Best yeast for cider?

[pomme homme]

To date, I've used SIHA Levactif 3 by E.Begerow Gmbh & Co. for my cider production. The packet describes it as "highly active dry yeast for safe fermentation of red and white wines and final fermentation of suspended wines". Using this, I've produced a dry to very dry cider which tends to be rather strong (don't ask me the original and final sg - I use a portable spectrometer to take a brix reading at the start and always forget to do so again when I rack off!). Next year, in order to please my wife and guests who don't necessarily like their cider dry and strong, I'm minded to produce some of my cider at a lower abv, rather sweeter with, hopefully, more fruit flavour. I've considered keeving but I'm not confident of maintaining the degree of temperature control necessary to achieve my desired result by this method. Thus I'm minded to use a yeast - maybe a specific cider yeast - which wil not consume all the fruit sugar and will ferment out at a lower abv. As I'm sure that many of you will have been down this particular road already, your recommendations (and, ideally, details of the supplier and price) will be much appreciated.

 

[Mark1964]

everyone reckons champagne yeast is good but we have used wine yeast and cider yeast they are all good

 

[philip5660]

I have only dabbled in making cider with tesco value juice and I used youngs cider yeast. It got everything fermented nicely but my only complaint was that when pouring into a glass the sediment would get stirred up very easily. I'm used to a more compact yeast that i would get with an Ale.
I would be interested to know if there is a yeast that settles with a more compacted sediment.

 

[graysalchemy]

As I understand it the reason why you have to keeve cider to produce a naturaly sweeter cider is because the sugars in apple juice are so fermentable. You are not convering the carbohydrates to a fermentable sugar as you are in beer, thus you have no control. I believe keeving removes the yeast nutrients thus inhibiting the action of the yeast.

I think what ever yest you are going to use you are going to get a high attenuation. Certainly wine and champagne yeasts will ferment out to dryness. I have used a cider yeast harvested from a bottle of westons cloudy cider which seems to have finished at 1003 which is slightly sweeter than what I got with a wine yeast.

Someone has sugested using a poor attenuating ale yeast, this may work but I don't know what flavour profiles this would bring. Perhaps use something like SO 5 which doesn't have a strong flavour profile. Unfortunately this goes against the grain for me as I believe in using ale yeast for ale, wine yeast for wine and cider yeast for cider.

Your only other option is to kill of the yeast with wine stabilizer once you have reached the fg you require. However by doing this you will only be able to have still cider unless you force carbonate which again goes against the grain with me.

I hope these thoughts may be of help.

 

[user 1290]

I've produced a dry to very dry cider which tends to be rather strong (don't ask me the original and final sg - I use a portable spectrometer to take a brix reading at the start and always forget to do so again when I rack off

If you have both a refractometer and hydrometer, you can try using this method the ascertain the ABV of finished cider (or wine) without knowing either the original Brix or SG (if it's sparkling you'll need to de-gas it first):

http://www.makewine.com/winemaking/methods/alcohol

 

[pomme homme]

Thank you, all, for your very useful input.

Despite living in France, I learnt of keeving for the first time only days ago. Probably it's because whilst I live in an apple producing area, the orchards around here produce apples for the table. Now had I lived in Normandy...............!

I think that, next year, I will try at least one of my batches of cider with a cider yeast. As I don't have the means to harvest a sample from a commercial cider, can someone point me to a commercial brand of cider yeast that they've used and can recommend?

In order to be as scientific as possible, maybe I should, at the same time, attempt a medium dry cider by killing the yeast with wine stabiliser. Being unable, then, to produce a sparkling cider is not a problem for me. I'm perfectly happy with still cider. Probably a good thing as I have produced nearly a hectolitre of the stuff this year!

On consideration, I think that I will pass on the idea of using an ale yeast - unless as a test I produce a small sample. using just a demijohn of apple juice, employing this method.

Finally the guidance provided by the Amateur Winemakers of Oregon website was both interesting and, potentially, useful as I do have both a spectrometer and a hydrometer (although clearly I don't use the latter as much as I should!).

I'm endeavouring to be more scientific in my approach to cider making - but I'm still trying to perfect the art of walking and starting to think about a gentle trot. Running? Maybe that's something for the future!

 

[graysalchemy]

Harvesting yeast is very simple. What you will need is a sanitised dj with about 1l of apple juice in it. Next you need to get a bottle of bottle conditioned or cloudy cider. Let it settle so their is a film of white yeast on the bottom. Carefully pour the cider into a glass leaving the yeast and a few centimetres of cider. Mix this up and add it to your apple juice and give it a good shake to aerate then leave some were warm and also in a place that you can give a good swill now and again. Now you can sit back and enjoy that glass of cider you poured.

After a 4-5 days when fermentation has subsided and the yeast settled pour of most of the liquor, leaving the yeast and fill up with 2l of apple juice and repeat. Once this has finished repeat with 4l of apple juice.

Now you should have quite a lot of yeast which you can pitch. I have kept this for quite some time by bottling it in a beer bottle with half cider half yeast and a bit of sugar. Once the bottle has carbonated the yeast will stay dormant in the cider under pressure and out of harms way.

Hope that helps.