Making cider for wedding favours...first time brewer

[silverteen]

Hello all,

Me and my fiance are getting married next may (2014) and she keeps suggesting naff wedding favours that i presume no body wants, when i started looking into them i seen some people had created their own beer and bottled it as a wedding favour, i thought this was quite a cool favour for everyone. we are having a vintage theme and i thought what about some nice homemade cider, bottled up and a label made up with the wedding theme/date/name etc on it.

Ive done some research into getting glass bottles, caps, and customised labels and i think for about 100 (330ml) bottles with labels should cost about £80-90. So then i thought id contact a micro brewery and see if they could provide us with say 35 litres of cider. but i think this will work out expensive.

so i thought maybe i would try home brew kits and make my own, Id like to do a trial run this summer and then actually make it for my wedding next year. so here come the questions:


what starter cider kits do you recommend?
would you recommend i make 1 cider and 1 lager then people can swop if they dont like one?
how long before the wedding would you start the home brew?
how long can i bottle them before the wedding?
any other tips?

i thought 2 40 pint kits would work as id need around 90 -330ml bottles (around 30 litres) so thought id make more to allow for wastage etc.

any help would appreciated as im a complete newbie. i was thinking something along the lines of the wilkos kits...

cheers in advance :)

 

[calumscott]

If you want to impress, you'd likely want a "Ye Olde West Country" style cider?

In which case steer clear of the kits which will, AFAIK, effectively produce magners. (I did a pear one for SWMBO and it tastes EXACTLY like Kopparberg, she loves it)

Turbo Cider can be utterly stupendous. I had one from forum member graysalchemy and it tasted like some of the stuff I used to drink at beer and cider festivals when I lived in the West Country.

It takes a long time to make though. You don't really have time for a proper full dry-run I'm afraid. The idea is that you take bog standard supermarket apple juice (100% juice, from concentrate) then tinker with the chemistry a bit to make it like the juice you would get from cider apples (by adding malic acid and tannin) then ferment that down with a cider (champagne) yeast and also inoculate the brew with a bacterium called lactobacillus. They multiply and "feed" on the malic acid producing lactic acid and also lots of strange other chemicals which give you that characteristic west country cider flavour (that sort of buttery flavour).

If you go down this route you would want to start your brew around July, ferment it out, rack it to a clean vessel, inoculate with Lacobacillus and seal it up until around the start of April when you would bottle it. That would give it time to carbonate and clear ready for your nuptials.

 

[olriley]

Your idea sounds cool! :thumb:
But the pleasure lies in the fact it is hand-made by you- and don't take this the wrong way - somehow cider from a kit doesn't quite cut it? If you want to get into cider making this autumn, then go for it, it would be a great talking point. Here's how we did ours last year. But if you want to keep it simple, why not try a homemade limoncello (search on here), sloe gin or elderberry liqueur? Almost foolproof, no major equipment needed, look dead cute in dinky bottles and will taste great! :

 

[calumscott]

We did unusual favours...

Like cuddly monkeys for the kids.

We also did a free bar.

So the adults were sent home with home made tablet and a can of Irn Bru!!! :lol:

 

[olriley]

the adults were sent home with home made tablet

Paracetemol, viagra or something stronger?

#notscottish

 

[calumscott]

the adults were sent home with home made tablet

Paracetemol, viagra or something stronger?

#notscottish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_(confectionery)

Food of the (northern) gods!

 

[silverteen]

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it wont be authentically made by us, but i think the idea is still good, rather than some jam or boiled sweets.

Im thinking now maybe have two different ciders like a summer fruits and a more apple cide rlike bulmers/magners....

what kits would you recommend?

cheers

 

[alanywiseman.]

If you want to impress, you'd likely want a "Ye Olde West Country" style cider?

In which case steer clear of the kits which will, AFAIK, effectively produce magners. (I did a pear one for SWMBO and it tastes EXACTLY like Kopparberg, she loves it)

Turbo Cider can be utterly stupendous. I had one from forum member graysalchemy and it tasted like some of the stuff I used to drink at beer and cider festivals when I lived in the West Country.

It takes a long time to make though. You don't really have time for a proper full dry-run I'm afraid. The idea is that you take bog standard supermarket apple juice (100% juice, from concentrate) then tinker with the chemistry a bit to make it like the juice you would get from cider apples (by adding malic acid and tannin) then ferment that down with a cider (champagne) yeast and also inoculate the brew with a bacterium called lactobacillus. They multiply and "feed" on the malic acid producing lactic acid and also lots of strange other chemicals which give you that characteristic west country cider flavour (that sort of buttery flavour).

If you go down this route you would want to start your brew around July, ferment it out, rack it to a clean vessel, inoculate with Lacobacillus and seal it up until around the start of April when you would bottle it. That would give it time to carbonate and clear ready for your nuptials.

This is the route I would take if I were you but personelly I would start it ASAP. Not due to lack of time but because April and May and going to be very busy next year for you (trust me I am getting married at the end of May this year). This would mean you could bottle it up a little earlier when you are not so busy. It will keep for a long time in the bottle so no worries about it og off or anything like that :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it wont be authentically made by us, but i think the idea is still good, rather than some jam or boiled sweets.

Im thinking now maybe have two different ciders like a summer fruits and a more apple cide rlike bulmers/magners....

what kits would you recommend?

cheers

Well if it's those types of ciders you're after then the Ritchies "on the rocks" range get a good name.

You'll still want to get them going now though, when first bottled they're a bit harsh but improve massively over the course of a year in the bottle.

They aren't really true ciders though, oddly they use grape concentrate in the mix and they use artificial flavours at bottling time...

 

[GeorgeSalt]

So the adults were sent home with home made tablet and a can of Irn Bru!!! :lol:

A wedding I was ata few years ago had stovies for the evening snack.. heaven..

 

[RobWalker]

on the rocks kits are your crap-but-good ciders that taste like kopparberg/rekorderlig, i'm sure it will make a nice gift either way.

otherwise you're gonna want to straight up ferment supermarket apple juice with some strong tea, wine yeast and citric acid. once it's fermented, bottle it with 1tsp sugar to the pint, and it'll be more or less good to go. it takes around 3 months to get really good, whereas the kits are ready quite quickly. all ciders improve with age.

congratulations too!

 

[silverteen]

thanks for the replies.... i think im going to do the on the rock kits.... 1 blueberry and 1 raspberry and lime, so potentially i will have 80 pints.

if im doing these kits and i want the best flavour for may, when should i start and when should i bottle them?

ive heard a few horror stories about bottling cider and the caps exploding off... any tips to avoid this but still manage to get a good fizz!?

cheers for your help :

 

[calumscott]

if im doing these kits and i want the best flavour for may, when should i start and when should i bottle them?

Start now!!! I have a OTR Pear Cider that was started 24/03/2013 and it is now perfect.

Assume at least two full weeks to ferment out and give the yeast time to finish the job properly before bottling. Make sure fermentation is finished with a hydrometer. It'll finish around or just less than 1.000.

Make sure you control the fermentation temperature. Keep the temperature down to around 18 Centigrade.

If you want them exactly as Ritchies intended then use dextrose as the extra sugar. Sucrose *can* give winey flavours that you might not want if you want it clean.

That should get you the best of these kits.

ive heard a few horror stories about bottling cider and the caps exploding off... any tips to avoid this but still manage to get a good fizz!?

1) Make sure it's fermented right out to start with - see above.
2) Get the priming right. You'll have to batch prime. For a good fizz you'll want around 7 grams of sugar per litre.
3) Bottles. Don't use lightweight ones like most bottled lagers come in. Source good strong ones.

 

[silverteen]

Thanks for the help...

Start now!!! I have a OTR Pear Cider that was started 24/03/2013 and it is now perfect.

Do you mean 24/03/2012 ? (my wedding is may 2014, so just over a year away)

Im planning on buying one starter kit and doing one, then bottling it up, then starting the second batch, would that be ok?

whats the best temp to store the bottles once capped?

cheers

 

[calumscott]

Start now!!! I have a OTR Pear Cider that was started 24/03/2013 and it is now perfect.

Do you mean 24/03/2012 ? (my wedding is may 2014, so just over a year away)

Ooops! Yes, started it over a year ago...

Im planning on buying one starter kit and doing one, then bottling it up, then starting the second batch, would that be ok?

Aye, just do them back to back. :thumb:

whats the best temp to store the bottles once capped?

18 degrees until they go cloudy then clear again - two or three weeks. Then "cellar temperature", cool but not cold if that makes sense.

 

[RobWalker]

for long storage you'll need to keep them cool and free from light too. i'm sure they will discolour if they're in the sun all day...just shove them somewhere protected from frost, and cover with a bin bag etc, or in a cardboard box and you will be fine. they can tolerate the warm, just not sun exposure, so a shed/garage is fine.

 

[silverteen]

Ive just ordered a starter kit and the on the rocks cider kits - Raspberry and lime and Mixed fruits.

The website i bought the kits from suggested using brewing sugar, is this the needed or can i use normal tate & lyle granulated sugar?

i plan to start these asap so they could spend nearly a year bottled, is that ok? ...obviously i'll have to make a few extra for tasting purposes :)
cheers

 

[calumscott]

If you want them exactly as Ritchies intended then use dextrose as the extra sugar. Sucrose *can* give winey flavours that you might not want if you want it clean.

Brewing sugar = dextrose. :thumb:

 

[silverteen]

Thanks calumscott for your help :)

sorry for all the questions.
ive just ordered 3 kgs fo brewing sugar for the 2 kits. Does this go in with the original mix and then i use normal sugar when bottling?
Do i have to use bottled water or is tap ok?

I was planning of replacing 2-4 litres of the water with fruit juice, I.e raspberry juice for rasberry and lime kit and mixed fruit juice for mixed fruits kit, would ocean spray juice be fine? do i need to adjust for the sugar by using the juices?

the kits say 23 litres but am i better in making them up to say 20 litres for more flavour?

thanks

 

[Steam brew]

As some one who used to work making cider may I suggest you make real cider using Morgan sweet and any bittersweet apple pressed in October 10 pounds of apples make a gallon of cider leaving to ferment naturally you will be able to bottle and drink by christmas hope this helps steam brew :