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Cider


jason g
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There is no set recipe for making Apple cider it's just apple juice, sugar & yeast . The more sugar you add the stronger cider you will have. But it's not all about alochol content it's best to use a variety of Apple's until you find the right mix you like I would only use a teaspoon of yeast to start off your brew depending on how many litres you are going to make. Keep everything sterile & with airlocks on and sealed . I've only dabbled with turbo ciders but it's all relatively the same YouTube is a good place to pick up a general guide and take it from there 

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I personally wouldn't add any sugar as it ferments very dry, and homebrew cider comes out dry in the first place.

Also if you use pure juice it will finish up well over 6 percent so strength isn't an issue.

I buy 23 litres of pure apple juice (Lidl is a good source) and ferment 22 litres of it with a cider yeast which contains a sweetener.

Once it's finished i rack it jnto a pressure barrel and add the other litre.  Thus then ferments in the barrel and gives it sparkle.

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2 hours ago, Zapp said:

I personally wouldn't add any sugar as it ferments very dry, and homebrew cider comes out dry in the first place.

Also if you use pure juice it will finish up well over 6 percent so strength isn't an issue.

I buy 23 litres of pure apple juice (Lidl is a good source) and ferment 22 litres of it with a cider yeast which contains a sweetener.

Once it's finished i rack it jnto a pressure barrel and add the other litre.  Thus then ferments in the barrel and gives it sparkle.

christ that sounds too simple..........im looking for a replacement for beer as im gluten intolerant.......................i rekon if i start making and drinking cider i shall be not only intolerant but insufferable too.:lol:

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I'm lucky that I don't have to make my own. I have a largish orchard which produces far more apples than we need for pie supplies over winter so all the excess goes to a local young man who has set himself up commercially and he produces some superb cider.  Last year he took a lot of my pears as well and turned up with a bottle of 'pearseco' for me to try. I have ordered ten botles from this years vintage.   Listening to him talking apples then it is the choice and mix which makes the good cider. I have two 'wild' apples on the edge of my orchard which produce a huge amount of fruit each year. he bit into one, grimmaced and declined to take them although they are very juicy.   All my Bramleys go and James Grieve and half of any Spartan crop I have.  The Russets, Worcester Permain and the remaining Spartan get peeled, spiralled and frozen for pies and crumbles, with a glass of cider from our own apples ....whats not to enjoy?

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I am making my first batch this year. Got myself a apple scaterer and press and I have a few gallon on second ferment. Drop me a pm with your e mail and I will scan a copy of the recipe over to you which I picked up from the brewing shop. I am about to bottle it and was going to bottle some with sugar (pressure bottles) and make it a bit fizzy?

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Whenever I've made it from scratch, I've pressed the apples, added a campden tablet to the juice and then fermented with either cider or champagne yeast.  The key is to let it mature after its fermented out - I'm not a cider expert but there's a secondary fermentation or the like that really softens the brew as it ages.  

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2 hours ago, jason g said:

I have my first gallon fermenting and I'm hopefully going to start the 2nd this weekend. I'll either end up with cider or vinegar 😁. Does anyone know when you bottle the cider cheers

Cider vinegar is very useful in marinades, so don't waste it.

I also have a great mix for cooking pheasant using cider and oranges.

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We got about 90 litres this year from our tree.

Commercial 'dry' cider is generally sweetened to what should be called off dry or even medium. If that is your taste sucralose is much much easier than sweetening it the proper way. Saccharin works ok if you want to go to off or medium dry but gets a bit too noticeable if you start going medium to sweet. 

We drink it properly dry but it is an acquired taste, if pouring a bottle for someone unused to it i add one tesco value sweetening tablet if they ask for off dry, or two if they ask for medium. 

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If you want to go to medium or sweet i would use sucralose (much nicer than the saccharin sweetened stuff once you get to that level in my book). You can buy small amounts on ebay but at the scale of a gallon you will probably need to make up a dilute stock to use or invest in a very accurate balance. 

 

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