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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 05 1:54 pm Post subject: Cheats Cider
I've decided to try a demijohn of cider to see if I can make something passable before buying a press. I've simple got 5 litres of apple juice and I'll use a white wine or beer yeast as that's what I've got to hand. I've a few recipes around but has anyone tried this? Would anyone suggest I add anything else?

Caz

Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Posts: 22
Location: Mendips Somerset

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 05 2:18 pm Post subject:
Sounds like a good idea, i'll be very interested to find out if it'll work! We once made fruit wine from cartons of fruit juice from the supermarket, and that worked quite well.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28235
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 05 3:07 pm Post subject:
I have been reluctant lately to use supermarket juices in wine recipes. Thinking that they will contain additives that will kill the yeast. Be interesting to see how you get on.

oldhibberd

Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 118

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 11:34 am Post subject:

jema wrote:

I have been reluctant lately to use supermarket juices in wine recipes. Thinking that they will contain additives that will kill the yeast. Be interesting to see how you get on.

No it doesn't. I had colleagues who made bucket loads of 'fruit juice wine' when in the middle east, it was our main source of alcohol.

Never tried it myself, but I know it works.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 12:00 pm Post subject:
I thought all additives had to be listed. The pure juices are just pasteurised I thought. Anyway, I already have the juice so I'll give it a go! Do we think plain fruit juice is all that's needed for a quaffable cider? Any sugar needed?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28235
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 12:03 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I thought all additives had to be listed. The pure juices are just pasteurised I thought.

Anyway, I already have the juice so I'll give it a go!

Do we think plain fruit juice is all that's needed for a quaffable cider? Any sugar needed?

I'd use a hydrometer and see!

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 12:12 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

I'd use a hydrometer and see!

That's getting a bit complicated now.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28235
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 3:26 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

jema wrote:

I'd use a hydrometer and see!

That's getting a bit complicated now.

dunk, read, look at table

ButteryHOLsomeness

Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 770

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 3:46 pm Post subject:
lidl sells decent quality pure juice cheaply. you can get 1.5 litres apple juice for 67p or thereabouts, think it's only 57p for 1.5 litres of orange they also do cherry juice at 99p litre, it's really nice and i bet that would make some lovely wine

selfsufficientish

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 4:52 pm Post subject:

I might give the old brewing buckets a dust off and find out for myself.

For anyone in the midlands (cambs, beds or n'pton) then you lucky people have daily bread shops. I used to love these people loads of whole food dirt cheap https://www.dailybread.co.uk/shoponline/products.asp?id=22 they sell apple juice cordial that is additive free, could that work?

Just had a second look they seem to deliver within the UK!

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 05 7:43 pm Post subject:
i'll kick off a batch in the next week or so, so if anyone wants to have a go we can have a Downsizer Cider party in a few months time.

boff

Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 354
Location: Still alive and kicking

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 05 8:06 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

i'll kick off a batch in the next week or so, so if anyone wants to have a go we can have a Downsizer Cider party in a few months time.

Fairy Nuff !

I'll kick some off this weekend - advice on what yeast to use please all you brewnertics...

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 05 8:33 am Post subject:

Selfufficientish, I've got a batch made with honey and the same apple juice concentrate you refer to bubbling happily in the corner at the moment. It works really well. If, however, you can track down some similar pear juice concentrate (you can get it from Holland and Barret sometimes) then that's even better.

Treacodactyl, it'll work fine, but beware that if you ise a wine yeast it'll go VERY dry really rather fast. So it all depends on how you like your cider

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 05 11:12 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

Treacodactyl, it'll work fine, but beware that if you ise a wine yeast it'll go VERY dry really rather fast. So it all depends on how you like your cider

So, would a beer yeast be better if we would like a medium cider. I bet you can get hold of a cider yeast but if I cannot I may try a beer one.

Bugs, do you like your cider dry or medium?

I think I'll aslo aim for a slightly sparkling one.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 05 11:16 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I used to throw in bread yeast for cider, and it wasn't too bad. A beer yeast or a cider yeast would be better.

As for getting a sparkle, I would tend to ferment it out dry, then bottle some into, say, plastic pop bottles with a wee bit of extra wine yeast and sugar; you can get a tremendous sparkle on it that way, and I've found flat beverages easier to store. Takes maybe two days for a good sparkle, three days for a near explosive one, a week and plenty of sugar to rend the bottle into lots of plastic shards - so be careful to let off the excess pressure that way.

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