Using a bottle of the previous batch instead of yeast?

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zadamxtr

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Since there is still yeast alive in a finished batch, would it be possible to start the next batch of cider by just adding a bottle of the previous batch to the Apple juice rather than yeast?
 
It's certainly possible ... but you might want to read up on propagating bottle dregs because one bottle's cell count is probably an under-pitch for most batch sizes.
 
Yes, I did that just recently. But it was a bottle of beer with a *lot* of sediment and a very aggressive ale yeast that I wanted to try. I added the dregs from a 500ml bottle to a half gallon of apple juice, then stepped it up to a gallon once it was fermenting good, then poured all that into another 3 gallons of juice for 4 gallons total.

The yeast I normally use for cider is so cheap it's not worth that effort.

An easier way to recycle the yeast is when you bottle a batch, pour fresh juice on the lees left behind in the fermenter to start the next batch. That should be a big overpitch which is okay.
 
Yes possible. But might be better to use the trub " sediment" from the previous batch and wash the visble yeast from it.
 
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