Natural yeast

[Crawfordid]

Hiya guys, apologies if someone already asked this, I've done a fair bit of beer brewing in the past and going to try my hand at cider making. I grow my own apples and have heaps to use, I've been looking on a few forums etc and the majority seem to make use of using a clampden tablet to kill the natural yeast then adding their own. I really want to make a old traditional scrumpy and some recipes recommend not adding Brewers yeast but using the natural yeast in the apple skin. Has anyone done this? Does it work? Any issues with it? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[brumbrew]

It does work but I've had mixed results. Like you I first tried the all natural approach. I got some really off flavours.

Got a decent 5% out of it but it just tasted weird. Like the smell of an old solid wood wardrobe in your elderly relatives house. If you know what I mean.

I just think that buy stunning wild yeast with campden tablets, to add your own known yeast gives a faster, firmer, stronger healthier fermentation.

And will taste a lot better.

I gave up on cider because of this. Now I've built a press and following the 'norm' I've not had a problem.

 

[Crawfordid]

Thanks for the reply! I'll maybe just play it safe and use a yeast packet and Campden tablets, don't want to waste all that time pressing the apples for it to go to waste! There are also some reports of people leaving the cider to ferment for several months with natural sugars to get a super strong cider instead of a week or two that I'm used to with the beers, does this work? Wouldn't it run out of sugars to ferment in the first place!

 

[chewie]

I've no idea about the wild yeast but for the sake of a few quid for a proven yeast the thought of ruining a lot of apples to me is a no brainer, perhaps try a small batch and see how it turns out, at least it will give you some perspective on it.

 

[duncans]

I had one go with a few mixed fruit ciders with purchased yeast but with fresh fruit. 2 turned to vinegar.

Need to remember there are bacteria as well as wild yeast out there. However, I will try it again sometime to see if I was just unlucky or I did something else wrong to cause them to go off.

 

[GB2014]

I made 2 gallons of cider without additives and it was ok like a 6 out of 10. The fermentation was slow and the taste was a bit unusual although not unpleasant. I have decided that from now on I will do the great majority of my cider with metabisulphite and special yeast but a little bit without each year.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Sulphite effectively prevents malolactic fermentation, an important part of the production of good cider.

 

[Crawfordid]

Hi folks, thanks for all your comments I eventually went with a packet of mangrove jacks cider yeast and it turned out excellent! Took a few months to get the full flavours but worked out perfectly if a little stron at 9.2%! Thanks for all your help!

 

[cheapbrew]

have a look mat this link for info on natural fermenting, recommended by my mate Vin who has made lots of cider over the years and naturally made 1000's of litres recently.
http://www.cider.org.uk/sulphite.html

 

[pomme homme]

I tried, with one of my batches of cider in 2014, unsucessfully. It fermented broadly in the same manner and at the same rate as those in which I'd killed the wild yeasts and then added a commercial yeast. However it produced an unpalatable cider and, because of this, I set the batch aside. When I returned to it, in 2015, it had turned to vinegar - although I have to add that it's a mighty fine cider vinegar, for which I've had a greater demand than for my cider. Sometimes life is like that!

 

[brumbrew]

I tried, with one of my batches of cider in 2014, unsucessfully. It fermented broadly in the same manner and at the same rate as those in which I'd killed the wild yeasts and then added a commercial yeast. However it produced an unpalatable cider and, because of this, I set the batch aside. When I returned to it, in 2015, it had turned to vinegar - although I have to add that it's a mighty fine cider vinegar, for which I've had a greater demand than for my cider. Sometimes life is like that!

Waste nothing! Kinda my motto. People who know me said I should have been born 100years ago ;-)

I brew kombucha which depends on bacteria too. Think of it as real yakult ;-)

Getting a good balance and a good culture is hard. And believe me, if the wind changes direction and farmer has mucked his field. Your results can be .... Well different.