For the 1st 3 x 6 galls of Easy White I used EC1118 (AKA champagne yeast) @ £1 per sachet [1] that I kept adding juice to and dividing until I had sufficient yeast starters for 18 galls, 6p/gall, 1p/bottle. This fermented out faster than the other 3 fermenters in which I used Youngs GP yeast, but only by one day. But that's in summer temperatures, in winter when I refuse to put the heating on the EC1118 will ferment when general purpose yeast will lie dormant. [1] Thought it was only 80p when I bought some earlier this year, think the price may have increased.
I've been trying some of the Gervin yeasts - slower, but seem to leave less of a 'taste' behind them, if you know what I mean? The last batch of blackcurrant jam took 3-4 weeks to ferment out, but you can really taste the fruit flavour. I'll look out for some EC1118 and give it a shot
Just ordered some as I needed a new syphon - I managed to break mine by trying to get a raisin out of it the hard/wrong way.
Due to fining the day after fermentation finished, the finings took about 48 hours to clear the wine, rather than the normal overnight clearing of wine that has already dropped most of its sediment. Despite being crystal clear it tasted rough immediately after fining (with 2 part sachets), as it always does, but has vastly improved after waiting only a couple more days. Drinkable wine at <50p/bottle in 9 days. How much is a cheap bottle of wine in a supermarket? Still sorting out my old pasteurised juices, have put on 2 x 5L of Pear & Apple and 1 x 5L of Apple, all of them using one of the cans of grape concentrate bought when Tesco were selling them off cheap. Starting to sort through my bottles for full weight champagne ones to use for some batches of sparkling wine (hoping to get some ready for daughter's graduation).
Just put on 2 x yeast starters (2 different yeasts) made using 50:50 bottled (2015) blackberry juice/warm water. When they're actively fermenting I'll divide them up and add more juice to make 4 starters (2 of each) to put on 4 x 6 galls of Blackberry Wine next week, 12 galls using juice (ready to drink in a few months) and 12 galls using juice + red grape concentrate. I still have around 100 bottles of steam extracted pasterised Blackberry juice from 2015 when my daughter helped me with picking to earn a bit of cash. Those should be sufficient to make 75 galls on wine, so I probably wont be using what I bottle this year until 2019. EC1118 Produces a firm, compact sediment, so if racking off the lees from a 7 gall batch you'll get at least another bottle compared to racking off flocculent, deeper lees if using cheaper 'General Purpose' yeast which normally more than offsets the additional 80p cost difference.
I had to buy a new syphon so ordered four packs of EC1118, and will give it a shot. The Gervin yeasts have been good flavour wise, but very slow to ferment out and very slow to clear. When it comes to a second racking off, I have been passing the wine through a plastic coffee filter (out of a coffee percolator) - clean and sterile of course - would there be any benefit to putting a filter paper in it? Or, is there any benefit to be had from the commercially available wine filter kits?
Found some 4 year old bottles of eating apple juice, somev in my shed and lots more at the back of the understair cupboard so have got another yeast starter going to make a further 6 galls of Apple & Grape Concentrate. Will now search out enough bottled Loganberry and Raspberry juices for just one more 6 gall batch before having a break, 75 galls of wine and 6 galls of cider will keep me going for a while.
Did you get them at a reasonable price? I was shocked at how much some places are charging for yeast when I ordered some last week. WherevI order from they're £9.99 for 10 or £1.25 each, which seems to be a big increase on when I bought some. Although I normally get a starter going and keep dividing and adding more juice/water/sugar until there's enough for 18 to 36 galls from one sachet, there is another money saving method that could be usefull, especially if making smaller batches: Make a starter using a carton of juice and one sachet in a PET bottle small enough to fit in your fridge (door). When it's vigorously fermenting pour half of it into another bottle for use with your wine and put the remainder back in the fridge where it will cease fermenting and lie dormant. When you next need to start another batch remove bottle from fridge to somewhere warm, top up with juice/water mix again, wait until actively fermenting and use half of it, etc., etc. and so on. Some people reckon they can make one sachet last for a whole year's winemaking.
Yeast Sachet - Lalvin EC-1118 Sparkling Wine & Cider Yeast 5g Sold out and I collect from my supplier to avoid paying P&P.
