Yeast required for 1,000 Litres

[Freedomtea]

I'm having a hell of a time finding commercial suppliers for cider yeast and adding 50 sachets of £2.50 yeast into a single 1,000L fermenter is just not economical;

How long must I leave a yeast culture from a single sachet of yeast, say for example:

Youngs Cider Yeast - 5g
Reference: 4331
Condition: New product

Young's Cider Yeast is a special Bayanus strain of brewers yeast which has been specifically selected due to its ability to create a fantastically crisp and refreshing cider. With this yeast sachet you can make up to 23 litres of good quality cider.

Choosing the right yeast is extremely important as often the quality of the yeast will determine the outcome of the brew.

and under what conditions in order for it to ferment 1000L properly.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[beechwood]

Yeah like you say that's going to be expensive.
Do you own an orchard or something then??
What about using the natural yeast on the apples or have they been washed?? :-P

 

[beechwood]

I've seen this yeast on balliihoo.co.uk and its also available on amazon too, its meant for wine but it could probably be used for cider too. I've used it to make quite a few wines including apple wine which came out like a strong cider. Its 10 quid for a kilo which would do quite a lot..... :thumb:

 

[Niman]

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Safcider-cider-yeast-500-gram-Fermentis-Lesaffre.html

 

[ManseMasher]

1000 litres = 220 gallons. 1 level teaspoon approximately 5 grams? So 200 gallons roughly from a kilo of yeast. I'm sure the remaining 20 gallons wouldn't mind!!

 

[Freedomtea]

Thank you everyone for the swift reply,

I have recently rented a 700 sq ft industrial unit and have an apple supplier friend whom supplies apples at £150 per ton.

Everything is falling into place with the exception of yeast, which I completely overlooked as I knew how to make good cider on a small scale.

Using calculators simular to these (albeit there's not one specific to cider) http://www.yeastcalc.co/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator it would appear a large amount of yeast is required, even in a 20L cider.

That being said I have recently just found 500g of dry yeast that only asks for 100g / 1000L which is ideal but it doesn't look to be good quality cider yeast: "Uvaferm BC yeast"

Cheers Beechwood, your yeast is also a good find but again the problem exists with quality, which is why I was thinking of buying a small quantity of good yeast and making a large starter with it for each 1000L container - the problem again is how much initial yeast, for how long, under what conditions.

 

[beechwood]

Sounds good, you going to sell some of it locally when its done? :
A kilo of yeast would be enough for 900 lts or 200 gallons, probably give it about three weeks to ferment out at bout 21c.

Yeah you could do that from a small amount of quality yeast, I think it probably take quite a while to multiply up to the kind of amount you need..tho.

 

[i_danvers]

I think most commercial brewers make a starter and breed the yeast up to the volume they need ie start with a small amount and keep adding a small bit of sugar and nutrient until you have what you need have you thought of doing that?

 

[Tony1951]

That being said I have recently just found 500g of dry yeast that only asks for 100g / 1000L which is ideal but it doesn't look to be good quality cider yeast: "Uvaferm BC yeast"

Far from experienced in this matter, but I'd be bloody careful to make sure I was using a good, proper cider yeast if I was going to buy a ton of apples and go to the massive trouble of pressing and fermenting them. It would be an absolute MUST to have the correct yeast in the right amount to save massive disappointment and loss of cash through a failure.

If I was doing this I would approach a cider maker - there must be loads of moderate sized cider makers down in the West Country and you would likely find some good advice and even a source of yeast supply. The tax regime on selling cider is quite easy to encourage small cider producers. I'd bet these kinds of folk would help you. I would even try and go to work free for one of them to get experience before starting out on a big scale.

EDIT: Googled 'small cider producers' and found this:

http://www.real-cider.co.uk/uk-producers/

 

[Gorty]

Maybe contact one of the local cider making clubs or societies, I understand they often get together to do fairly large batches. Don't know if this is any help:

http://www.cideruk.com/