Hello, this is Llantwit Major calling

[Dawsie]

Well here we go, new year, new hobby, why not? Happy new year!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum. :

 

[Gerryjo]

Hi and welcome to the forum....

 

[IainM]

Welcome to the forum. What are you planning on brewing?

 

[Dawsie]

I would like to give cider a go, can you advise please?

 

[LarryF]

Welcome aboard Dawsie, I had a look back through my posts and found this from 2015:

First TC put on this evening, each one is 8L:

7L Asda Apple Juice +1 to top up
400g of sugar
2tsp of pectolase
2tsp of glycerin
1tsp of yeast nutrient
1 cup of strong black tea 2 x tea bags (Yorkshire)
1 Tbl sp of lemon juice (squeezed)
1 pack of Coopers yeast.

I fermented this for 3 weeks and just left the DJ near a rad and it fermented out fine. Then siphoned it straight into bottles. I primed 1L bottles with 1tsp of sugar and 2 x canderel tablets and really liked it. I didn't take readings but it was very strong though. What I'm thinking doing this year with the TC is swap out the 400g of sugar for something like half a bottle of Cherry syrup and do two 8L batches. If you have a look through the forum the fruit punches made with something like Robinsons barley water are really easy to brew and great to drink. It's like 8-10% fanta, over ice with a dash of lemonade, it's great in the summer.

 

[Dawsie]

Thanks for that Larry

 

[IainM]

You're in the right place Dawsie. There are three basic ways of making cider. Firstly is from apples, which is a pain to make in small quantities without investing in equipment. The second way is with a cider kit. Kits come with all the ingredients you need, usually for 23L; apple juice concentrate, yeast, and sometimes sweeteners and additional flavourings. Just add water. The third way is to make turbo cider. This can be as simple as 5L of supermarket juice and a £1 sachet of Wiko wine yeast, or a more elaborate recipe like the one LarryF gives, which has glycerine for body, stewed tea or tannins for astringency, lemon for acidity, and pectolase for clarity. I've made good cider using all three method.

 

[Dutto]

Welcome to the Forum. :wave:

 

[Dawsie]

Thank you Iain, I suspect I should be asking this in the appropriate forum but just wonered how realistic it is to expect to produce a cider similar to a commercial cider?

 

[IainM]

Thank you Iain, I suspect I should be asking this in the appropriate forum but just wonered how realistic it is to expect to produce a cider similar to a commercial cider?

It is absolutely realistic. Cider is quite stright forward and a good brew to start with. It does depend on what you mean by commercial cider. You are almost guaranteed to get something better than a cheap white cider. If you are thinking more along the lines of Kopparberg or Rekorderlig, these aren't even ciders at all but alcopops allowed to call themselves ciders because of lax regulations. Still, there are kits which imitate these styles, complete with tonnes of sweeteners and artificial flavourings. Others, such as Magners or Aspells, are made with blends of apples selected for their gustative properties. Nevertheless, you can get into the right sort of ballpark using supermarket juice and some of the tricks in LarryF's TC recipe.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Welcome to the forum.

 

[terrym]

@Dawsie
Welcome to the forum.
There are plenty of threads concerning cider making to read through in the Wine and Cider Forums.
And there are plenty on the forum who make cider, from using their own apples and press, through to supermarket juice, and many have success it seems.
That said I had one go at a TC having followed the recommendations on this forum and was disappointed, I found it thin and lacking in flavour, and it needed months to mature, but perhaps I was unlucky. I haven't bothered again. And I also made up a cider kit for someone and wasn't too impressed with the results. So if you have a go at TC or a kit cider I think you should set your expectations fairly low and then take it from there. But the bottom line is you won't know what they are like until you have had a go.

 

[LarryF]

I absolutely agree with all the advice above what I will say is that if you brew and bottle your TC now it will be drinkable in a month but if you leave it until the summer it'll be great. And as with all brewing you get to sit back with that smug grin on your face when it kicks in saying to yourself "I brewed this". However from that point on, you're doomed.

 

[Steelbacks]

I've decided to jump in and make some cider. Well, when I say 'cider' I should probably say that I'm about to put a small carrier bag of apples through the nutriblenderthingy, strain what comes out, add some sugar, yeast, and pectolase and see what happens. Usually I'd follow a proper recipe to the letter, but I don't have a huge amount of apples to make the usual 5 gallon batch, or a demijohn, so I'm just going to make 2 litres in a plastic bottle and see what happens when I adjust all the ingredients proportionately down from what would be used in a larger ferment. I'm looking for something that has plenty of flavour. I'd ideally like something quite strong/sweet, with a 'toffee apple' sort of taste rather than something dry. I'm thinking of replacing the sugar with some golden syrup and might see if I have some light brown sugar that I can put in to add some flavour too.

This could be a disaster, I know, but it's only 2 litres, I didn't have to pay for the apples, so I think it's ok to do a little experimenting. If anyone wants to chip in with any last-minute comments or advice, please feel free, but time is limited as I'm planning on getting started in a few hours time.

One question though... does anyone know what happens if you cook up the apples before you ferment them? I'd imagine it'd change the flavour a bit, but has anyone tried it?