I am seeing so many bad comments about the Nottingham that I am convinced this yeast is not working for cider this year. Get yourself any other kind of yeast on earth and fermentation will start rolling right away. My favorite so far is Cote des Blancs, but the US-05 is also coming along very nicely.
Dave,
Do you think it’s worth it at this point to pitch some cote des blancs yeast (that would be the third pitch for this cider)? Or do you think I would do better throwing in the towel on this one and getting some new juice?
Don’t throw in the towel! Just try something else. Whatever you have in your refrigerator or fermenters that is fresh will be fine for cider. Cote des Blancs is a very good yeast but it doesn’t matter too much. I’m getting great results from US-05 and S-04 as well, and people are trying all sorts of different yeasts and they pretty much all work fine.
So, I finally took a gravity sample this evening. No change…still 1.048. Wha?! Really?! After two pitches?!
Anyway, this batch is done for. There is a disgusting smell emanating from the bucket, which could possibly be an infection. I’m going to ditch this batch and get some fresh juice this weekend. I’ll probably do a three gallon batch with cote des blancs yeast.
Bummer, man…
I’m telling you, don’t throw that cider away. Get some Cote des Blancs yeast in there and the cider could be saved.
How do I take a gravity reading when I have this gigantic head?
Some people use something called a wine thief. Or a turkey baster, if it will fit. Sanitize it first, of course, then fill up your hydrometer tube and measure as normal. Nice bonus: Don’t waste the sample – drink it!
Personally I’ve always fermented in buckets so I just sanitize a ladel to scoop some out, using the back side of the ladel to push the krauesen to the side first. Then I can fill up the hydrometer tube with relatively clean beer/cider.
Pitched a 5g sachet of CdB this morning. Here’s hoping. :?
Is it normal for the krausen to dissipate? This morning I had a huge head of krausen. I came home about 15 minutes ago and that huge krausen head is basically all gone. Now there are bubbles instead of krausen and my air lock is bubbling away about every 3 seconds. Getting more action in the air lock than I was this morning, but my krausen is gone. What’s up?
Matt,
I used Hy’s and Bayfield ciders from Whole foods - came in at 1.o4.
Did a second batch of an organic cider from Lakewinds in Eden Prairie/chanhassen off of hwy 5. Came in at 1.05 and it tastes great! It was pasteurized.
My issue has been temp on my second batch using white labs English cider - got the temp to 70 and blastoff!
Good luck -'sorry to read that your Minnetonka orchard cider didn’t work out for you.
This is totally normal. I have 6 fermenters going right now, all started at the same time, and 4 of the 6 don’t have krausen anymore but 2 of them still do, but I also know that they are still fermenting as the gravity is still decreasing. So the krausen is highly variable on cider. There’s usually a krausen early in the fermentation, and also usually it disappears after a few days, even though fermentation is still going on.
dmtaylo2,
You have been really helpful. Not sure I could have done this without you.
I am thinking about putting it into secondary and adding sorbate (not sure what these are?) once I hit 1.020 so I can try and keep it mildly sweet. Is this what you’d recommend?
If I add the sorbate stuff at 1.020 in the secondary, should I just leave it alone until it completely stops bubbling for a week or so and then bottle? What kind of gravity should I be looking for before bottling?
Also, I’ve never carbonated a cider. What’s the best way to go about carbonating cider in bottles?
I am happy to help. I am still learning about cider myself, only having done just a handful of batches in the past, but I’ve got 8 batches rolling right now, and I have been doing lots of reading on the subject.
Yes, rack the cider and hit it with sorbate when you want fermentation to slow down at 1.020 or whatever. You need a dose of about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Potassium sorbate is sold in any homebrew shop. It won’t stop fermentation but will slow it down. You’ll still need to wait at least a couple weeks for fermentation to subside. You can also take this opportunity to cool down the cider, which will help the yeast cells to fall asleep and quit fermenting. I’ve got my batches at about 50 F right now in my garage and I’m trusting that the temperature will fall into the 40s over the next week here in Wisconsin to slow things down even more. If you have the capability of getting temps down to like the mid 40s, plus or minus, that might be ideal, but I guess I can’t be sure.
When fermentation has stopped completely (no more bubbles), wait another week or two just to make sure. Fermentation will probably quit when specific gravity is around 0.995 to 1.000, but if you are lucky, it will finish even higher. Once you’re sure it’s done fermenting, hit it with sorbate one more time, add priming sugar to carbonate (I use a scant 3/4 cup cane sugar for 5 gallons), also some non-fermentable sweetening sugar, and bottle it (this can all be done on the same day). Then pop open a bottle every week or two for a while just to make sure they’re not turning into bombs, which is a possibility, although I haven’t experienced it yet.
If you’re not happy with the sweetness level after fermentation is completed, don’t add a ton of fermentable sugar, as it will generate bombs. Instead try lactose, or some people are now trying stevia, which is a natural unfermentable sugar (I’ve never tried it). In the past I tried Splenda, which worked for a month but after that it gave the cider a chemical flavor. I think 0.5 to 0.75 pounds lactose for 5 gallons cider is approximately the right amount for sweetening, but you could safely add as much as 1 pound for 5 gallons if you want it quite sweet. I’m not sure on the stevia, but you could play around with it.
After pitching some cote des blancs yeast yesterday, there’s still no activity in my fresh, unpasteurized cider. No change in gravity. Had to dump it. 
The good news is that Whole Foods down the street had some local, preservative free cider for $5.99 gallon. So, I picked up 3.5 gallons of it and just pitched some cote des blance to it, along with some yeast nutrient. I’m hoping this will be a better go-around.
Thanks, dm! Much appreciated! I will use your post as a reference point when I’m ready to bottle this stuff. I can’t wait to taste it.
pawtucket, sorry to hear that! I sure wish I had a whole foods near by. I don’t live within a 2 hour drive of a whole foods. They sure come in handy when you need something fresh, organic or natural. Hope your new one turns out!
Also, I’ve heard of people adding sugar to the cider after opening up their bottles if they thought it needed a little extra sweetness. Personally, I think I’d rather have that taken care of before opening. Have you ever done that?
WF definitely comes in handy when you’re looking for that sort of thing. My new batch of cider is already taking off. Now I wish I would have made a bigger batch! 
Just tasted my cider. It has only been fermenting for a week and the gravity is at a shocking 1.000. It tastes fantastic. I didn’t think it would be this good without carbonation of back sweetening. It is still bubbling every 2 seconds or so. It has slowed a little.
Since it tastes so good, can’t I just drink it now? I don’t understand the whole waiting a month thing.
It’s not safe to bottle it, but there’s nothing saying you can’t swipe a few pints straight out of the fermenter and drink it today! In fact, I just did that last night with a pint of my US-05 version. It’s almost finished and tasting great.
Right on! I posted this question in another thread hoping you’d see it so you can ignore that one if you want. Thanks for your help! I think you talked me into swiping myself a pint 
