Yeast Question for Winemakers

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Butterbean
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Yeast Question for Winemakers

Post by Butterbean » Sun Aug 25, 2019 22:11

Was planning on making some sparkling hard cider next week and have some yeast ordered and it should arrive the first of the week. However in the mean time I decided to double the quantity I had planned on making and was wondering if my starting out with half the yeast they recommend would be a serious issue. I know the label say a package of yeast will do up to six gallons but what would happen if the nutrients and all were available wouldn't the yeast multiply and ferment whole container. I'm thinking it would but I'm not sure if I'm missing something here. Any thoughts on this?
Agoracritus
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Re: Yeast Question for Winemakers

Post by Agoracritus » Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:31

Hey Butterbean,

You’ve helped me so much with my sausage making inquiries, I hope I can return the favor a little bit with a response to your question about cider making. (Basically, that IS something I have quite a lot of experience and a bit of expertise in, as apposed to my more recent ventures into somewhat advanced sausage making)

The short answer is “Yes and no”.

Yes, brewing yeasts are fairly hearty and will basically multiply and thrive in any food rich environment (until they literally overpopulate and drown in their own byproduct of alcohol and carbon dioxide, in a limited space)

However, the time it takes for that to happen is an important part of controlled and calculated fermentation/carbonation process.

Without going into too much detail, it’s kind of like halving the cultures in sausage (or dairy) fermentation. The main difference being that (raw) fruit juices tend to be more forgiving than raw meat and dairy products, regarding spoilage.

In other words; doubling the yeast’s workload probably
wouldn’t ruin your cider, but I would definitely advise using the recommended minimal amount of yeast per batch.

Erring on the side of caution, too much is generally better than too little.

If you can’t order/acquire more yeast before your cider making deadline, you could make a “starter culture” with your first run, and then use that to inoculate a larger batch (in order to not overwhelm the colony in a calculated/relatively short period of time), but that can get fairly complicated...

My bookmarked go-to reference site is diyhardcider.com
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Butterbean
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Re: Yeast Question for Winemakers

Post by Butterbean » Mon Aug 26, 2019 15:12

Thanks for the reply Ago. I'll stray on the side of caution and try and be patient and order some more. I have plenty of one type yeast to do this batch but its not what I wanted to use. With as much time as it takes to make libations such as this my waiting a few more days is a small price to pay but at times impatience gets the best of me. :oops:
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