A few weeks ago, I decided to try a couple of different yeasts that seem to be popular for cider, mainly to see how they compared with my usual “go to” Fermentis Safale S04. They were Red Star Cote des Blancs and Fermentis’ new AS2.
The idea wasn’t to start WW3, but simply to share what I found out. Be kind to each other, I know everyone has their favourites.
It was interesting to see that all three behaved a little differently despite using exactly the same juice for each batch. The plan was to ferment each down to SG1.012, bottle, then pasteurise at 1.008 for a touch of sweetness. i.e. make a good social quaffer.
Of course, the process didn’t end up being completely straightforward. S04 started stalling at 1.020 for some reason and actually stopped at 1.010. Cote des Blancs behaved exactly as expected, however AS2 went beyond 1.008 because the pressure monitoring bottle had a slight leak and I didn’t stop the fermentation at the right time, and So, after initial tasting, the others were brought up to 1.010 for another tasting by the addition of sugar syrup. Who said that cider making is predictable????
They all produced good results, but for my tastes S04 had the most complex flavour with apple notes and a touch more sweetness than the others, so it is still my “go to”. S04 does have a reputation for sometimes finishing above SG1.000 so for me it is good for an all purpose quaffer. It started fermenting quickly but then slowed down and ended up being the slowest to finish. I have no idea what caused the finishing problem as I haven’t had that problem before.
Cote des Blancs was cleanest and driest and probably doesn’t skew the final taste one way or the other. Its fermentation was slow and steady and reached 2 vols of carbonation after two weeks in the bottle.
AS2 was a little slow starting but completed fermenting before the others and actually ended up at SG 1.005. It had a pleasant touch of bitterness which the Fermentis data suggests comes from dominant citrus notes.
So, “you pays your money and makes your choices”.
For those who want to look into it further, attached are the fine details, including the stumbles along the way.
The idea wasn’t to start WW3, but simply to share what I found out. Be kind to each other, I know everyone has their favourites.
It was interesting to see that all three behaved a little differently despite using exactly the same juice for each batch. The plan was to ferment each down to SG1.012, bottle, then pasteurise at 1.008 for a touch of sweetness. i.e. make a good social quaffer.
Of course, the process didn’t end up being completely straightforward. S04 started stalling at 1.020 for some reason and actually stopped at 1.010. Cote des Blancs behaved exactly as expected, however AS2 went beyond 1.008 because the pressure monitoring bottle had a slight leak and I didn’t stop the fermentation at the right time, and So, after initial tasting, the others were brought up to 1.010 for another tasting by the addition of sugar syrup. Who said that cider making is predictable????
They all produced good results, but for my tastes S04 had the most complex flavour with apple notes and a touch more sweetness than the others, so it is still my “go to”. S04 does have a reputation for sometimes finishing above SG1.000 so for me it is good for an all purpose quaffer. It started fermenting quickly but then slowed down and ended up being the slowest to finish. I have no idea what caused the finishing problem as I haven’t had that problem before.
Cote des Blancs was cleanest and driest and probably doesn’t skew the final taste one way or the other. Its fermentation was slow and steady and reached 2 vols of carbonation after two weeks in the bottle.
AS2 was a little slow starting but completed fermenting before the others and actually ended up at SG 1.005. It had a pleasant touch of bitterness which the Fermentis data suggests comes from dominant citrus notes.
So, “you pays your money and makes your choices”.
For those who want to look into it further, attached are the fine details, including the stumbles along the way.