Yeast flavours in Cider - I like it

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Bludger

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I just cracked a bottle of CIder from a brew earlier this year. I had marked the bottle at the time as it was the last one and got some dregs from the bottom of the fermenter.
Compared to the other bottles it had a definate yeasty flavour - which I quite liked! To the extent that I was wondering if I should do anotehr batch and give it a good stir before bottling to see if I can get that yeasty flavour in all the bottles.

Wondering if anyone has experience to share in that respect?
 
Just reminded me of a quote from dodgeball...
"Necessary? Is is necessary for me to drink my own urine? No, but it's sterile and I like the taste!"
 
Add urine, carbonation drops and a small quantity of yeast to freshly sanitised bottle.
What do you get?
 
Bludger said:
To the extent that I was wondering if I should do anotehr batch and give it a good stir before bottling to see if I can get that yeasty flavour in all the bottles.
Why not just roll the bottle before pouring like you would a coopers?
 
Been away for a while. Thanks for the jokes.

@jdw81 To date my bottles have come out with very little sediment, both beers and ciders. Not sure if I am getting something right or wrong there. I always put 7g of Sugar into the bottle to get the carbonation. They are always carbonated and I have not had an explosion yet.

The question was whether anyone had any experience to share, and I know that most home breweres go to great lengths to remove sediment by racking or whatever other means. But one of the defining characteristics of French Champagne is a "yeastiness" that is not always present in Sparkling wines. As I drink a fair bit of French I quite like the flavour.

With some more thought I suspect that no one else would like my yeasty cider so I have not persued it yet. Also that if I was to do this, I should rack it and put just a small quantity of the sediment back in.

Topic closed.
 
The yeastiness in a French champagne comes not from yeast sediment (ever see a cloudy champagne?) but from autolysed (dead and decaying) yeast cells. They leave it on the lees for an extended time so the yeast starts to autolyse and release the flavour compounds.

If you like those flavours, there is no reason you can't do that with your cider. Leave it sitting on the yeast for a month or so after fermentation stops. Only word of warning is that different strains of yeast do different things when they autolyse. A champagne yeast produces desirable flavours. Others may not.

The other alternative is that its not the aytolysis flavours you like but the taste of the yeast its self. In that case just roll the bottle to mix the goodness back in like you do with a coopers or a heffe.

Cheers
Dave
 
Thanks Dave/airgead I did not know that about the French Champagne.
Generally I use Champagne yeast for Cider, so I can think about doing what you suggest.
As I said, I get very little sediment in my bottle, so far have not discovered the flavour from the sediment, I just gave a sample from my latest brew a good shake. Nothing, but it does need a few more weeks cellering.
 

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