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Author Topic: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?  (Read 2018 times)

Offline smokeymcb

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Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« on: July 31, 2015, 09:16:13 am »
Hi all,

I recently made a country wine/cider with a little over three gallons of Odwalla ready to drink smoothies (http://www.odwalla.com/products/smoothies/).  I used 13 bottles of "Mango Tango" and 12 bottles of "Strawberry Banana", to which I added a couple of lbs of strawberries and clementines as well two bananas and a lb or so of demerara sugar.  OG was 1.050ish (the must was thick so hydro readings were hard)

Before you ask "why", its because I got them free from work (I'm a chef) and they were outdated but contained "no preservatives".  Thats a good enough reason for me lol.

I pitched 34/70 at 8c and allowed to to rise to 10c.  A few days after pitching I bumped it to 12c.  I took a hydro reading just now and its at 1.000, so I'm soon gonna transfer it to secondary to age a while.

This begs the question of whether I should bulk age at coolish room temp like I normally would with ale or wine yeast? Or if I should bulk age at lager temps (close to 0c)? Or will it even matter?

Thanks for any help...
Anyone got a lighter??

Rob C.

Offline Stevie

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2015, 10:31:15 am »
Let taste be your guide.

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2015, 12:54:09 pm »
I've been saying for years, with ciders anyway, "low and slow is the way to go".  Set the controls for temperature and patience as cool as you can possibly withstand, and you'll be rewarded.
Dave

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Offline udubdawg

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2015, 01:06:24 pm »
"low and slow is the way to go"

i get that it is not for everyone but it damn sure works for me.   8)

op, I've not used this yeast for cider but I'd absolutely expect that "lagering" will help this cider...though I'd also hazard a guess that the decision to age it -period - is more important the the temperature of said aging.


Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2015, 04:03:03 pm »
I've got a cider going right now fermented with S-189. First taste at 3 weeks (1.002) was pretty nice.
Not sure about lagering.
I love to go swimmin'
with hairy old women

Offline smokeymcb

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2015, 07:22:24 am »
Thanks for the replies!  I'll try to go low temp and for as long as I can lol...
Anyone got a lighter??

Rob C.

Offline smokeymcb

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Re: Should I lager my Wine/Cider fermented with 34/70?
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2015, 10:24:04 am »
Just to update this...

So, its been sitting at 7c since my last post and today I racked it to tertiary.  I ended up with a very full 3 gallon carboy and an overflowed half gallon growler.  I think i'm gonna drink the growler full soon but continue to age the carboy for another month or two at close to 1c before bottling.  I didn't taste it at this racking because I have a growler full to drink in the next little while but the smell was superb.

I lost a gallon and a half to some very loose sloppy lees which was unfortunate.  In the future, is there anything I can do to make the lees compact tighter when dealing with a bunch of fruit pulp??
Anyone got a lighter??

Rob C.