Recommendations for summer fruit cider kits or adapting kits

[Rich82]

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I couldn’t find anything on the search. My girlfriend doesn’t like me taking up the spare room for home brewing; she says it takes up vital wardrobe space. (How many wardrobes do girls need.) So to keep her sweet I wanted to brew her a drink she would like. Her favourite none spirit based drinks are Kopparberg summer fruit cider, and the mixed fruit cider and such. Does anyone know a kit out there that resembles these types of ciders or know anything I can do/add to a kit. I’ve never brewed cider before and I have only done Kits, so need something simple if it exists.

 

[Eric_S]

I'm thinking about making an alcopop too - seeing as TC is made from cartons of apple juice only, I figured it can't be that hard if you find a carton (or 5!) of a fruit juice that sounds like it might have the right taste to it.

You might need to add some sugar to raise the SG to make sure there's enough alcohol, and bear in mind that some juice drinks have artificial sweetners so that sweetness will remain after fermenation.

Alternatively, you could use some fresh or frozen fruit juiced up and topped up with water and sugar. I'm going to blitz up some raspberries and try that route.

 

[Rich82]

I'm thinking about making an alcopop too - seeing as TC is made from cartons of apple juice only, I figured it can't be that hard if you find a carton (or 5!) of a fruit juice that sounds like it might have the right taste to it.

Does TC stand for turbo cider, and is this just making cider with apple juice, sugar and yeast. Does cider, and in turn alco-pops follow the same brewing method as beer? And could i literally add the right type of yeast to anything with sugar to get an alcoholic version. Iron brew for example to make a version of WKD orange.

 

[Eric_S]

TC is Turbo Cider - just carton apple juice and yeast. Typically no sugar added unless you want to boost the %age of alcohol in it. Normally ferments out at around 5% or so.

And yes, in principle you can add yeast to anything (with sugar) to get an alcoholic drink. BUT...bear in mind some drinks have preservatives etc which will need to be treated beforehand.

I do small batches in 1 Gal fermenters or the 5 litre water bottles from ASDA.

 

[ingypingy2]

Depending on what flavour you are looking for, you could brew your own from scratch, or look into flavoured kits. My LHBS has just started stocking the 'On the Rocks' range of cider kits. They have Apple, Pear, Bluberry or Raspberry & Lime kits. As a big fan of Strawberry & Lime Kopparberg and Raspberry & Lime St Helier Ciders, I am thinking to have a bash at one of the Raspberry & Lime Kits myself. I believe Magnum also maybe do a fruit cider kit :)

 

[bellowsface]

Magnum do a pear cider and a strawberry, i am currently making the pear and starting the strawberry sat

 

[RobWalker]

home brew shops do "shot" kits. you could check them out, she probably won't believe her luck. or they have them in 24 hour tesco near redditch...

 

[Lobes]

My mrs has always been a fan of fruit tea wine, raspberryade and vimto wine

 

[suzie]

I have done the magnum pear cider kit and it was ok. (just ok, nothing special)
It was nothing like Kopparberg, way too dry and not enough fruit flavour.

Maybe a fruit wine would be better. I like the vimto, it can turn out very strong though. (much more like kopparberg) and also for a kit wine Island Mist, strawberry white merlot is very drinkable. At 6% you can drink a lot of it!

 

[Rich82]

Thanks for all the advice; I'm going to have a look into some of those.

And yes, in principle you can add yeast to anything (with sugar) to get an alcoholic drink. BUT...bear in mind some drinks have preservatives etc which will need to be treated beforehand.

I do small batches in 1 Gal fermenters or the 5 litre water bottles from ASDA.

Do you know anywhere that I could get information on how to treat what preservatives and then what’s the best yeast to use or is it a bit of a trial and error thing?

 

[Eric_S]

Well, I just kicked off a batch of raspberry brew. About 1kg of rasps, 400g of sugar and bottled water to 1 gall. 1 tsp of pectolase, yeast nutrient and youngs super wine yeast. No idea how it will turn out but that's half the fun in this game. The yeast has started and the colour looks wonderful so far.

As far as dealing with preservatives is concerned (and I suspect Moley is the real expert in this) I beleive you boil the juice/syrup/cordial and that will "kill" any preservatives.

 

[Rich82]

Nice one. I was thinking of just buying a load of her favourite fruit juice, mix it up and throw in some yeast. Do you recon doing it like a wine would be better, so with a wine yeast? Is cider like beer, primary fermentation, and then secondary in a bottle? Would that need a yeast nutrient or just a yeast.

 

[Eric_S]

Initially I treat cider and juice wines the same - pectolase, yeast nutrient and yeast (I use Youngs super on the experimental stuff and higher grade yeast on known commodities). The only difference is that I bottle the cider after a week/10 days or so with some priming syrup rather than racking as I would wine. As I make cider in smaller quantities I don't batch prime like I do with my beer.

I think you're idea of getting some juice and lobbing some yeast in will work just fine! Just remember to make a note of the sugar in the juice so you can get a notion of what level of alcohol to expect (or of course measure with a hydrometer and adjust with sugar if you want a specific strength).