Spiced cider

[Jbird]

Ok so I am going to try to make a spiced cider this weekend. Only one gallon, just a taste. Well I wanted to use a washed yeast for the first time also.
1. What will happen if I use to much yeast?
2. Will it hurt to ferment for a month?
3. Should I pasteurize after carb?

 

[SeamusMac]

Probably a good opportunity to try washing yeast but it's such a small batch that you'd do just as well to pitch some new yeast. Definitely give the yeast washing a shot, it's a useful skill, just don't hesitate to throw it out if you think it may have picked up some bugs during the process.

1. You can over pitch which may result in underattenuation and some off flavours in the final product as the yeast doesn't have the opportunity to 'mature' as the must is fermenting. It's a good idea to use the Mr. Malty yeast pitching rate calculator to get an idea of how much to pitch.

2. I usually leave my ciders in primary for 3 weeks before transferring to secondary but a month should be fine if it's more convenient for you. I've found that leaving the cider in primary for too long (IMHO 5-6 weeks) hasn't had a huge impact on the flavour of the final product but certainly affects the nose. John Palmer talks about the effects that a long primary fermentation has on beers in "How to Brew" that's worth a read.

3. Pasteurizing after carbonation is a great way to preserve some of the sweetness and apple flavour that can sometimes be lost on bottle carbed ciders. I like dry ciders but simply bottle carbing without pasteurization using nottingham is a tad too dry for me. I use kegs now but bottle pasteurizing worked like a charm the time I tried it.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

I've found bottle aging can take care of the cider being too dry...If you plan on drinking it right away pasturizing is a good idea, but if you want just a little residual sweetness and apple fiavor I've found that to come back into my ciders after about 3-4months of bottle aging...this lets the tannins work on the acidity and also lets the flavors of the ferment (carbing and brewing) mellow a bit and the apple flavor comes back. I had a batch that tasted like a vodka cocktail when I bottled in May, but by August the apple flavor came back and it started to taste like a nice mature cider, never pasturized and it even had a little residual sweetness that was quite nice.

 

[Jbird]

Probably a good opportunity to try washing yeast but it's such a small batch that you'd do just as well to pitch some new yeast. Definitely give the yeast washing a shot, it's a useful skill, just don't hesitate to throw it out if you think it may have picked up some bugs during the process.

1. You can over pitch which may result in underattenuation and some off flavours in the final product as the yeast doesn't have the opportunity to 'mature' as the must is fermenting. It's a good idea to use the Mr. Malty yeast pitching rate calculator to get an idea of how much to pitch.

2. I usually leave my ciders in primary for 3 weeks before transferring to secondary but a month should be fine if it's more convenient for you. I've found that leaving the cider in primary for too long (IMHO 5-6 weeks) hasn't had a huge impact on the flavour of the final product but certainly affects the nose. John Palmer talks about the effects that a long primary fermentation has on beers in "How to Brew" that's worth a read.

3. Pasteurizing after carbonation is a great way to preserve some of the sweetness and apple flavour that can sometimes be lost on bottle carbed ciders. I like dry ciders but simply bottle carbing without pasteurization using nottingham is a tad too dry for me. I use kegs now but bottle pasteurizing worked like a charm the time I tried it.

Well yes I think yeast washing is a must. It's just an experiment right now. I don't really even like cider but its cheap to try my washed yeast. Then if it works really good I'll use it on my big beers. Thank you for the info. It's what I was looking for.