Weston,s Old Rosie yeast starter.

[Jonny69]

Can I just confirm: is this the Old Rosie we're talking about, the stuff they sell in Waitrose?



Mine is definitely doing nothing - no signs of brewing whatsoever and when I've harvested yeasts in the past they usually kick off immediately even without nutrient

 

[graysalchemy]

That is the very same have you taken a gravity reading because I bet it is actually fermenting it just doesn't look kike it is :thumb: Beer yeast will get going quicker because malt extract or wort has a lot more nutrients and proteins which yeast need to get going sadly lacking in apple juice.

 

[alanywiseman.]

The old rosie starter i did did not look like it was fermenting at all. I only really noticed that it had fermented when i crash colded and noticed the amount fo sediment. Take a SG as GA says

 

[Jonny69]

It certainly doesn't taste like it's started, it still tastes like the Lidl apple juice straight out the carton (sweet), no fizz and doesn't smell like it has kicked off at all. I'll persevere with it - I've got a backlog of TC's and wines in all my demijohns at the moment, so once I've worked through some of them I'll be able to get the next TC going :thumb:

 

[alanywiseman.]

What is the temp? Maybe try raising it to 23-24 to get it going then bring it back down again.

 

[Ken L]

Well, I added a little nutrient and gave it another 24 hours - still nothing.
If it starts up now, I'm assuming that its wild yeast that's got in. The Westons yeast is dead as a dodo.
I'll get the Suma apple TC going tomorrow or Thursday with a standard wine yeast.

 

[adensf]

i used that cider except mine came from B&M so was probably half the price :whistle: , i just stuffed mine in my airing cupboard for a week until it had a nice cake at the bottom then fired it in the fridge for a couple of days till i had the remaining ingredients i also added 3-4 tablespoons of sugar just to give the yeast a bit more to chew on ( dont know if that made any difference) i used sainsburys basic aj as a base and for the body of the cider , not sure if this will help but thought id let you know how iv done it , mines slowed down a bit and seems to be bubbling a lot but not fermenting so fast , got an sg of 1.029 down from 1.070 giving me just over 5% by my calcs aiming for a botteling sg of 1.010, good luck hope some of this was usefull

 

[graysalchemy]

, got an sg of 1.029 down from 1.070 giving me just over 5% by my calcs aiming for a botteling sg of 1.010, good luck hope some of this was usefull

It is likely to go all the way down to 1.000 or a bit below. If you want to bottle it at 1.010 then you will have to kill off the yeast with Potasium Sorbate and be satisfied with still cider. If you want fizzy then you will have to let it completely ferment out then back sweeten with a something like splenda which is sweet but non fermentable. If you just bottle it whilst it is still fermenting you are likely to get bottle bombs :nono: :nono:.

Turbo Cider also benefits from having tannin and malic acid added as this replicates the levals found in cider apples and are an important part of the cider flavour profile. It also beifits from at least 2-3 months maturation in bulk before botlling.

:thumb:

 

[musher]

My first TC with Old Rosie yeast and malic is on the go. I took the yeast sediment from one bottle of OR and added it to about 200mls of apple & cherry juice left over from a WOW with a bit of yeast nutrient. That was given a daily shake for about a week before cooling and draining (sorry drinking) the excess juice.

The starter then went into 4 litres of Sainsbury's apple juice with a teaspoon of malic and a cup of strong sweet tea. It took about 12 hours to show signs of life but it seems to be chugging along quite nicely now.

If I crop the yeast from this attempt how long can I keep it in the fridge before starting the next (probably 20 litre) batch?

 

[graysalchemy]

I have revived yeast which has been sat at the bottom of a fementer for 9-10 months with no problem. The only problem with it sat ina fridge is that it can get infected. I would say 4-5 weeks max. :thumb:

 

[dangerman]

Don't they wack in a load of chemical stabiliser into the bottles so that all the yeast is killed off?

I've literally just got back from th'asda and bought myself a Westons Scumpy for my supper tonight. Might have a crack at a culture meself if you fellers say it's a go.

 

[dangerman]

Also, I've bought these bottles several times and ended up binning them because I can't figure out a sensible replacement top/cap solution.

Any ideas how I could create a nice seal?

(I would have put a picture up of the bottle but Dave is saying I'm spamming.)

 

[graysalchemy]

Unfortunately the scrumpy is not the same as old rosie. The scrumpy is still cider thus it has been pasteurised to kill the yeast. Only the OR works unfortunately. Morrisons and Waitrose sell the Old Rosie. :thumb:

 

[dangerman]

Thanks mate, I'll get on that today I think. I'm passing a Morrisons.

 

[samnorfolk]

Cant you just chuck the contents of the Old Rosie and malic acid into a fermenting TC?

 

[graysalchemy]

Some people have had sucess doing doing just that you will get the MLF element but you won't benifit from the Old rosie yeast as the yeast you are already using will dominate the old rosie. :thumb:

 

[LeithR]

I'm now trying another stage in this experiment.

I've combined the sediment from 3 of a previous patch of OR my cider made with Lidl's AJ using OR yeast culture as per GA's original "How To" :hat: :hat:

Added 500ml of AJ into my Pyrex cone along with the saved sediment and put in the fridge 3 days ago. Its going like a rocket.

Ready to transfer to my DJ and culture up to handle 25L.

 

[dangerman]

Quick question - I've been experimenting with culturing more yeast. I bought a sachet of high alcohol yeast recently and pitched most of it into one of my wines, I took the tiniest little pinch and plonked it in a 100ml fizzy drinks bottle with some water and sugar. It seems to have cultured nicely, there must be five or even ten times more yeast in there now. But it seems to have stopped. I added a little more sugar and left it but it seems to have stopped.

Is there anything I can do to kick it off again? Culture it even more? I'm just practising because when apple season is upon us this Old Rosie yeast sounds ideal. Once I've finished with this little experiment I might bung it into a Robinson's Tropical juice wine (found recipe on here).

 

[wilsoa1111]

to answer ur question danger man sounds like its run out of nutrients, luckily not an issue for cider yeasts as apple juice from the cartons has plenty of nutrients

Also just thought i would post my success with MLF (looking great), couldnt get hold of some old rosie BUT did manage to get plenty of yeast from a bottle of this:
http://www.thewinesociety.com/shop/prod ... =&cc=WTYPE

gonna leave the DJ to bulk mature at room temp,

btw is only having the neck of the DJ with pellicle ok or is it important to get a big surface area for the pellice???

 

[dangerman]

So pop some nutrient in and fanny's your cousin?