The basic premise was devised while reading some cider recipes on www.homebrewtalk.com (an absolutely amazing resource for anyone interested in any form of brewing).
Here is the experiment in a nutshell: What kind of effect does the type of yeast and the amount of time allowed to ferment have on apple juice while creating cider. So to carry out this experiment as cheaply and as easily as possible started by purchasing 12 bottles of Minute Maid Pure Apple Juice, a package of Coopers Ale Yeast and a package of Lavalin EC-1118 Champagne yeast. I also purchased some balloons to act as inexpensive air bungs/locks for each bottle.
All the components of the experiment
Each bottle of apple juice had an additional 45 grams of dextrose (corn sugar) added to aid in fermentation and add volume to the cider. I then split the bottles into three groups of four; One for the Coopers Ale Yeast, one for the EC-1118 and finally one more for basic bread yeast. Approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons of each yeast were added to the bottles based on their respective groups. Finally I covered each with the balloons, taped them down, poked air holes into them and moved the bottles into the basement.
All the experiment is setup
The original gravity taken before adding the yeast was 1.066. The plan at this point is to test a bottle from each group at at set intervals – 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks and 12 weeks. I will take the gravity and do a taste test at each period.
The purpose of this experiment is two fold – First is to learn how specific strains of yeast affect flavour and appearance. The second is too see which will create the best tasting cider the quickest for future batches. Updates will be posted at each time interval.