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Fermentis Safale S-04A well-known, commercial English ale yeast, selected for its fast fermentation character and its ability to form a very compact sediment at the end of the fermentation, helping to improve cider clarity. ($4.60 for 11.5g) |
Lalvin EC-1118This champagne yeast is a low foaming, vigorous and fast fermenter with a high alcohol and sulfate tolerance. Its a hearty yeast that can ferment in a broad range of temperatures and will inhibit wild yeasts. If you like your cider dry, this is the east for you. It will consume all the sugar. ($3 for 50g) |
Safale US-05A pale ale yeast that produces a clean, crisp cider. It starts quickly and imparts good fruity notes. I believe it is the Sierra Nevada pale Ale yeast – one of the best pale ales out there. ($5 for 11.5g) |
3 Comments
You haven’t mentioned anything about wild/native yeasts – which actually makes amazing cider. I realise there isn’t much of a tradition of doing this in USA, but in Europe – the best cider is nearly always made this way, so I thought the idea deserved some recognition. I know there a few producers in US using wild/native yeasts and they’re cider is some of the best in USA. I think it’d be good to encourage readers to learn more about it, maybe even give it a go!
Sounds excellent Bill!
Do you have any advice in cultivating wild yeast strains?
I’ve used the bottom 3 for my cider making. The champagne yeast dries out the cider really fast (not a bad thing), but takes away most of the apple flavor from my experience. US-05 does give it that slight pale ale taste (which not a lot of people expect). I like using S-04 for doing specialty flavors, like pumpkin cider. I have yet to use it on a regular batch, but I’d imagine that it’d be done fermenting in less than 3 days.