Cider from Aldi 100% natural apple juice

[Drunkula]

Did I read this right Larry, when you bottled you used 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 carb drops together?

No, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 artificial sweetner tablets. Don't buy any more carbonation tabs as they're a colossal waste of money. Look into batch priming here: https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/ if you like a fizzy cider look at something like 3.3 volumes of co2 and then decide if you'd like it up or down next time. For the temperature in the calculator use the temperature of where you had it when it finished fermenting.

 

[StFlipper]

Is the Aldi apple juice "naturally cloudy" or fairly clear? It seems difficult to find clear apple juice that's not from concentrate. I recently made a gallon of cider using Lidl's "naturally cloudy" juice - too tempting to pass at 99p/litre - but it's resolutely not clearing. Not a yeast haze as finings had almost no effect on it, and a month in the cold hasn't made it drop out. I saw a comment from someone that cloudy apple juice has been through some mechanical process to keep some pulp in suspension, in which case maybe it'll never clear, but I might try pectilase next time in case it's a pectin haze.

Anyway, my attempt at cider was nothing more than the apple juice and Lalvin EC-1118 champagne/cider yeast. Started out at OG 1.045 and 10 days later at about 20C was at 1.000, which seems like a respectable 5.9% ABV.

 

[Ajhutch]

Is the Aldi apple juice "naturally cloudy" or fairly clear? It seems difficult to find clear apple juice that's not from concentrate. I recently made a gallon of cider using Lidl's "naturally cloudy" juice - too tempting to pass at 99p/litre - but it's resolutely not clearing. Not a yeast haze as finings had almost effect on it, and a month in the cold hasn't made it drop out. I saw a comment from someone that cloudy apple juice has been through some mechanical process to keep some pulp in suspension, in which case maybe it'll never clear, but I might try pectilase next time in case it's a pectin haze.

Anyway, my attempt at cider was nothing more than the apple juice and Lalvin EC-1118 champagne/cider yeast. Started out at OG 1.045 and 10 days later at about 20C was at 1.000, which seems like a respectable 5.9% ABV.

I did a cider with the cloudy Lidl apple juice and it’s clear now but it took about 3 months in the bottle. Tasted good much earlier than that though.

 

[LarryF]

Did I read this right Larry, when you bottled you used 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 carb drops together? I was only going to use the 2 carb drops, or will that not be enough for this cider?

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1tsp of sugar and 2 Canderel tablets, they're an artificial sweetener, if you try and sweeten the cider with sugar the yeast just eats it up.

 

[StFlipper]

That's good to know. I put a first bottle into the fridge just now and it did look slightly clearer than a couple of weeks ago, so maybe it's just a matter of patience. Still, there's plenty of good cloudy scrumpies, so cloudy's not a problem really.

 

[ukphiltr7]

Is the Aldi apple juice "naturally cloudy" or fairly clear? It seems difficult to find clear apple juice that's not from concentrate. I recently made a gallon of cider using Lidl's "naturally cloudy" juice - too tempting to pass at 99p/litre - but it's resolutely not clearing. Not a yeast haze as finings had almost no effect on it, and a month in the cold hasn't made it drop out. I saw a comment from someone that cloudy apple juice has been through some mechanical process to keep some pulp in suspension, in which case maybe it'll never clear, but I might try pectilase next time in case it's a pectin haze.

Anyway, my attempt at cider was nothing more than the apple juice and Lalvin EC-1118 champagne/cider yeast. Started out at OG 1.045 and 10 days later at about 20C was at 1.000, which seems like a respectable 5.9% ABV.

Yes the apple juice that I brought is clouded and more so in the FV. It has been in there only 4 days now and still very cloudy. I am thinking about giving it around 2 weeks like the beer. However, I will be trying it after a week to see how it is tasting and take a reading.

It being cloudy does not bother me as long as it tastes nice and is easy to drink. I made 8 litres with 5g of cider yeast. The og reading was 11.02 on the hydrometer.

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[ukphiltr7]

1tsp of sugar and 2 Canderel tablets, they're an artificial sweetener, if you try and sweeten the cider with sugar the yeast just eats it up.

I see what you mean now. I was thinking of doing half as it comes and the other half trying to get it sweeter. So only the sugar is for the yeast in the second fermentation process.

I have 740ml PET bottles and was going to add the same number of carb tablets that I do to the beer, 2 tablets.

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[Clint]

Just pick a recipe and do it...I'm sure it won't go to waste..tweak the next ...have fun!

 

[StFlipper]

Yes the apple juice that I brought is clouded and more so in the FV. It has been in there only 4 days now and still very cloudy. I am thinking about giving it around 2 weeks like the beer. However, I will be trying it after a week to see how it is tasting and take a reading.

It being cloudy does not bother me as long as it tastes nice and is easy to drink. I made 8 litres with 5g of cider yeast. The og reading was 11.02 on the hydrometer.

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Is that 11.02 Plato scale, or 1.102 relative density? 1.102 would mean a likely final ABV of over 13% if the yeast can take it, so I assume it's Plato scale.

I just finished my first pint of rather cloudy 99p/litre Lidl apple juice based cider. I'm not really a cider drinker myself so no idea what to compare it to, but it seems pretty respectable, and I don't think anyone would send it back if it was served at a festival or in a pub. The cloudiness isn't offputting at all, but it's a quite bit flatter than I was expecting, maybe the result of the finings dropping out too much live yeast for the secondary fermentation?

The sort of cider I like is the Breton/Norman brut stuff, dry with a "sherbetty" sort of taste, and quite highly carbonated. Anyone have any pointers on how to achieve that style, or is it a hopeless task when starting with what's really dessert apple juice rather than true cider apple juice?

 

[Cwrw666]

I found i didn't need tea bags, couldn't tell much difference. Just juice and plenty of yeast.

I've been making turbo cider just with Tescos pure apple juice and mangrove jacks M02 cider yeast. Nothing else added. Tastes like... cider. Actually much nicer than the cider I made from our own cider apple trees which is a bit annoying.

As to adding citric acid/lemon and T bags - why/- you wouldn't add those to real apple juice cider.
Oh lovely - windows 10 has just updated and I've lost me question marks...

 

[JebKerman]

I use this all the time.

For a 1 gallon batch I use:
3 x 1.5l Lidl 100% Apple juice
1/2 pint of strong black tea *cold - 2 Scottish Blend tea bags for preference
200g caster sugar
1 pack of Lalvin Champagne yeast.

Add 2 cartons of apple juice to the DJ at first with the tea, sugar and yeast, top up after 3-4 days with the rest of the apple juice
Leave for 4 weeks, then bottle with a carbonation drop in each of my brown swing top bottles, leave for 4 weeks to condition and enjoy.
It's almost foolproof and you get a nice crisp dry cider.

Good luck

 

[Darenn]

I use this recipe https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/brewnight-strawberry-and-lime-turbo-cider.64451/
But I use wine sweetener after fermentation instead of yeast with sweetener, and use 4 bottles of Lowicz to ferment with (I like the stronger flavour), none added afterwards.

 

[ukphiltr7]

Is that 11.02 Plato scale, or 1.102 relative density? 1.102 would mean a likely final ABV of over 13% if the yeast can take it, so I assume it's Plato scale.

I just finished my first pint of rather cloudy 99p/litre Lidl apple juice based cider. I'm not really a cider drinker myself so no idea what to compare it to, but it seems pretty respectable, and I don't think anyone would send it back if it was served at a festival or in a pub. The cloudiness isn't offputting at all, but it's a quite bit flatter than I was expecting, maybe the result of the finings dropping out too much live yeast for the secondary fermentation?

The sort of cider I like is the Breton/Norman brut stuff, dry with a "sherbetty" sort of taste, and quite highly carbonated. Anyone have any pointers on how to achieve that style, or is it a hopeless task when starting with what's really dessert apple juice rather than true cider apple juice?

On the hydrometer it was 11.02. All I know is that reading is in Brix. However, a final abv of 13% is rather high lol.

I will be taking a reading over the weekend to see what it has gone to or should I say come down to.

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[ukphiltr7]

Add 2 cartons of apple juice to the DJ at first with the tea, sugar and yeast, top up after 3-4 days with the rest of the apple juice
Leave for 4 weeks, then bottle with a carbonation drop in each of my brown swing top bottles, leave for 4 weeks to condition and enjoy.
It's almost foolproof and you get a nice crisp dry cider.

Good luck

Tht is very interesting as I was only going to leave it in the FV for 2 weeks max, like the beer that I have made. However, in saying that mine has been in the FV now for us under a week now and it is as cloudy as anything. I would even go as far as saying g it is like custard now in colour and thickness. Hopefully, another few weeks will sort it out though.

I did not add any extra sugar to mine this time. If this works out though I will look at doing that next time.

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[StFlipper]

On the hydrometer it was 11.02. All I know is that reading is in Brix. However, a final abv of 13% is rather high lol.

I will be taking a reading over the weekend to see what it has gone to or should I say come down to.

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Aha, Brix scale. My hydrometers only have the specific gravity scale so I've never used Brix. Looks like (https://www.brewersfriend.com/brix-converter/) 11.02 Brix = 1.0443 SG, which is almost exactly what my Lidl juice showed. If it ferments down to 1.000 (= 0.0 Brix) then that works out at about 5.8% ABV.

 

[ukphiltr7]

Aha, Brix scale. My hydrometers only have the specific gravity scale so I've never used Brix. Looks like (https://www.brewersfriend.com/brix-converter/) 11.02 Brix = 1.0443 SG, which is almost exactly what my Lidl juice showed. If it ferments down to 1.000 (= 0.0 Brix) then that works out at about 5.8% ABV.

That is cool, thanks for that. I will look at the link. I had a bit of a taste tonight and it is starting to taste really nice. Still a long way to go but a nice little bit of fiz to it. The Brix readi g after just 5 days now reads just under 7. Hopefully it will go down even further towards a nice abv. Hopefully the taste will keep on getting better anf nice and refreshing.

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

3 weeks and it’s clear as a bell

 

[ukphiltr7]

Looking nice after three weeks. I can see that mine has got a bit to go.

Oh yes a mistake on my side it is the refractometer that i am using not the hydrometer.

 

[mgrds]

I use green tea when I want to add tannin to a fruit cider or wine (if not grape tannin or some other ingredient) and also for fermented vegetable preserves (pickles) It provides the tannin but does not influence the flavour as much as black tea imho of course if you want a bit of tea flavour then go for black..

 

[BREWERS DROOP]

I don’t put milk in mine