# Cider Yeasts?



## tcraig20 (15/12/07)

Looking to put down a cider soon (getting bugged something shocking here).

Ill probably just dump some yeast on 20L of preservative free apple/pear juice. But what yeast to use for it? Are ale yeasts OK? (I have some S04 on hand).


----------



## bigfridge (15/12/07)

JamesCraig said:


> Looking to put down a cider soon (getting bugged something shocking here).
> 
> Ill probably just dump some yeast on 20L of preservative free apple/pear juice. But what yeast to use for it? Are ale yeasts OK? (I have some S04 on hand).



I know that Wyeast have a Cider yeast, but they also recommend a number of ale yeasts.

It is important to also add nutrients when making non-malt wines, mead and ciders otherwise the fermentation takes a very long time.

HTH,

David


----------



## goatherder (15/12/07)

S-04 works just super. You will need some nutrient though, as bigfridge has wisely advised.

For what it's worth I made a very tasty cider using half Just Juice Apple and halve Just Juice Apple/Pear juice. I used a good whack of nutrient and pitched S-04 as if it were a beer. 2 weeks later I kegged and carb'd it.

Easiest. Brew. Ever.


----------



## ausdb (15/12/07)

JamesCraig said:


> Looking to put down a cider soon (getting bugged something shocking here).
> 
> Ill probably just dump some yeast on 20L of preservative free apple/pear juice. But what yeast to use for it? Are ale yeasts OK? (I have some S04 on hand).


I have made a spiced cider before using 50% bottled apple juice and 50% apple/pear juice and some chopped up granny smiths in for good luck. I used the Wyeast 4766 cider yeast and it was quite dry. I also overdid the spicing and would regularly sample it a pint at a time each week at about the 6 months mark it was drinking nicely but at that point the keg blew dry 
I have a pack of the wyeast 4182 sweet mead somewhere in my fridge when I get around to trying a cider again as I was told it worked ok in ciders and as the name says leaves a bit of residual sugar.

Have a look on the wyeast website under the cider section, theres quite a few beer yeasts they recommend
http://www.wyeastlab.com/he_c_productinformation.cfm

PS I also used wyeast's nutrient in the cider, just didn't mention it as I use it in every brew.


----------



## drsmurto (17/12/07)

I have a cider on tap now that was made using the wyeast 4766 cider yeast. 18L of preservative free apple juice. Mmmmmmm. No nutrient needed. And with no boiling, no break so harvesting the yeast was a cinch!


----------



## MHB (17/12/07)

I still have a little of my last cider left
22L apple juice
Touch of nutrient
Muntons Gold Ale Yeast

I wanted some residual sugar so I chose a yeast with an attenuation limit that wouldnt dry the cider right out.

The only changes I will make for the next one are:-
I will use a variety of different apple juices, to increase the complexity of the flavour profile.
I will try the Wyeast cider yeast (David).

For a couple of cents I think you would be doing your self no favours leaving the nutrient out.

MHB


----------



## Fatgodzilla (17/12/07)

DrSmurto said:


> I have a cider on tap now that was made using the wyeast 4766 cider yeast. 18L of preservative free apple juice. Mmmmmmm. No nutrient needed. And with no boiling, no break so harvesting the yeast was a cinch!



The only fermented cider I've had is probably Strongbow. Had both the dry and semi sweet versions. Where does your cider sit in the sweetness range ? What sort of alcohol levels do you get for your 18l of juice (or did you add water ?)


----------



## drsmurto (17/12/07)

From memory SG was 1.046/8 and i dont remember where it finished. No water added just a few spices (ginger, lemon, cloves, cinnamon - boiled for 15 mins then strained into fermenter). Its a dry cider but not mouth puckering dry. 

Having actually read the wyeast description i now understand why i should use nutrient (cheers for the heads up MHB) but without adding any i still had a nice ferment, prob helped by a super fresh smack pack that damn near exploded 45 mins after i smacked it! I shook the crap out of each bottle before pouring it into the fermenter from a height so plenty of aeration. I have collected and washed more than 150mL of pure yeast slurry out of primary.


----------



## tcraig20 (17/12/07)

MHB said:


> I wanted some residual sugar so I chose a yeast with an attenuation limit that wouldnt dry the cider right out.



That's my main concern, I want something a bit sweetish. Im bottle conditioning, so Im thinking Ill need a low attenuation yeast. 

Thanks to the guys who mentioned yeast nutrient, I hadnt thought of that but its a good idea.


----------



## Muggus (17/12/07)

Cracked open the first of my all Cloudy Apple Cide last night after a month in the bottle.

Used 12L of fresh cloudy apple juice (no-preserv.) and a Red Star Premier Cuve Dry Wine Yeast.

There appeared to be come sulfur production during fermentation, and I've gotta say, it probably needs some more time in the bottle. But yeah, either way, the yeast I use attenuated to the point to where it was bone-dry.

Your best bet for having a cider with a bit of sweetness is possibly adding some malt (or another less fermentable sugar) to the cider itself, and/or if you want to keep it strictly juice, use a yeast with a low attenuation, a British ale yeast of some description may be what you're looking for.


----------



## tangent (17/12/07)

or even try the wyeast cider yeast designed for the job.


----------



## ausdb (17/12/07)

tangent said:


> or even try the wyeast cider yeast designed for the job.


That one is still quite dry, see post number 4 above. Half of the problem is we don't get real cider apples only table apples that we make cider with


----------



## tcraig20 (26/1/08)

Cider is made and Ive just bottled it.

Ended up using 12L apple/pear juice (55/45% I think) and 8L pure apple with S04. Tastes good already, not too dry, but a bit of an alcohol edge to it. Went from an OG of 1.046 to 1.004, which explains why it tastes a bit alcoholic (6.1% by my reckoning), but I think the pear juice helped keep a bit of sweetness about it. 

All told, Im looking forward to cracking one open in a few weeks.


----------



## Ginger NZ (27/4/08)

Apologies for bumping such an old thread. 

I've just thrown together a bits and pieces cyser. 

15l unpasteurised apple juice
1kg brown sugar & 1kg honey dissolved and made up to 4l

Pitched Safale-04 at 18C

OG: 1070

I don't have any yeast nutrient to hand and I'm not going to make it to the LHBS until tomorrow/Tuesday, would it be too late to add a wee bit of yeast nutrient after a couple of days? Should I just let the yeastie beasties do their thing for a while?


----------



## KHB (28/4/08)

I just put down a cider using a brigalow kit 1kg brewing sugar and 6 ltr of apple juice wasnt aware of making it from scratch but still look forward to trying mine


----------

