Yeast suggestions

[celticinnbrewery]

Hi all,

So I want to brew a cyser that retains a fair amount of the apple flavor. I've heard that certain yeasts can help with keeping the apple flavor stronger, while others tend to eliminate it. I am not overly concerned about dry vs. sweet as I can always just backsweeten later on. I've only made one other cider before (apricot cider), and used Nottingham for the yeast. It is still aging, so I do not know how it really turned out yet. I was just hoping for some yeast suggestions from those with more cider making experience.

Thanks
~ CIB

 

[UpstateMike]

Ale yeasts like Nottingham are a good choice. You may also want to try Safale S-04, I have used it with success. Although Nottingham is usually my go-to yeast for cider.

Wine and champagne yeasts are the flavor strippers, IMHO.

 

[JtotheA]

White Labs 575...WLP 575. Some may say "what?!" I say "try it if you can get it". Hasn't ever let me down. Always has some intersesting notes...even though I'm just fermenting apple juice only. And I even reuse the cake and dump more juice into the primary after racking.

 

[celticinnbrewery]

What do you guys think of the White Labs 775 English Cider yeast? My LHBS recommended it to me, and its what I ended up using for this batch. I put the batch together last night and the fermentation was going strong by this morning, so it seems like it is at least doing the job well.

I've got a batch of Apricot Cider going right now with Nottingham, and am curious to see how it turns out. I've heard good things about that yeast.

I'll definitely try out the WLP575 next time. What kind of impact on the flavor does is provide?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Cyser or cider? Two different animals. Nottingham works great in cider, but doesn't have the alcohol tolerance needed for a cyser. For a cyser you'll need to use a wine yeast.
Regards, GF.

 

[progmac]

Required reading here at Cider University:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/results-juice-yeast-sugar-experiments-83060/

 

[celticinnbrewery]

Well I think technically its a cyser. The recipe was this:
4 lbs - wildflower honey
4 gallons - Motts apple juice
2 lbs - light brown sugar
water to top off to fill a 6.5 gallon carboy
Yeast nutrient / energizer
OG ~ 1.058

I carmalized the honey (based on an old recipe thread i found on here) and then added the apple juice, water and sugar accordingly. My hope was to get that carmalized flavor combined with a strong apple taste. The hope was that a good yeast would allow the apple flavor to remain stronger and not just get fermented out.

Hopefully I didn't mess this up too badly!

Thanks for the input so far. That sticky was a great read.

 

[UpstateMike]

Cyser or cider? Two different animals. Nottingham works great in cider, but doesn't have the alcohol tolerance needed for a cyser. For a cyser you'll need to use a wine yeast.
Regards, GF.

Not sure what you will need for cyser, but I have successfully done 14% ABV with Nottingham in cider.

 

[JtotheA]

Not sure what you will need for cyser, but I have successfully done 14% ABV with Nottingham in cider.

Agree. Notty seems to be the heartiest ale yeast. Pretty much an ale yeast with a capability to almost be a wine/champagne yeast. Seems to flocculate well for anyone like me that likes to cold crash and "rack away" the yeast. And last but definitely not least, most reliable and always leaves some flavor behind. I'm sure it would be fine with a higher gravity cyser.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Not sure what you will need for cyser, but I have successfully done 14% ABV with Nottingham in cider.

I've heard of Notty going to 11%, but 14% is pretty impressive!

 

[ram5ey]

Just listened to the cider (again) podcast of Jamil show. The guest said yeast is much less important in flavor production to ciders as compared to beer and stressed fruit selection.