Pages: 1
Beer Yeast in Cider
It seems that most people that use store bought yeast in their ciders use either champagne or wine yeasts.
Does anyone have any experience using a beer (ale) yeast in making a cider? results? things to consider?
Thanks!
There are cider yeasts out there, I just used one in an apple ale I brewed recently. I think the reason most people use cider, wine, champagne and similar yeasts is because cider tends to have a high ABV. Some ale/lager yeasts may not ferment it out completely because of this. I can't see why you wouldn't be able to use it though, but try to make sure that you don't under pitch and get a strain that can handle the higher alcohol content.
Just my $.02. I'm sure someone else knows better than I do and can probably give you better advice and info.
Thanks... Kind of what I was thinking too, just didn't know if there were any reasons I ddin't know about why you shouldn't use beer yeast. I've used ale yeasts successfully in some pretty high abv meads before, so I'll probably just stick with what worked there.
the yeast you use will give you a different flavor profile. i found that using an ale yeast, while completely possible, gives the cider a slightly yeasty taste.
that being said, the cider yeasts are the same strain as ale yeasts, just like the different ale yeasts (i.e. irish ale vs. english common ale vs. belgian abbey style, etc) they are just yeast strains that have been selected due to their finishing flavor profiles.
so go nuts. only you can determine which yeast creates the cider taste you like. my advice is try them all and pick the one you like best...ale yeast is s perfect place to start, i would recommend using the yeast that you use most often so you are familiar with its flavor profile and the way it finishes so that you can compare an ale you have brewed with the cider you end up with.
Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll do a few one gallon batches to figure out my personal favorite... Now the idea of mixing yeast strains just popped in my head, this could be a long experiment...
I've never tried it before but I've heard of a few people using German hefeweizen yeasts to make ciders. I don't know how it turns out but I figured I'd throw it out there for the sake of experimentation.
Pages: 1
Search Home Brewing Knowledge Base
Custom Search
|