How to Cultivate yeast from a bottle of Westons Old Rosie

[screamlead]

OH YES !!! 4 x Bottles of Old Rosie brought out to me in Turkey !! Now to get cultivating ! Had some dregs from a demijohn type of old rosie which did absolutely nothing so heres hoping these will work got them in the fridge to settle out again as just travelled 3500 miles to get here ha ha : :thumb:

 

[Devonhomebrew]

We have 20L bags of old rosie at work and im gonna save up all the dregs and make my culture much larger the same with Black rat cider gonna make that much a larger culture aswell. It feels weird buying apple juice for cider takes me back to when i was 11 and doing it in the hay loft hahahahaa (Sorry for reminiscing)

 

[PuggledPrune]

Used the OR yeast in a cheapo wilko kit along with plenty apple juice. Because it was a kit, I forgot to add malic acid, kinda defeating the point of the OR. It's about 4or 5 days in, am I too late to add it??

 

[graysalchemy]

No you can add now it will be fine :thumb:

 

[PuggledPrune]

Thanks once again!

 

[evanvine]

Alistair, which commercial cider in your mind typifies the MLF flavour?

 

[graysalchemy]

Oh old rosie has it obviously, thatchers also, but it is really the West country ciders which have loads of MLF flavour, the stuff you buy at the farm gate :lol: . Sheppys is another. :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

Many thanks GA!

 

[screamlead]

Grr - 2 failures so far nothing happened in either of them apart from some off white gunk floating around then mold on the surface - down the drain they went !! The other two i have in the fridge seem to be dropping clear now too - BBE dates are for next year too so i would think they are ok? May try next one with an airlock in the conical instead of tin foil over the top??

 

[SteamTug]

Is it possible to cultivate the yeast in a westons scrumpy cloudy cider? Will this also provide MLF?

 

[graysalchemy]

The scrumpy cider I think is still in which case it has been pasteurised so unfortunately no.

:thumb:

 

[PuggledPrune]

That's my cider fermented out. Racked it to a clean FV and stuck it in the attic to forget about for a few months. Collected the yeast so going to get another on soon.

 

[Jonny69]

I haven't managed to get this to work yet, but I've got a longer-term cider on the brew. It's had sediment from one bottle of OR since the beginning and I've got sediment from two more bottles to add when I rack it tonight. Let's hope this is the time!

I found this in the loft last night and it looks like it might have a bit of a pelicule growing at last! Some off-white speckledy bits floating in the top. I slooshed them into the solution figuring mixing them in ought to help spread the infection and it can only be good

I had a sniff but it didn't smell any different to normal - too early days I think.

So with the malic acid, do we know if MLF is like normal fermentation i.e. can you feed it more acid and it'll keep sustaining further MLF? If so, how far can you take it?

 

[narmour]

I haven't managed to get this to work yet, but I've got a longer-term cider on the brew. It's had sediment from one bottle of OR since the beginning and I've got sediment from two more bottles to add when I rack it tonight. Let's hope this is the time!

I found this in the loft last night and it looks like it might have a bit of a pelicule growing at last! Some off-white speckledy bits floating in the top. I slooshed them into the solution figuring mixing them in ought to help spread the infection and it can only be good

I had a sniff but it didn't smell any different to normal - too early days I think.

So with the malic acid, do we know if MLF is like normal fermentation i.e. can you feed it more acid and it'll keep sustaining further MLF? If so, how far can you take it?

The pelicle is an indication that all the liquid is infected, so there's no need to stir it in. There will be millions of bacteria in the liquid already that you can't see. But it'll do no harm. Although one potential benefit to leaving the pelicle intact is it will create a barrier between the cider and the air in the FV, from which there may be a small risk of oxidation.

It will take at least 6 weeks before it starts smelling and tasting like cider, and about 6 months before it's right. Have patience! mine was brewed in February and is only just approaching bottling now.

MLF is the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid, so yes, the more you add, the more fermentation will occur. It seems though, from the direction of the seasoned cider makers on the forum that 1 tsp per gallon is a tried and tested amount to produce the best quality cider. In my experience it is certainly enough!

 

[graysalchemy]

I doubt you will need to add any more acid, if you used 1 tsp per gallon. Mine which was started 18 months ago was bottled in May/june but I kept back the yeast and about half a gallon in a DJ, as I need to get another one on the go at some point. However the pellicle is still growing so I suspect there is still Malic acid to be used. If you add to much it will become to sharp I guess.

1 tsp per gallon and left for 6-12 months will give you more than enough farmyard twang.

:thumb:

 

[Mark1964]

i still have that old rosie yeast you sent me Grays. Its still making grand cider too and some good wines :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

I am glad it is still going strong. :thumb: . It appears to be quite a robust yeast.

 

[Sone]

Started this nearly 2 weeks ago now following the tutorial. It looked like something was happening as a small krausen ring formed when in the 500ml jar with a white substance on the surface (normal?), I transferred to a DJ with 3 litres of apple juice and just waiting now. Hopefully this works! :pray: :thumb:

 

[Sone]

Noticed the colour was changing slightly so took a gravity reading and it's currently at 1.018 so looks like it's working so far . How long should I leave it?

I gave it another swirl for now :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

If you leave it until it has finished and then let it settle (put it in the fridge) then teh yeast will drop out and you can pour off most of the Cider and then use the yeast in a proper batch. :thumb: