking, a six pack of dregs should be adequate to make a one gallon starter.

70 gallons of cider for nothing. sounds good to me.

any thoughts?

 

[CvilleKevin]

My guess is that this would most likely work, but I dont think I'd be willing to take a risk with 70 gallons of cider because yeast is cheap. Maybe try this method on a couple of carboys and see how it compares to using fresh yeast. What yeast did you use last year?

 

[wildman]

ive used White Labs WLP775 English Cider Yeast for two years running and i could tell by taste if everything is going good.

i think im going to take a "lets see what happens" and then order some if anything goes wrong. its not like im going to do 70 gallons in a day. in 2 weeks i should have 15 gallons going and will be confident either way. im at the point now where it seems impossible to screw cider making up.

sorry this idea just popped in my head this morning and im still sorting it out.


if i remember correctly this yeast was not rated well by you and thought it had a hot sharp flavor or something and i agree to a point. the cider and yeast almost never tastes good until 3 days after i bottle it up in march. right now last years batch tastes really really good.

i picked this yeast before i had done any research on the internet and was bummed when you said you didnt like it (i had 30~gallons in carboys sitting next to me that tasted like crap when i read it). but i stuck it out and it turned out great. i stuck with that yeast last year because i didnt want to introduce to many other variables as i was changing a lot of the juice mix, the same is going to go for this year.

new crab apple trees found last year in the equation, slightly bitter with a ton of sugar, good yields of red juice for the work. was 5% in last years batch and am going to bump it up to about 15% of the mix. they should be able to pack in a lot more apple flavor without making it astringent. i also found some wild/crabs that taste like a jolly rancher and are 7.5% sugar and will be putting in all i can find this year.

 

[CvilleKevin]

That makes sense.

I havent tried using the WLP775 yet. I did try the Wyeast cider yeast - the Wy4766 and did not like it much. That one was fairly bland and flavorless, even 9 months after I bottled it. I've also used Youngs cider yeast which is OK but it ferments very fast and dry. What you are describing sounds like the Wy4184. That one is impossible to crash and tastes really harsh when it finishes out, but 9 months later is is really good.

I might check out the WLP775 this season on a test batch, although at this point I think I may skip trying to make dry ciders completely. Not because I dont like a dry cider now and then, but because for the past few seasons, I've made at least a couple dry batches by accident, either because the temps got too warm or because I was out of town and missed the crash point, or a couple times where I was just lazy and forgot to check in time

Brupack Ale makes a great dry cider, which I found out by accident this season. It makes a great semi-sweet as well, which is what I was going for, but the temps got so warm that it fermented out in 6 days. It has a lot of flavor and no burn, very smooth finish.

 

[wildman]

yes it might not suit what you are doing but i would be interested to know how it finishes your way. i guess im changing the juice to match the yeast,, kinda different than what you have done, to tell you the truth if i didnt have access to all the different types of crabs i would probably not recommend WLP775 because i feel the flavor would be pretty thin. i always taste when racking or taking readings and its always hot and thin except for the crabs.

the first year i put in 10% crab juice, last year i put in about 20% and im going to bump it up again to about 30% this year or more beings that the crabs ill be using are not so astringent. my cider has a lot more flavor than last year but i would always like a bit more and after priming with apple juice concentrate(18 cans), my cider has enough flavor to start balancing/masking any hotness (which wasnt there after aging 6 months) and dryness. the flavor really does scream apples and has a really good aftertaste. heck i usually swirl the bottle and drink the dregs.