Saison Cider?

[bullsneck]

I've got 10L of Cider that looks like it's not fermenting. Damn S-04.
I have another pack if dry yeast in the fridge, but it's a Belle Saison. Am I going to end up with 10Lof undrinkable Cider if I pitch the Saison in?

 

[tiprya]

No, pitch it, but the lack of fermentation is unlikely to be helped by more yeast, it probably need nutrients and oxygenation.

 

[Barry]

Saw a recipe in Brew Your Own, I think, which uses a saison yeast in a cider. It stated that the saison character is subdued but pleasant.

 

[Airgead]

Yeasts do different things in cider (i could make a joke there but won't) than they do in beer. Generally, whatever characters they give to beer are much less pronounced in a cider as the precursor chemicals aren't present. You won't get any clove from a heffe yeast in a cider for example.

You should be OK with the saison yeast.

Cheers
Dave

 

[doon]

Have you taken a gravity reading to see if it is or isn't fermenting?

 

[Airgead]

Good point. Cider doesn't hold a stable foam like beer does so you tend to get less karausin when fermenting (having said that, a top cropping yeast will still foam madly on the top). They ferment more like wines than beers - maybe some little bubbles rising to the surface but no big foam.

And don't trust the airlock. It may be not sealed properly or clogged with kittens.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Not sure how relevant it is - but I've fermented a few ginger beers using Belle saison and they have been crackers. It attenuates like crazy but doesn't leave it tasting completely dry, and seems to add some yeast character as well.

 

[TimT]

Suspect ginger beers would work well with lots of yeast because apparently ginger root is a natural home for wild yeast. Maybe it has a friendly nutrient in it? Anyway, no matter how you add the ginger - in the boil, during the fermentation - the yeast seems to like it. I made a wheat beer with ginger last year; it was delish and had those qualities Liam Snorkel describes above.