Simple Cider Brew Recipie?
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You will need steriliser (thin unscented bleach will do)
Another vessel (5L water bottle would do)
Syphon (For transferring)
Some minor ingredients (yeast, nutrient, pectolase, tannin)
Thermometer
If you're happy with that then simply sterilise the DJ, bung and airlock. Rinse it all off thoroughly. Chuck in 4L of apple juice, 1tsp of pectolase, 1/2 tsp of tannin and 1 tsp of nutrient. Have the apple juice at room temp so that it's ready to go. Give everything a really good shake and check the temp. If you are between 18 and 25 degrees then you're good to go, if not then allow it to acclimatise. Once good to go, add 1tsp of yeast. Give 2 minutes for the yeast to hydrate then give it another good shake. Pop on the bung and the airlock, put some water in the airlock and sit out the way for 10 days at 20 degrees. After 10 days move the DJ to the place for racking and allow it to sit for 4 days (14 days total). This will let things settle a bit. Sterilise and rinse the second vessel and the syphon. Transfer from the primary to the secondary and pop the airlock back on. Store out the way to mature for a few months then rack into bottles with 5g of sugar (if you like sparkling cider). Give 2 weeks at 20 degrees followed by 2 weeks as cool as you can get it. From there it's ready to chill and drink.
If you want a farmhouse style cider then add 1tsp of malic acid at the very start. Make sure you either use a proper cider yeast culture that has the bacteria required for malolactic fermentation, or add it seperately (can be bought in homebrew stores). When leaving to mature do so for up to 6 months at anywhere between 10 and 15 degrees if you can (ideal temps for the bacteria). Once finished you should have a nice farmhouse cider. These ciders are best drank still or with a very light sparkle, keep the sugar addition to the bottles to either nil, or low.
Enjoy :)
You will need steriliser (thin unscented bleach will do)
Another vessel (5L water bottle would do)
Syphon (For transferring)
Some minor ingredients (yeast, nutrient, pectolase, tannin)
Thermometer
If you're happy with that then simply sterilise the DJ, bung and airlock. Rinse it all off thoroughly. Chuck in 4L of apple juice, 1tsp of pectolase, 1/2 tsp of tannin and 1 tsp of nutrient. Have the apple juice at room temp so that it's ready to go. Give everything a really good shake and check the temp. If you are between 18 and 25 degrees then you're good to go, if not then allow it to acclimatise. Once good to go, add 1tsp of yeast. Give 2 minutes for the yeast to hydrate then give it another good shake. Pop on the bung and the airlock, put some water in the airlock and sit out the way for 10 days at 20 degrees. After 10 days move the DJ to the place for racking and allow it to sit for 4 days (14 days total). This will let things settle a bit. Sterilise and rinse the second vessel and the syphon. Transfer from the primary to the secondary and pop the airlock back on. Store out the way to mature for a few months then rack into bottles with 5g of sugar (if you like sparkling cider). Give 2 weeks at 20 degrees followed by 2 weeks as cool as you can get it. From there it's ready to chill and drink.
If you want a farmhouse style cider then add 1tsp of malic acid at the very start. Make sure you either use a proper cider yeast culture that has the bacteria required for malolactic fermentation, or add it seperately (can be bought in homebrew stores). When leaving to mature do so for up to 6 months at anywhere between 10 and 15 degrees if you can (ideal temps for the bacteria). Once finished you should have a nice farmhouse cider. These ciders are best drank still or with a very light sparkle, keep the sugar addition to the bottles to either nil, or low.
Enjoy :)
Jonny69
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I've been making this one for years:
4 litres of carton apple juice
500ml strong black tea
150g white sugar
Put three litres of the apple juice, the tea and the sugar into your demijohn. Shake until the sugar is dissolved. Add a teaspoon of Young's wine or cider yeast. After a week add the other litre of apple juice. Leave it for a further 3 weeks and it should have cleared if your home is warmish. Syphon it off the sediment and shake out the fizz. This is a dry cider, about 6.5% and it's drinkable as soon as it's cleared, but it improves if you can leave it standing for a month or so. Works really well with Lidl Solevita cloudy apple juice :thumb:
4 litres of carton apple juice
500ml strong black tea
150g white sugar
Put three litres of the apple juice, the tea and the sugar into your demijohn. Shake until the sugar is dissolved. Add a teaspoon of Young's wine or cider yeast. After a week add the other litre of apple juice. Leave it for a further 3 weeks and it should have cleared if your home is warmish. Syphon it off the sediment and shake out the fizz. This is a dry cider, about 6.5% and it's drinkable as soon as it's cleared, but it improves if you can leave it standing for a month or so. Works really well with Lidl Solevita cloudy apple juice :thumb:
Jonny69 said:
I do similar, but leave out the sugar, and squeeze in 1/2l of cranberry or pomegranate to round out the flavour a bit as I don't do the long-mature-with-malic thing.
I like it a bit fizzy so don't try to shake it out, and I add a tsp sugar per 500ml/pint for carbonation when bottling.
Also I find 3 weeks is the longest it's ever taken to be ready for bottling - often it's done in as little as 10 days. I just wait until it clears.
Jonny - with the cloudy juice, does it clear completely or does the cloudiness stay?
stevie1556
Landlord.
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I've just made some strawberry cider and used normal Tesco apple juice. A pack of 4 is £3.40. Just bought some Tesco everyday value apple juice for 69p a carton for a blueberry cider. Either way it's cheaper then decent shop bought cider.
Crastney
Landlord.
economical?
1 DJ gives roughly 8 pints of cider - this in a pub, at £3.50 a pint is £28
once you've bought the expensive stuff - DJ, hydrometer, syphon tube, etc, etc. each batch gets less expensive - the first one might work out more expensive but the second time it's more like this:
5 litres of juice at 70p a litre - £3.50 - the cost of one pint of cider in the pub, gives you 8 pints of home cider.
but we don't do it because it's cheap (mostly) we do it because it's a hobby, and we enjoy the craft, and it tastes nicer than we can buy, and we know exactly what goes into it, and the fact that it's cheaper is a happy coincidence.
1 DJ gives roughly 8 pints of cider - this in a pub, at £3.50 a pint is £28
once you've bought the expensive stuff - DJ, hydrometer, syphon tube, etc, etc. each batch gets less expensive - the first one might work out more expensive but the second time it's more like this:
5 litres of juice at 70p a litre - £3.50 - the cost of one pint of cider in the pub, gives you 8 pints of home cider.
but we don't do it because it's cheap (mostly) we do it because it's a hobby, and we enjoy the craft, and it tastes nicer than we can buy, and we know exactly what goes into it, and the fact that it's cheaper is a happy coincidence.
cruno said:
It works just as well with the cheap "from concentrate" stuff as with "better" stuff. Check local supermarkets, you shouldn't need to pay more than 60p/litre.
Even adding in cost of yeast nutrient sanitiser etc it comes out around 50p/pint for stuff every bit as good as what pubs charge upwards of 2 quid or supermarkets charge 1.50ish
Manitude
Member
I'm hardly an expert here, but here's my $0.02:
You can make cider with that equipment, but I wouldn't expect great results. I started off making cider in plastic bottles with makeshift airlocks and I made some perfectly drinkable cider, but it's not as good as when it's done 'properly'
If you're just looking for something basic then for 1 gallon of cider:
3L Apple juice from a supermarket, different brands and prices have different flavours. I personally prefer ADSA Chosen By You AJ
15 shot glasses of sugar (sorry for the strange unit - when I started out I didn't have weighing scales so I had to be imaginative!)
1teaspn yeast (can use anything, including dried active baking yeast...I would suggest getting some better yeast though, like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-Wine- ... =1-2-fkmr0 it's more for wine making, but it'll do that job)
I find it's best to prep the yeast by putting it in a shallow dish with lukewarm water (around 1/4 boiling, 3/4 cold) and sugar for at least 10-15 minutes to get it started. Make sure the yeast never comes into contact with the boiling water at any point, ensure the cold boiling water are mixed properly.
Stick the sugar in the demijohn, add the apple juice, top up to almost one gallon with water (hot or cold, make sure that you shake the whole lot before adding yeast if you use hot), shake to dissolve the sugar, add the yeast, put the airlock on. Wait about a week. It ought to be drinkable, but very yeasty after a week. If you stick it in the fridge then the yeast starts to drop to the bottom after a day or two. The next step is to transfer the cider into another vessel in order to get rid of the yeasty dregs at the bottom. Most people syphon, but in my experience very carefully pouring (or decanting, I suppose) can get rid of ~90% of the yeast at the bottom.
Now sup up and get yourself on the outside of it!
You can make cider with that equipment, but I wouldn't expect great results. I started off making cider in plastic bottles with makeshift airlocks and I made some perfectly drinkable cider, but it's not as good as when it's done 'properly'
If you're just looking for something basic then for 1 gallon of cider:
3L Apple juice from a supermarket, different brands and prices have different flavours. I personally prefer ADSA Chosen By You AJ
15 shot glasses of sugar (sorry for the strange unit - when I started out I didn't have weighing scales so I had to be imaginative!)
1teaspn yeast (can use anything, including dried active baking yeast...I would suggest getting some better yeast though, like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Brew-Wine- ... =1-2-fkmr0 it's more for wine making, but it'll do that job)
I find it's best to prep the yeast by putting it in a shallow dish with lukewarm water (around 1/4 boiling, 3/4 cold) and sugar for at least 10-15 minutes to get it started. Make sure the yeast never comes into contact with the boiling water at any point, ensure the cold boiling water are mixed properly.
Stick the sugar in the demijohn, add the apple juice, top up to almost one gallon with water (hot or cold, make sure that you shake the whole lot before adding yeast if you use hot), shake to dissolve the sugar, add the yeast, put the airlock on. Wait about a week. It ought to be drinkable, but very yeasty after a week. If you stick it in the fridge then the yeast starts to drop to the bottom after a day or two. The next step is to transfer the cider into another vessel in order to get rid of the yeasty dregs at the bottom. Most people syphon, but in my experience very carefully pouring (or decanting, I suppose) can get rid of ~90% of the yeast at the bottom.
Now sup up and get yourself on the outside of it!
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