Yeah I fired more yeast into one of my two starters, fermentation took off like a scalded cat! So I then mixed the two starters together and split them again, and they both fermented out to less than 1.000 in what seemed like no time at all.
I pressed 5 gallons of juice over the weekend, about half what I was hoping for, so actually only needed one of my starters.
I dosed each gallon with 2 tsp of pectolase and half a crushed campden tablet, and sat it in my airing cupboard for 24 hrs so that the pectolase could do its thing (needs to be 20 deg+). Yesterday each demijohn was beautifully clear with a bit of sludge at the bottom, which I assume was pectin remnants. Juice had an SG of over 1.050, and when I tasted it, it wasn't enjoyable as apple juice but it had a beautiful mixture of sweet/sour/bitter/tannin/aromatics, so I'm hopeful for an excellent cider! The juice is at least 50% bramley cookers, but also a lot of foraged hedgerow ones ranging from crabs, to tiny apples that look like crabs but are actually sweet, some big sweet ones and some medium size bitter yet aromatic ones.
Tipped both the starters into the fermenter with the 5 gallons of juice, and some yeast nutrient (double the dosage recommended for beer). Fermenting very happily now. Happy days
Looking forward to seeing how it turns out with this Lalvin 71B yeast!
I currently have a lager in my brew fridge so I only have the options of moving my cider between rooms for temperature control, but what is the accepted wisdom for cider fermentation temperature?
