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Author Topic: Cider: not sure what I did  (Read 1920 times)

Offline Astoriaguy

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Cider: not sure what I did
« on: May 27, 2021, 04:04:04 pm »
Hi All, first timer and I need some help. I mean a Cider using 1G. of Santa Cruz organic apple juice, 2 cups of sugar and Fleischmann’s (all I had) on 04/04 my OG was: 1.092. On 04/22 I took a reading, and it was 1.032 Three days, the reading was 1.030 which I assumed I had read one of these wrong then I meant to take a third reading two days later but got busy and forgot for a month.  The third reading on 05/02 was 1.030 so I racked it to take it off the yeast.  Now on 05/19 I took a reading and it is 1.020. What am I doing wrong?

It tastes almost too sweet and smells very yeasty, I racked it again but should I dump it?  throw in Champagne yeast? Thanks in advance.

I used the same Fleischmann’s on a mead and that so far is pretty good for a first timer so I am stumped

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2021, 10:03:28 pm »
I dunno how bread yeast will respond but it’s not intended for brewing so maybe it crapped out early? When I’ve made cider (never again) it has fermented out tart at 1.000 usually.

If it’s not dropping and you don’t want it sweet go ahead and pitch the champagne yeast. If you bottle as is it may continue fermenting and give you bottle bombs.


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Offline erockrph

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2021, 04:21:01 am »
A) I hope you learned your lesson with using bread yeast :) It's meant for baking bread rather than fermenting beer/wine/etc., so the flavor might not be optimal and it isn't designed to tolerate high alcohol environments, either. I like D47 wine yeast for cider, and 71B wine yeast for most meads, but many beer and wine yeasts will give good results.

B) Champagne yeast might work, but the best choice for saving/restarting a mead/cider/wine fermentation is K1V-1116. It is a "killer" yeast strain, which essentially means it will kill any competing yeast strains and take over. It works great for restarting a stuck fermentation like this.
Eric B.

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Offline Astoriaguy

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2021, 05:38:13 am »
Thank you both! I’ll try the Champagne yeast but get the D47.  Noob mistake with the Bread yeast


Offline Astoriaguy

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2021, 06:37:36 am »
Just ordered the K1v-1116 let’s see what happens

Offline Astoriaguy

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2021, 07:47:45 am »
Update: I threw the whole package on Saturday and for five days… nothing! No airlock activity, no bubbling, no yeast colony. Nada. Then yesterday morning it was there! Inch thick cake of yeast, tons or airlock activity and tons of bubbles! Thanks again all.

Question on the bread yeast; why not use it?  The mead I made tasted nice.

Offline joe_meadmaker

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2021, 10:09:05 am »
Glad to hear your fermentation picked up again.

On the subject of bread yeast, the short answer is consistency.  It is absolutely capable of fermentation and producing alcohol, but you're likely not going to have consistent results because it's not designed for that purpose.  You may see variation in flavor as well as the amount of alcohol it produces.  I've used bread yeast a couple times as an experiment.  Results were okay, but definitely not something I would use regularly.

Offline Dan Schreffler

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2021, 09:32:56 am »
Update: I threw the whole package on Saturday and for five days… nothing! No airlock activity, no bubbling, no yeast colony. Nada. Then yesterday morning it was there! Inch thick cake of yeast, tons or airlock activity and tons of bubbles! Thanks again all.

Question on the bread yeast; why not use it?  The mead I made tasted nice.

We have used bread yeast in a commercial mead and it will ferment well.  13.8% mead.  We do a starter and add nutrients for both ciders and meads.
Did you do a starter?  What was the temperature of the cider when you added the yeast? When you pitched yeast did your stir to get some O2 in to the cider?  What was fermentation temperature?
What I may also have tried was during ferment to stir up the yeast and get some more air into the cider. 
Dan Schreffler
Space Time Mead & Cider Works
Dunmore PA

Offline Megary

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2021, 10:24:42 am »
Update: I threw the whole package on Saturday and for five days… nothing! No airlock activity, no bubbling, no yeast colony. Nada. Then yesterday morning it was there! Inch thick cake of yeast, tons or airlock activity and tons of bubbles! Thanks again all.

Question on the bread yeast; why not use it?  The mead I made tasted nice.

We have used bread yeast in a commercial mead and it will ferment well.  13.8% mead.  We do a starter and add nutrients for both ciders and meads.
Did you do a starter?  What was the temperature of the cider when you added the yeast? When you pitched yeast did your stir to get some O2 in to the cider?  What was fermentation temperature?
What I may also have tried was during ferment to stir up the yeast and get some more air into the cider.

Space Time!  My wife and I have been in the store a few times...really enjoy the wine and especially the mead.  Always friendly and knowledgeable service when we stop.

Offline Astoriaguy

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2021, 06:48:03 am »
Hi Dan, thanks for the help!

I put the yeast in a cup with some of the juice and stirred it. That’s it. I just started reading up on starters and nutrients soo next time might be better! It was in the low-mid 70’s when I did this and I shook it for a few minutes.

Update: I tested the cider again with the champagne yeast and it went to ..995 and bitter! It smells amazing though. Should I let it age, sweeten it or dump it?

Offline Astoriaguy

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2021, 06:50:11 am »
However, I’m also ageing a mead and that is coming amazing!

Offline gilbert17qz

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Re: Cider: not sure what I did
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2021, 05:55:19 am »
Quote
On the subject of bread yeast, the short answer is consistency.  It is absolutely capable of fermentation and producing alcohol, but you're likely not going to have consistent results because it's not designed for that purpose.  You may see variation in flavor as well as the amount of alcohol it produces.  I've used bread yeast a couple times as an experiment.  Results were okay, but definitely not something I would use regularly.

I think you're right about it. Sometimes I simply want to make a cider like crafty nectar no. 8 rhubarb, which is the best choice for me, if we talk about cider. I could find it here at fruit cider related website. They have a lot of such tastes, and even if they write down the percent of every good, which they use for that brewing, I'm not quite sure how to reproduce that exact taste.
« Last Edit: September 13, 2021, 05:54:40 am by gilbert17qz »