Spicy Blackcurrant Cider (Christmas special)

[Roddy]

evening all

Popped on a spicy apple cider base, and intend to prime/flavour with a bottle of Blackcurrant Lowicz

23l asda smart price aj
1ltr strong tea (5 bag)
5tsp pectolase
5g Youngs cider yeast
2 cinnamon sticks
Half a spice jar of cloves
2tsp all spice

Warmed up 4ltr of aj in a pan with spices, for 10-15 mins or so

While that was warming, poured the rest of the cartons into the FV, with the pectolase, dissolved in some warm water, and the tea (still hot)

AdView attachment uploadfromtaptalk1442524018197.jpgded the hot aj with spices to the mix

Topped up to 25l with a litre or so of cold water.

Temp at this point was about 28 deg, so pitched the yeast, and following the instructions on the packed, stirred after 15 mins

that's it, should have fermented out to 1.000 in about 10 days... watch this space

 

[wfr42]

Apologies only done cider from a kit

When you say tea do you mean like tetly?
Really enjoyed the young's kit and from what I've ready other ciders can be done quite easily and cheaply.

Best of luck with this one - sounds really interesting.

 

[Roddy]

yes just normal tea, think it actually was tetley haha

I've made kits too, but prefer the flexibilty of making my own now, plus I think using all apple juice gives it a bit of depth of flavour 😃

 

[Lympicit]

Roddy,

That looks splendid. I'm a bit tempted to put some of that on for Christmas round my way.

M

 

[Oranguman]

That sound like the sort of thing I'm thinking of doing, I've done beer from kits but never tried a cider before.
How long do you leave in th FV? How long do you condition for after priming?
I'm assuming 2 weeks FV and 2 - 4 weeks conditioning.

 

[Roddy]

That sound like the sort of thing I'm thinking of doing, I've done beer from kits but never tried a cider before.
How long do you leave in th FV? How long do you condition for after priming?
I'm assuming 2 weeks FV and 2 - 4 weeks conditioning.

more or less mate, although I will bottle as soon as fermented out, plus a day or two (about 10 days ish)

I'll condition for as long as I can leave them alone for haha, but they're good to drink after about a week in the bottle, when crystal clear and bottles are firm to the squeeze - I bottle in grolsch swingtops but always do a couple in coopers brown pet bottles so I can feel how they're coming along

There's no doubt that they improve with at least 3-4 weeks in the
though right enough

Was smelling like Christmas in my kitchen last night !

 

[Oranguman]

Thanks for the info Roddy.

Off to the LHBC and ASDA for me then.

:

 

[Roddy]

Day 6 and it's down to 1.002, looks like priming/bottling this weekend 😃

dang, I'm away this weekend, looks like Monday then !

hmm.... can bottle my WOW at the same time (if I can be bothered.. that's a lot of bottles 😐)

 

[Roddy]

Had a wee taste tonight, pretty nice and christmassy 😃

few more weeks will make a big differenceView attachment uploadfromtaptalk1444249739219.jpg

 

[GB2014]

Thanks for the idea, think I will use this next year.

 

[Oranguman]

Well, I bottled mine last weekend after 13 days in the FV, it was very very dry. Primed with a bottle of lowicz which sweetened it up nicely, still little concerned that I may have made 40 bottle bombs with the amount of sugar in the lowicz. After a week in the beer shed nothing had exploded so I thought I'd try a bottle last night, opened it up and it gave a satisfying psst! so a good start, and on tasting it was very good, still quite dry but certainly drinkable and very Christmassy. I will definitely be making it again but I'll probably modify the spices a bit.

Only thing now is I've got to try and save some for Christmas.

 

[Roddy]

aye it doesn't go off like a rocket but some care should be taken when openings swingtops hehe

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9214IswqPyMQWxEWGMxZ00xY0U/view?usp=docslist_api