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Jun 11, 2011 16:59:07 GMT
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Super yeast! 1KG of sugar melted with a pint of water Find a suitable gallon of vintage cider This one looks and smells ok! Added it to the syrup and mixed in a teaspoon of super yeast and nutrient. I wonder what will happen, if it all goes OK I'll make a 5 gallon batch.
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Jun 13, 2011 19:52:35 GMT
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I have just finished bottling my first 32L batch.
It was only from a kit so I just had to follow instructions, which is cheating i know!
It has taken 12 days of fermenting, with a starting gravity of 1.050, it dropped down to 0.998ish, so around 6.8% i believe.
I fermented it in a big plastic barrel without an airlock, I just loosely placed a lid on top.
The cider is slightly cloudy (think it will clear a little now bottled) and on the dry side. The taste is good although i am going to top up the bottles with apple juice as it seems a little watery?! (Think this could just be the kit).
Forgot to get pics but will get some of my fermenter and bottles tomorrow!
Now I am going to begin brewing again I need some recipe advice....
Has anyone tried adding apples in with their apple juice when fermenting? I am thinking of trying real apples but want to know how this affects the fermentation/sugar needed/taste etc.
Thanks
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Jun 13, 2011 20:17:06 GMT
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Adding some apple juice concentrate before brewing to get the OG up can result in a fuller bodied cider. My all natural apple juice cider had an OG of 1.044 and some of that ended up very watery for no reason at all. I would aim for a higher OG. There is nothing to stop you adding pasturised apple juice afterwards. 200ml to a gallon would probably get the gravity up to 1.000 which would be medium sweet, but more appley I suppose.
I wouldn't put bits of apple in with the juice, put you can make you own mini cider perss really easily. I suppose taking an OG reading of the must is the bit that will let you know what's going on.
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Jun 13, 2011 21:27:55 GMT
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Adding some apple juice concentrate before brewing to get the OG up can result in a fuller bodied cider. My all natural apple juice cider had an OG of 1.044 and some of that ended up very watery for no reason at all. I would aim for a higher OG. There is nothing to stop you adding pasturised apple juice afterwards. 200ml to a gallon would probably get the gravity up to 1.000 which would be medium sweet, but more appley I suppose. I wouldn't put bits of apple in with the juice, put you can make you own mini cider perss really easily. I suppose taking an OG reading of the must is the bit that will let you know what's going on. So if I press the apples and take the juice, add some shop bought apple juice, water and sugar to give a sensible OG/SG, will i need to add some yeast ad yeast nutrient as well? Sorry if that is a 'noob' question, I am still a beginner though. Thanks Ben
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Ah, sorry, I thought you meant chuck some pressed apple juice/conentrate in with your kit. If you are going from scratch then if you were to use exlusively pressed apple juice form real apples then you may not need yeast at all, apple skin has natural yeasts on it. If you use bought stuff it will likely be pasturised and have no yeast. Commercial cider makers kill off all the natural yeast first, then add yeast so they can regulate alcohol levels more easily.
So yes you would need some cider yeast and possibly nutrient if using mostly shop bought juice.
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Jun 14, 2011 12:53:53 GMT
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Has anyone tried adding apples in with their apple juice when fermenting? I am thinking of trying real apples but want to know how this affects the fermentation/sugar needed/taste etc. Thanks The first one we did was 100% real apples. It came out at about 5% and was lovely. I think we got lucky with the taste, but we used nice tasting eating apples. Cooking apples will add sharpness and acidity. Use a mug of strong tea to add tannin.
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Jun 14, 2011 20:23:13 GMT
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Enjoying a pint of cider from Lidl apple juice. Last week it tasted like home brew, but this week it tastes like very very apply cider. It's lovely! Added about a 3/4 level teaspoon of sugar to the pint and it's absolutely spot on for me. Next brew will have more tea in it. The tannin really makes it quite a drink! The only thing I regret is using campden and sorbate to kill the yeast. I've got quite a sensitive nose and I can smell the sorbate. In hindsight I think it didn't need it and it would have cleared just as quickly by itself. The Lidl cloudy apple is a lot sharper and needs to sit for a bit. Then I'll sweeten it up a bit and bottle it. Not as good as the clear stuff but well worth a go. I might actually doctor it a bit to improve the flavour. Again, a bit more tannin would improve the flavour as it would stand up to the sharpness Highboycoupe, forgot to say I'm really looking forward to your crazy looking brew. Looks amazing. Are you going to keep feeding it sugar until the yeast maxes out? You should be able to get 18-20% from Youngs super yeast.
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Jun 14, 2011 20:58:51 GMT
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Highboycoupe, forgot to say I'm really looking forward to your crazy looking brew. Looks amazing. Are you going to keep feeding it sugar until the yeast maxes out? You should be able to get 18-20% from Youngs super yeast. I'm not sure what I'm doing to be totally honest! After 3 days it's still bubbling every three seconds. Weirdly I didn't get any foam on top, it just looks very fizzy(proabaly as it had two years to clear!). I knocked up a second gallon, added a cup of tea made from 2 teabags, and 800g of sugar as I was afraid I had put too much sugar in the first one. I never took an OG reading, but I expect it was up over 1.055. It's great to think you can knock up intersting cheap drinks out of virtually anything, always an intriguing thread! Super cider V1 Super cider V1.1
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Jun 15, 2011 12:02:19 GMT
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Last night I bottled up 'batch 2b' to take to A52 this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes ;D Tasted pretty good when I had a test bottle for quality control purposes though. I added stingy half a teaspoon of sugar and the same of sucralose based sweetener to each 300ish ml bottle (sugar to add fizz, sweetener to make it a bit tamer to other people's pallettes). This batch got bonus tannin from tea and citric acid so I'll compare to a retained bottle of my first batch at some point.
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Last Edit: Jun 15, 2011 12:03:00 GMT by ben711200
...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Jun 16, 2011 12:49:50 GMT
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After a "tasting session" i have found that the bottles primed with a little sugar gave a better tasting cider.
I have another question though, when using apple juice, do people use from concentrate or the more expensive real apple juice?
Thanks
Ben
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Jun 16, 2011 19:23:17 GMT
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Most "turbo ciders" are made from concentrate as it's much cheaper than pucka pressed apple juice. At the end of the day it's up to you and your taste buds.
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Jun 17, 2011 12:50:09 GMT
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I've just used stuff from concentrate. The one I made from premium is no better, it's just cloudy.
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Jun 20, 2011 11:21:31 GMT
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Last night I bottled up 'batch 2b' to take to A52 this weekend. Excellent! Very tasty, but far too strong to be a 'session' drink. Subsequent batches for this sort of consumption will be made less strong. It all went down very well, but when Hardcore says 'I had 4 bottles and I felt quite drunk', then you know it's probably a bit too strong ;D I've been using the cheapest concentrate apple juice to good effect. You could always try using a litre or two of the posh stuff to alter (improve?) the flavour. Also had a bash at a supermarket grape juice wine because it's quick and cheap and people seem to get good results. I used Lidl mixed grape juice, sugar to an SG of 1085, yeast nutrient, citric acid and Youngs Super yeast, let it ferment right out, killed with a campden, racked to a second demijohn to clear, and then bottled. The whole process took a month, is drinkable immediately (infact, I have a feeling that without some extra care, it won't keep more than a few months, not a problem for this sort of thing...). Taste is on a par with any sub £5 rosé in my opinion, and it cost me about that for a gallon. Having read up some more, there are a few bits I'd change next time, but it's a wholely promising start to cheapy wine making. With care and a bit of time I'm sure I can make it really rather nice. How's your WOW coming on J69?
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Jun 20, 2011 11:44:37 GMT
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Excellent! Very tasty, but far too strong to be a 'session' drink. Subsequent batches for this sort of consumption will be made less strong. It all went down very well, but when Hardcore says 'I had 4 bottles and I felt quite drunk', then you know it's probably a bit too strong ;D This cider was ace! I think I had quite a few 'trys' on all the flavours, but within minutes of Ben arriving I claimed a bottle of the cranberry (?) which was bloody lovely, bloody drinkable and with an empty stomach, bloody effective at making me feel quite tipsy! I can highly recommend it. The other flavours were equally drinkable but all with their own distinctive tastes. I think the only downside of this cider wasn't so much seeing Ben very, very drunk on Friday night....(that was actually quite brilliant) but rather seeing Ben very quiet for most of Saturday. ;( Ben, many thanks for bringing a batch up and letting us try it, it was very much enjoyed by everyone and really goes to show that some homebrew is a far more rewarding and enjoyable drink than mass produced stuff in a tin. Happy to 'sample' some more anytime ;D
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***Home Brew Thread***HARDCORE
@hardcore
Club Retro Rides Member 190
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Jun 20, 2011 12:22:37 GMT
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It all went down very well, but when Hardcore says 'I had 4 bottles and I felt quite drunk', then you know it's probably a bit too strong ;D Lol, you were much drunkerer I enjoyed it very much thank you dude. ColonElk asking "D'ya mind if I use a corner of our barn for some home brew?" makes me very happy indeed
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,841
Club RR Member Number: 174
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***Home Brew Thread***stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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Jun 20, 2011 12:37:18 GMT
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I'm gonna have to start making it again now. I need to devise a way to pick apples 30 feet off the ground also, if anybody can help.
Matt
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Colonelk
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,740
Club RR Member Number: 83
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***Home Brew Thread***Colonelk
@colonelk
Club Retro Rides Member 83
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Jun 20, 2011 13:02:17 GMT
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Bens brews have definitely accelerated my desire to get some brews on the go. My home brew set up will be very very traveller so I think Ill try some turbo cider first as it seems to be pretty much "a sure thing" (as sure as these things can be anyway!) Will post details and lots of questions later
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Jun 20, 2011 17:38:31 GMT
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I'm gonna have to start making it again now. I need to devise a way to pick apples 30 feet off the ground also, if anybody can help. Matt Get someone up said tree, lay a tarp on the ground, watch things fall out of tree.
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Jun 20, 2011 22:26:08 GMT
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Get someone up said tree, lay a tarp on the ground, watch things fall out of tree, hope said someone isn't one of the things falling out of tree. Fixed for you.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,841
Club RR Member Number: 174
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***Home Brew Thread***stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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Jun 20, 2011 22:39:30 GMT
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I did that last year. It was fine if I was using the apples straight away but they bruised quickly if not used. We should have an Area 52 apple picking weekend at mine - load them all into Kev's truck, then build a big press at Area 52 and make some mega strong brews.
Matt
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