New members hello and question 😉

[Mrcwcb89]

Good afternoon all 👋🏼

Hope everyone is well , new to brewing I've bought all the kit in and I'm looking to start brewing next week when I get time , I've done a fair bit of research and got a recipe that I'm keen to try

**4 litres of Lidl Viafit Juice from concentrate
200g Caster Sugar
2 tsp Malic Acid
1 tsp Pectolase
1 cup of strong BLACK tea (made with 2 tea bags - NO SUGAR or MILK!!)
1/2 packet Cider yeast**

I will be looking to bottle this once it's finished fermented could anyone offer advice how to fizz this cider up once it's ready , I will be using glass bottles and crown Capps


Thanks in advance

 

[Roddy]

hello matey

I'm assuming you're planning a cider ? You can get Vitafit in a a few varieties ?

recipe sounds good, I use flavoured syrups (polish) to prime with, but you can just use sugar if you want an apple variety to get started with.

If just using sugar, you can out a teaspoonful in each (500ml bottle, or batch prime (siphon to a clean dj and add sugar solution) then bottle.

I've a few posts about the virtues of the syrups, if you look uo some of my old ones that might help

happy brewing !

 

[chewie]

I've found the vitafit apple juice to be not quite as strong an apple flavour after fermentation as other apple juices in wines, not sure how that will affect a cider brew though. Princess apple juice is probably my go to apple juice now, appley flavour seems to be still fairly strong come bottling time with it, it can be found in B+M shops at around 85p per litre.

 

[Roddy]

I should find out in a week or so, first blast (25L) with lidl stuff

 

[Mrcwcb89]

excellent guys thanks for the advice

Yeh I'm going to stick to a plan apple variety to start of with [emoji106]

What way would you say was best Roddy per bottle or batch?

If I batch prime, after putting sugar in how long after this can I bottle and cap

And once bottled n cap do they need to be kept warm ?

 

[Roddy]

excellent guys thanks for the advice

Yeh I'm going to stick to a plan apple variety to start of with [emoji106]

What way would you say was best Roddy per bottle or batch?

If I batch prime, after putting sugar in how long after this can I bottle and cap

And once bottled n cap do they need to be kept warm ?

I do mine by the 5gal, so priming 40+ bottles with a tsp sugar was a pain in the rear. for a smaller batch I'd probably be inclined just to prime individually though. Even if you do batch prime, yes you just siphon to another DJ, add priming solution, mix and bottle straight away.

It should take about a week to carb up, but a couple is probably preferable, at room temp. If you have a placcy bottle you can use for one of them, you can tell how the carbonation is going as the bottle will start to firm up as it gets fizzy. It will go crystal clear at the same time, another indication that it's about done the secondary process.

 

[Gaspode]

I started 2 gallons of this on Saturday, one I flavoured with ginger by peeling and slicing some root ginger and heating in a little of the AJ and leaving to steep for a while. The second I did as a winter/mulled flavour by doing the same with a couple of cinnamon sticks, some cloves and a vanilla pod.

I used the same vitafit juice from Lidl, 1.5 litre cartons for about 88p I think.

Both smell great and have been bubbling away quite vigorously at room temperature.

I used a cider yeast from my LHBS.

I did do a hydrometer reading of the juice with nothing added and it came out at 1.050, assuming it will ferment out to about 1.000 that with give an ABV of 6.5% so the 200g of extra sugar would make it too strong for my taste and certainly for my daughter and wife who will no doubt drink most of it.

 

[Mrcwcb89]

Again thanks a lot Roddyfor the advice [emoji6] will be putting it in to practice soon

Gaspode those sound great tbh the 6.5% mark would also do me fine so I might not add the sugar see how it goes and adjust next time around if need be ! Am guessing the mulled ones aiming for Xmas [emoji319]

 

[Gaspode]

Both are planned for Christmas. My daughter is the real cider fan, I don't mind it myself but it's more of a summer drink for me.

The spiced one is inspired by the On the Rocks spiced cider kit that I was thinking of doing but since joining this forum and reading all the great advice on TC I thought why not give it a go myself. I like the idea of doing some small batch ones to find a flavour that I like and if it isn't all that good there isn't much lost.

Next was going to be a dried fruit one, dates, figs that sort of thing and wondering if it would work with chillies. For some reason I think a chilli cider would either be epic or really dreadful, there would only be one way to find out.

 

[Mrcwcb89]

Haha am sure it will soon disappear [emoji23]

I've been doing bit more reading on recipes not all include the malic acid

What's your thoughts on this guys ?