Apple cider kit

[Oshay]

Hi all I'm wanting to do a cider kit something I can start in the next few weeks and be ready for Xmas nothing too strong something I can have a session on but also serve up as mulled cider
Haven't tried brewing cider yet so any advice on kits would be welcome
I do like a nice cold pint of strongbow so looking to brew something that tastes like that with around 5 percent abv

 

[Roddy]

Morning chief

I have made a few cider kits in the past and whilst they turn out OK, I remember them to be a little watery tasting for my liking

You can make a batch of Turbo Cider from cartons if AJ that turns out a great result for the same price (or less)

Bog standard cheapo supermarket AJ is usually about 60-70p per litre, Lidl is 88p per 1.5L carton at the mo

You can then make it to whatever abv you want by using some water. AJ usually has a sugar content of about 11g per 100ml which will give you an abv of 5.8% ish. When I make mine I add a bit of water to keep the abv around 5-5.5%. I've got various recipes for straight Apple TC and other variations flavoured with fruity syrups. I've found a decent cider yeast with sweetener which takes the edge off the natural appley dryness and the result is pretty damn good !

That said, if you stick with the kit route, I've used the Ritchies 'on the rocks' mixed berry and blueberry varieties and bulldog strawberry and lime. They were OK, no complaints [emoji4]

TC is the only way for me these days, good luck [emoji3]

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Oshay]

Thanks for the reply mate
I bought a John bull country cider yesterday and put it in the bucket no activity yet but it's early days
Just read some reviews on it and it doesn't sound all that lol
Oh well if it's as weak tasting as people say it looks like a few sessions on the snake bite & black
Bottled a batch of cellar7 summer berries yesterday I was well impressed with the taste after 7 days but started to taste a bit sickly after a few glasses and it lacked the alcohol taste of the raspberry & cassis I did a while back hopefully it'll improve with age
I brewed the cider kit to just under 20 litres so expecting an abv of around 5.5 - 6
Fingers crossed with this one.

 

[TheSalad]

Turbo cider all the way for me. Easy peasy. Kits will be fine I'm sure. Good luck Oshay.

 

[MrDasherD]

Have done loads of cider kits for my lady but she always points me back towards Bulldog Perfect Apple or Ciderworks kits.

 

[Oshay]

Bottled my John bull cider last night fg was down to 1002
Taste test wasn't all that but hopefully it'll improve
Primed 500ml bottles with 1 tsp of granulated
Gonna leave this till Xmas for mulled cider
1 thing I did notice before bottling though it smelt like someone had farted in my fv it was rank lol hopefully the smell will improve too.