We Compare Six Hard Cider Yeast Strains
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- Each year, during fall harvest and apple season, we get asked a lot of questions about making hard cider at home: What is the best yeast for fermenting hard cider? What difference can a yeast really make to the flavor of a hard cider? Can I use an ale strain or only wine and champagne strains? To help answer those questions, Northern Brewer team members Chip and Dan run a quick taste panel on a batch of hard cider that was split six ways and fermented with six different yeasts including three newer SafCider strains from Fermentis; Cote des Blancs from Red Star; and two ale yeasts -- Safale US-05 and Nottingham from Lallemand. Check out our tasting notes and let us know which strains you like for hard cider in the comments below!
More Hard Cider Yeast Comparison:
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All Cider Making Equipment & Ingredients
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00:00 - Intro & Split Batch Info
02:40 - Cote des Blancs (Red Star)
03:40 - SafCider AS-2 (Fermentis)
04:16 - SafCider AC-4 (Fermentis)
04:49 - SafCider TF-6 (Fermentis)
06:10 - Nottingham (Lallemand)
07:25 - Safale US-05 (Fermentis) 
Хобби
Which yeast strain is your go-to for high quality hard cider?
Check out all of our cider making ingredients and equipment: bit.ly/3nWbOpw
Red star Champagne yeast (yellow package - Premier Blanc - S. bayanus) is a good substitute for `Cote Blanc`.
Nice! Thanks.
This was a great experiment! Going to have to try some of those new cider yeast. Would love to see more experiments like this!
Appreciate it. We'll get to work on more. Cheers!
Nice video guys! I just took on the task of making a hard cider and I now know the yeast I'm going with, as long as it is in stock.
Great video, I am new to brewing, and I'm going to do a few different ciders today and will try one or 2of these. Again thanks
Great video thanks! Very helpful
Very helpful, guys. I think I’ll be returning back to my cotes de blanc in the future. Pitched a batch with champagne yeast and the breadiness is strong.
I’m in the midst of an experiment trying 30 different yeasts in German Apfelwein. Bottled my first four batches tonight. SafCider AC4 (a cider yeast, as you noted), Lallemand Munich Classic (a Hefeweizen ale yeast), Wyeast 1450 Denny’s Favorite (an English ale yeast), and Wyeast 1968 ESB (another English ale yeast). AC4 was fantastic - loads of crisp, fresh apple flavor. My impressions matched yours 100%. But my personal favorite was the Wyeast 1450. It didn’t ferment quite as dry, had more body, and tasted like a complex white wine. The Munich Classic had some phenolics - complex, but not crushable. Haven’t tried the ESB yet (none left over after bottling). Only 26 more to go!
Apfelwein recipe:
- 5 gallons store bought apple juice
- 1 pound dextrose
- Fermaid O yeast nutrient
- Yeast of your choice
No backsweetening or carbonation (Apfelwein is still and dry).
Have tried Red Star Montrachet (now called Premiere Classique) before and it nailed the Apfelwein taste. Looking forward to trying the Cote des Blancs…
(Oh, I should add that I fermented each yeast at its recommended temperature. AC4 was at about 55 degrees, the other 3 were at about 64 degrees.)
Thanks for this.
Thanks for this
Definitely like this type of video, thank you.
Great to hear. Looking forward to doing more for y'all!
Perfect timing on this! I'm brewing my cider this weekend and still haven't decided what yeast I'll use
Let us know which strain (or strains?) you go with and how it ferments out for you. Also - do you traditionally backsweeten or leave it dry? We have so many questions?! :)
Hi Northern Brewer I love your videos guys and look forward to consulting when I'm ready to open my cidery.
We'll be here! Best of luck.
I am doing another 5 gallon batch under pressure with AS2 and it's nice. I started with Red Star Cuvee which I am sure is very similar to Cote de Blanc. I wonder how much under pressure fermenting helps.
Great job gentlemen. I have been using 1056 and back sweetening my ciders. Will be trying something different on the next go round.
Excellent!
Nice!!
That was a good side by cider comparison
Great review, will be trying Cote de Blanc next. I was secretly hoping you had (my current fave) Belle Saison in the mix.
What do you like about that strain? Any suggestions on use or process for it?
@@NorthernBrewerTV I've now settled at a ferm temp of 30°C. The result is aroma of apples, dry, refreshing, with hints of white pepper spiciness. I serve it on tap at 3-3.5 volumes, fabulous.
I really like the Belle Saison as well for the same reasons . Dry, slight pepper with a little twang(😊)
Great Video Chip! Been on a cider kick all summer. Just been using store bought juice watered down with spring water to 1040. Yeast nutrient, DAP and fermented with Notty. Never noticed that Bready character ya'all speak of. I do back sweeten tho with just under 3/4 gallon of juice so might not be as noticeable to me. Going to have to try the Cote Des Blanc yeast though. Surprised you guys didn't use the ol tried and true WLP775 in the taste test. Want to see how that one stacks up. 775 has also been a good go to yeast. Thanks again for another great video. Chop for chop, brew for brew! And, brew for all, all for brew!
What's the alcohol percentage of your final product?
@@pipersmith8676 mine usually is between 4 and 4½%. I will do 4 gallons of juice and a gallon of distilled or RO water
Where is the M02 (Mangrove Jacks) Cider yeast in the comparison? I realize it was missing from the package deal but where does it stack up?
Happen’n dudes!
Where can I find that cider Cabernet recipe?
Surprised at the US05. That has produced some of my most enjoyable, semi-sweet ciders. I love cotes de blanc yeast but it throws in a weird champagne flavor and is kinda on the dry side. Havent tried the others. S04 struggled to start and the cider came out almost spicy. Giving it more time to condition.
Personally I am also a long-time Cotes de Blanc user my wife and I like the brut-ist of the brut style ciders. Cheers! (Chip)
I take it with each 1 gallon jug in this side by side, that these were "as-is", with no back sweetening, correct?
Correct. No backsweetening, just bottled after fermentation was complete.
Which is your favourite cider set? Would you always use the set or juice or juiced apples??
Personally, I always prefer fresh-press cider from an orchard (either directly from the orchard or at the store or market). But if fresh cider isn't available, you can always use regular apple juice or cider as long as it has NO preservatives listed in the ingredients, as preservatives will keep yeast from fermenting the sugar in the juice. Here is our line-up of hard cider kits if you'd prefer to buy bagged juice concentrate that you dilute and ferment. Pretty easy way to start out. www.northernbrewer.com/collections/1-5-6-gallon-cider-kits
I just made a batch using S04. Is that similar to US-05?
S04 is an English ale yeast, US is American ale yeast. In beer, US-05 is typically cleaner and doesn't usually produce a lot of esters, where as S04 can ferment in a way that often leaves a bit more body and might have some stone fruit or other esters. I'm not 100% sure how that translate to cider, but those are the main flavor differences at large. My bet would be that in a side-by-side comparison of hard ciders fermented with both yeasts the US-05 might finish a bit drier and with more apple character. Do you find that your cider drinks that way? Hope it helps.
@@NorthernBrewerTV this is the first time I used S04. I tasted it at 11 days after I determined it stopped fermenting. I thought it tasted surprisingly good for 11 days old. Better than the wine yeasts I have used. It stopped at a little over 11%. I have another packet and I might use it for just a hard cider and not apple wine.
I believe the correct term is a cider by cider comparison
Touche. Hahahaha.
Has anyone ever tried using Phantasm with thiolized yeast in a cider?
Haven't heard of that yet, but would be interested to hear about it if anyone does. The one issues I could see here would be that a lot of these thiols Phantasm and thiolized yeast are looking for are found in malt and hops, so I'm not sure if there would be much side-by-side difference in a cider fermented with, say, regular cider yeasts and one of the newer thiolized "beer" yeasts unless you also hopped it a bit or made like a graff (wort/cider hybrid) to get some of those thiols in the mix. A great quesiton, and a worthy experiment though.
@@NorthernBrewerTV Yeah, I think it would be a really interesting experiment to use Phantasm (since it's made from grapes) with the OY thiolized 05 strain. Could really highlight some white wine characteristics that come through in a fine hard cider! Let us know if you experiment with that!
Why not Lutra kveik