Cheeky Vimto

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I got 2 demijohns going a week now and they going like a steam train! When will they calm down? I wanna drink it lol
 
Just racked my first batch of cheeky vimto. Got a reading of 1.010 which dropped from 1.070, so has anyone got any idea how strong it will be?
I am gonna leave it somewhere as cold as possible tonight, then rack into PET bottles tommorow. Maybe prime with 1tsp of sugar per 2 litre bottle, (does this sound ok?) then condition for a few days in the warm, then leave either in the garage or fridge.
Please feel free to add any views or advice, cheers!
 
Hi everyone,

I'm looking to make a sort of variant of this, but I've never made anything other than ales from beer kits so I've got a couple of questions. Hope you don't mind!

1)What's the reason for adding the apple juice, rather than water? I'm actually hoping to make a sarsaparilla, and I don't think apple juice would go very well with sarsaparilla squash. Will fermentation be rubbish if I add water? What if I whack in a load of extra sugars to compensate?

2)If I force fermentation to stop with Campden tablets (to keep the % under 8% say), will I still be able to create fizz by adding priming sugars when I bottle, or am I destined to have a flat brew?

Thanks!
 
hong said:
Muddy Funker said:
Jesus,

I put my first batch of this on a couple of weeks ago.

4l Tesco Apple Juice
750ml Vimto
250g Sugar
Youngs wine yeast

I was a little apprehensive about using the wine yeast as I thought it may strip out all of the sweetness. I was wrong.

Started at 1074 and I've just checked it now and it's at 1004!!!

9.3% and with a nice sweetness. Rocket fuel :drunk:
So, will you let this ferment all the way out, or stop it at a certain point?

Apologies, I hadn't seen your post.

This pretty much had fermented out give or take.

Heavy duty stuff but drinkable.
 
I've just done a 2nd batch of this, added a little less sugar to get a starting gravity of 1050, and finished at 1002, so around 6.5%


Here's some pics

vimto%201.jpg


vimto2.jpg


vimto%202-1.jpg
 
i just check mine its 1000 so i add 1 cam tab and some potassium sorbate
can i add more vimto on my next brew if so how mutch
as i would like more vimto taste :cheers:
i used
725 vimto
150g sugar
1tsp yeast nutrient
yeast from wilco in tub
 
Hello Gents,

I've just started my first two batches, and think I've made a schoolboy error.

We've spent weeks sourcing all our equipment, right down to crates of grolsch swingtops. WEEKS! But...

In a desperate attempt to get proper dextrose last Sunday, our final piece in the puzzle, the local brewing store was closed. So we found a slightly more expensive version, just so we could get one on the go - Boots Dextrose 500g (£1.96). Oooof!

But needs must!

Anyway, we made one batch, a constant, to measure anything we made up to; and a vimto experiment.

The regular cider has gone a nice cloudy lenon curd colour, with visible froth, a sour smell and bubbling every 10-15 seconds.

We were in such a rush to get it done, I think we may have fudged the vimto batch. It doesn't bubble as often, infact I only really see a bubble or two after I give it a swirl in the demijohn.

Perhaps we've put too much sugar/not enough sugar or not enough water/apple juice in?

REGULAR:
3l sainsburys apple juice from concentrate
584g dextrose
youngs wine yeast

VIMTO CIDER:
3l sainsburys apple juice from concentrate
584g dextrose
youngs wine yeast
1l vimto (boiled for 20 mins)

Any help greatly appreciated, we should go slower next time and be less excited haha!

Thanks in advance! :)
 
quick question. if you stop the fermentation early and kill all the yeasties off to make it not so dry, can you still make it fizzy in the bottles? or is it nicer drinking it without priming it? i dont like very dry cider that much!.

Cheers

Andy

Looks bloody handsome!
 
no takers on my question?

well, regardless, I bottled it, and the stuff was like WINE.

It burns to drink, and tastes like very dry white wine.

Still, I bottled 6 x 500ml of them and have sent them to the basement with the infamous 'bubble gum cider' in my hopes that next year it will magically transform.

The taste was midlly fizzy, like ReKorderlig is. But I bottled with half a coopers drop in each, and i test opened one a bit and there was an almighty fizz - a positive sign!

It's only 6 bottles used, so even if it is a flop, its worth an experiment to see.
 
After my attempt at a vimto wine stopped fermenting at 7.5% ABV I carried out a few taste tests and decided it was a really nice vimto cider Type brew, I checked the forums to see if anything had been done like this and found this gem of a thread.

Started off the normal vimto brew, a cherry vimto brew and a ribena variant. Hope they are drinkable for my haloween party to get a range of oppinions. Whatever wins will be getting brewed in my 5 gallon carboy and kegged for my Christmas snow BBQ and depending on the reactions to the other two I might rebrew them in 1 gallon DJ's and bottle them up.

Cheers

Marrsy
 
Hi there,

Im gonna try some of this for her indoors but she doesnt like apple juice! :roll:

Probably a really silly question but does this brew taste more like vimto than the apple juice?

Also, has anyone tried it with something other than apple juice? As long as its from concentrate i cant see it making a difference. Could i try Pineapple juice for example? :wha:
 
Davey H said:
Hi there,

Im gonna try some of this for her indoors but she doesnt like apple juice! :roll:

Probably a really silly question but does this brew taste more like vimto than the apple juice?

Also, has anyone tried it with something other than apple juice? As long as its from concentrate i cant see it making a difference. Could i try Pineapple juice for example? :wha:

It reminds me more of a koppaberg mixed fruits style drink where the apple is an underlying taste. I have made a variant with Cranberry juice and it turned out ok. Remember there is also Cherry Vimto that enhances the Vimto flavour even further.

Cheers

Marrsy
 
Cheers Marrsy,

I saw the Cherry Vimto at Tescos just now and wondered! :wha:

I've gone for Pineapple Juice from concentrate and for a different batch i saw some exotic juice fruit drink on offer, 4 for £3. It doesnt say its from concentrate on the front but has sugar in it. Do you thinkk that would be ok? :hmm:
 
Any idea if it has preservatives in it ? Check it's ingredients for the % of each fruit juice. Some times they are really low. Also what's it's total sugar ?

Cheers

Marrsy
 
Right then,

Just got the carton and this is what it says,

Ingredients.

Water, Fruit juices from concentrate 16% (Orange, Pineapple,Apple, Passionfruit), Fruit Puree 5% (Banana, Mango, Guava, Lychee, Guanabana), Sugar, Citric acid,, Stabiliser (pectin), Vitamin C, Colour (Anthocyanin, Beta carotene), Flavourings and Vitamin E & A.

Carbohydrates (per 250ml) 34g (of which 33g is sugars). doesnt mention sugar amounts anywhere

That would say to me that most of it is water (only 16% concentrate fruits, like you suggested), but quite a bit of sugar.

I would be willing to try for the sake of experimentation :thumb: ....unless you can see anything in those ingredients that would scupper my plans?!!! :shock:
 
I would still give it a bash I would say it has enough sugar in it to earn it's place.

I don't fully know what "Stabiliser, Colour (Anthocyanin, Beta carotene) and Flavourings are so I would advise you boiled the juice for 15-20 minutes like you do with Vimto or Ribena to kill off anything bad in the juice.

Let it cool to room temperature and your good to go in my book :thumb:

Cheers

Marrsy
 
Yeah, why not....Let the experiment begin!!

As you say i'll boil it to be on the safe side.

Thanks again for your advice Marrsy :clap:

I plan to start it tomorrow so i'll keep you posted. :party:
 
Davey H said:
Yeah, why not....Let the experiment begin!!

As you say i'll boil it to be on the safe side.

Thanks again for your advice Marrsy :clap:

I plan to start it tomorrow so i'll keep you posted. :party:

No problem mate keep us updated :) I'm having a bit of a brew day tomorrow aswell while the other halfs at work.

Planning on starting off 1 gallon of WoW, 5 Gallons of Vimto Cider and 4 Gallons of Ribena Cider ready for Christmas :) when I go shopping for my apple juice I'm going to try hunt down as many flavoures of that polish cordial people are talking about in the rasberry thread to start off the following weekend, it's going to be a very merry Christmas :D :cheers:
 
I'll drink to that! :cheers:

I've been looking at the WoW thread as well. I thought when i started (you've obviously guessed im a newbie!)
that i would do beers, cider etc until i get used to the process of brewing and fermentation and then start on the wine, which i gather takes more time and a little more experience.

I'd be interested to see how your WoW goes. :thumb:

So much to brew, so little time, space and money!! :cheers:
 
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