Homebrewed Wheat Apple Cider with Nottingham Yeast

I see where AB's Shocktop makes a Honeycrisp Wheat Cider, which I have not tried.  I'm not too happy with the Shocktop brand because it had the qualities of a soda when last (first) I tried it one Saturday in fall 3 years ago, or maybe more of a wine cooler.

But I plan to grab one and contrast it with little project I've been working on. 

Beeradvocate reviews of the Shocktop Wheat come in weak (73), and suggest that it's a sweat sensation that they are selling.

Hard Wheat Apple Cider, using Nottingham yeast is about the best hard cider I've ever made.  It's dry, for starters, which is my pref.   If I were to sweeten it back, I suppose it would be more in line with Shocktop, but I imagine milk sugar would need to be the route with this Notty yeast, as it would make ethanol of the plans of mice and men to sweeten the brew. 

Using a lot less wheat on this batch made a big difference.  My early error was to use way too much maleted Wheat exact, which imparted an off, vinegar flavor out of the pale.  

Ultimately, it made a nice apple vinegar. 

The flavor is tart, bubbly and bright with a fuller, not malty per se, but more weighty, with way more citrus flavor than hard cider alone.  It's ende up with an appealing champaign quality.

This blend is exactly what I was hoping would come of it-- to the bottling machine batman!


Next I'm going to try a few batches using various other yeast strains to see if it changes the flavor profile much. Stay tuned.