Oops?

[u/PaisleyCatque]

I make cider from apples I grow myself. Mainly because I like to make vinegar since I rarely drink alcohol. I have been experimenting with different yeasts this year and bought a specifically Cider yeast to try instead of the usual beer/wine yeasts I've been using.

I cold pressed the juice then carefully worked out the correct quantity of the new cider yeast for the juice volume then added it to the demijohn. It took a little longer than usual to start the fermentation process but after a few days it was ticking along just fine.

After it finished I've tasted it and it's seriously the best tasting cider I've made yet! I've kept a small amount aside as it's very drinkable and the rest is currently converting to vinegar.

Yesterday I pressed another batch of apples and was going to use the same cider yeast since the result was so tasty the first time.

Only to realise, when I read the packet, what I bought and used is actually cider yeast nutrient not cider yeast at all!!

So it was obviously a serendipitous wild yeast ferment helped along by the nutrient.

I am trying to reproduce the result, I don't know how I'll go but I do feel like a bit of a dummy for not reading the front of the packet!

Figured you good folks would understand and have a little giggle.

[u/tbe_dentist]

I don't know where you live, but if you're using your own apples again, that yeast should be still be on your fresh apples. Whenever I do cider I try to pasteurize it before I add any yeast just so there isn't any "yeast combat." Try it again with the nutrient, the worst thing that can happen is that you actually have to buy yeast and add it later, or that it tastes terrible.

[u/PaisleyCatque → u/tbe_dentist]

Because I make vinegar out of it I don't usually worry about that but, it is a good point. I hadn't thought about 'yeast combat' which is, btw, my favourite new phrase. Sometimes I will pasteurise after ferment to make sure the yeast is neutralised before adding a vinegar mother but not always. Wild ferments are always interesting and I just got lucky with this accidental one.

And I did buy some actual cider specific yeast that arrived today, so will be trying those new ones over the weekend along with another couple of wild yeast experiments as I still have many many apples to process.

[u/Abstract__Nonsense → u/tbe_dentist]

I’d recommend either using sulfites instead of pasteurizing, or just select a yeast with a killer factor and let it take care of the other yeast itself. Pasteurization will cook off many of the delicate aromatics.

[u/Ashmeads_Kernel]

Put the yeast cake in a container with some fresh cider. Ferment for a few days. Then rack and the remaining liquid will have pure yeast and no dead yeast or apple bits. Depending on how much you are fermenting you might need to pour that liquid onto more fresh cider to bulk up the population. Basically yeast washing.

[u/PaisleyCatque → u/Ashmeads_Kernel]

Thank you. Will give it a try.