(UPDATE: Sep 25, 2025)
We decided to explore Europe for a while but are now firmly back in Southern Arizona in the United States. What that means is that I am now able to ship Cider Yeast to those living in the contiguous 48 states. Sorry to those in other locations, I have explored shipping them and it is just too expensive at this time. If you re interested in trying some non-Saccharomyces yeast strains, you can find the current offerings on the yeast page in “The Shop”. Besides yeast, The Shop contains global product recommendations and links.
If you are interested in trying Cider Yeast, which are non-Saccharomyces strains that are commonly found on the fruit and in the orchard, check out the Cider yeast page. Ideally, you can take some of these and create your own culture source using slants or plates for future batches. Remember that Amazon provides you some easy options for these that don’t require you to have a laboratory. Check out some of the options below and remember, using these links helps PricklyCider.com as Amazon pays me a commission. Your price doesn’t change however.
You might recall that I shared methods for propagating yeast in a previous article.
Here is an overview of the basic process.
- Use a loop to extract some yeast from your sample of cider or your yeast starter.
- Smear the loop back and forth across the plate.
- Cover but don’t seal the plate and let it grow in a warm place for several days. A plate works best if you don’t know all the yeast strains in the slurry.
- Different colonies will grow and use another loop to remove an isolated colony and propagate that colony. If you know the yeast is homogeneous, you can simply insert the original sample into a slant. The slant will allow storage for an extended period of time. Plates are usually only good for 1-2 years.
Other Options…
If you are business, you can also request yeast samples from the USDA directly. This is the source of the strains I propagated and offered on the Cider Yeast page. They won’t ship to residential addresses but a commercial cider maker should be able to receive samples that you could propagate and utilize in your cider making process.
Lastly, you can also find more non-Saccharomyces strains from commercial suppliers. Here is a list of yeast and the commercial brand and supplier of them. See if your local brew store can get them.
| Yeast Genus | Commercial Supplier | Yeast Brand Name |
| Torulaspora delbrueckii | WLP603 BIODIVA PRELUDE | White Labs Lallemand CHR Hansen |
| Lachancea thermotolarens | LAKTIA Philly Sour CONCERTO | Lallemand Lallemand CHR Hansen |
| Debaryomyces hansenii | WLP692 | White Labs |
| Pichia kluyveri | FROOTZEN | CHR Hansen |
PricklyCider.com 
Hi Thomas,
Awesome site! I like getting your blog posts every week.
I’m really interested to try some of these non-sac yeasts. It’s great that you have these as options and it’s been on the back of my mind for a bit so thanks for the heads up that you’re shutting down the shop. Do you have any recommendations, perhaps 4 or 6 that bubble to the top for you?
I typically prefer a dry, fruity cider, ok w a little bit of funk. I’m intrigued by ones that produce glycerol and perception of sweetness. I can also appreciate a sour from time to time, but would also like some that are not sours. Overall just interested to try some unique varieties.
I’m a little unclear on strains – I saw your prepackaged 4 pack #1 in the shop, but the descriptions below don’t seem to match those strains. I also saw the cider trials, but you have numbered substrains so a little unclear what you have and what you’d recommend.
Also can you help me understand ABV tolerance? Would you co-pitch a sac yeast with any of these, or possibly stagger and pitch a sac yeast a few days or a week later? I.e., I thought I saw in your blog post that Pichia only ferments to 4-5% ABV and you need to co-pitch a sac yeast 2 days later (or at least this is the recommendation for frootzen), but in your shop description it says ok up to 8%.
I typically carbonate in bottle (e.g., 2-3 volumes) and if the cider has been sitting in secondary a few months would pitch a bit more yeast at bottling so I know it finishes the carbonation. But i don’t want any exploding bottles here if there is a lot of residual sugar and I pitch a different strain that ferments to 0.
Finally, if I wanted to save these strains would you recommend playing or using a slant? Are the strains you’re selling pure colonies?
Thanks and hope you’re having a great weekend!
Andrew
sent from mobile
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I propagated the strains from pure cultures from the USDA. Some, I compared several strains of the same genus and offered what my tasters and I thought produced the best cider. Others, I compared different genera against each other. Most of the non-Saccharomyces process all the sugar but most leave more residual sweetness. For example, most Saccharomyces strains I fermented would finish below 1.000. I have never had a non-Saccharomyces strain finish below 1.000 though most do finish at 1.000. I have had some finish with a few points above 1.000. My perception is that these few points are from more glycerol versus large amounts of hexos remaining. I can’t give you a good answer on the bottle conditioning as I always force carbonate. I believe you will still be able to carbonate. My operation is not White Labs so
I don’t have the sophisticated means to assess all the different compounds. My goal was to encourage trialing non-Sacch strains and to provide a source for others since most commercial yeasts are cultured for wine and beer versus cider. I’m hoping to still offer non-Sacch yeast in the future but it probably won’t be for the U.S. market.
I’m currently getting down to my last vials though I do have some plates that are aging out. I’m just starting to hit a time limitation on what I can prep and send before my move. Plates are generally only going to last a couple years at best (I have some that are drying out), so slants are better for longer storage. I could create some slants from various samples more easily.
Send me an email through the contact button/form if you want to discuss or are interested in different items. I can modify the offerings to accommodate any combination. I’m just trying to cover my costs and provide options to other enthusiasts who are interested in exploring like me.
Tom
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Sorry to hear that the yeast will no longer be available to me so I have placed an order that will remain in my fridge. As I write this I have a batch doing its thing and looks like it should be ready for its first reading within the next few days. Best of fortune to whatever comes your way!
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Thanks! I’ll get the order out shortly and look forward to hearing how you like the different strains!
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