Cider Digest #0318

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

Cider Digest

 · 7 months ago

Subject: A few questions. 
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 14:04:03 -0500 (CDT) 
From: n13@krypton.mankato.msus.edu (Leonard J. Schmidt) 

 
Greetings everyone.  I'm a newbie at the hard cider making and I've 
a few questions before I start my first batch: 

 
        I've been looking through a good number of the back issues and 
I've seen a lot of references about different types of yeasts being 
used to produce different types of ciders (eg, dry vs not-dry, etc). 
I get the basic idea of "ale yeasts won't tolerate as much alcohol as 
wine yeasts, thus dying off early and leaving a sweeter cider", but 
then people start mentioning "Empernay 2" yeast, and few others that 
aren't obvious to me.  Could someone give me a quick low-down on the 
kinds of yeasts and what each of them do? 

        Second, I've read about "blow-off tubes" being used during the 
primary fermentation while others simply take a glass or two of soft 
cider out of the jug before adding yeast to it.  I've never seen a 
blow-off tube before, what does it look like?  How much foam does the 
typical primary fermentation cause in a 1-gal jug?  About how much 
soft cider should I remove from a 1-gal jug to avoid having to use a 
blow-off tube? 

        Third, how long does cider remain drinkable after bottling? 
Assuming it was fermented with an Ale yeast, would it last a year at 
75F?  If it would be easier, how about a Time vs. Proof table or 
formula? 

 
 -Leonard Schmidt 
n13@krypton.mankato.msus.edu 

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