Beer Infinity Beer, Brewing & Beyond
| A few months back, I mentioned trying an experiment with spontaneous yeast. I was racking a batch of spontaneously-fermented cider, and when I discovered that lovely yeast cake at the bottom of the carboy, I wished I had some wort to throw on it. Well, I got another bite at the … err, another chance. Kevin Zielinski, who makes some of the best cider in America, set me up with ten gallons of juice from his orchards (a mix of mostly French and some English bittersweet varieties). He suggested I try one in the English mode, racked once and fermented to dry, and once in the French mode, with multiple rackings to try to get the yeast to exhaust the nutrients in the juice and go dormant (which is how they end up with sweet ciders that don’t turn the bottles into bombs).
In any case, this afternoon I finished up a three-gallon batch of wort and transferred it to the barm of one of those ciders. It smells like a great ferment has begun, with a lovely, fresh juice aroma and the beginnings … |
Source: Beervana
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