# New Cider Brewer



## TeeTwo (28/2/10)

I have now completed two Cider brews each using just a supermarket 2 litre juice *non preservative*. I used a Aussie invention OZtops I think made in the US as EZ tops.

Simple, Poured juice into a 2 litre Pete Coke bottle less 1/2 cup for head space added a sprinkle of yeast added a 40psi top and let ferment for a week. I then chilled it for 3 days to put the yeast to sleep. I racked into a another clean Coke bottle and applied the top(Safety). 

After another 1/day of chilling the resultant Cider was crisp about 5 -6%abv. It was gone in two days. My wife said she would like it a bit sweeter so I opened a diet Lemonade and added a splash for her. We went shopping a few days later and she filled the trolley with all sorts of mixed fruit juices she could find. Even wants to know if I can ferment Tomato juice. That's women for you.

Apparently Orange juice does not take to well but as an additive it works. This I have to check. By the way Apple and Blackcurrent is also delicious and one for festive occations

I brewed a kit Cider once from Coopers it was ok but I followed my beer brewing way and it was some 5 weeks from go to woe. This Cider is delicious in 10 days. I have a Ginger beer recipe that I will try soon.

The good news is my wife thinks I should get a small spare fridge for our screen room to house her brews. Talk about man land becoming lady land. Boy will that be good I will also be able to store my TAD bottles in there.

Ahh! happy days


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## Wolfy (28/2/10)

Hello and welcome to the fun and enjoyable world of home brewing, just remember to remind your wife in a year or two's time that it was (partly) her idea that got you started in the first place. 

Apple and Blackcurrent does turn out quite nice so does the Apple and Blueberry you can also get.
I doubt that orange tomato and a few of the others would ferment out to something even 1/2 drinkable, but try it and let us know. 

The OZtops are a cool little invention, but if you're just refrigerating to put the yeast to sleep, they may not have finished fermentation so you'll need to drink your creations quickly and keep them chilled or risk bottle bombs (at least not so bad in plastic bottles).

The next step is to get a couple of 5l glass carboys (or even some of those 3-4l glass sherry bottles that restaurants use) and ferment your your juice in those.
Get some decent yeast and ferment it out, you may be surprised at how much better things turn out, there are several threads here on what yeasts are recommended, some people have said they get some authentic and very tasty ciders with very little effort or cost. If you're going to store the end product, it would be good/safe to ensure that fermentation has finished, and to remove the cider from the yeast before storage (use PET bottles filled from your glass fermenter).
Since you said your wife likes something sweet, you may like to experiment with some yeasts that do not attenuate so much so that there is some residual sweetness in the end product (or you could also look at other methods to kill the yeast when the desired alcohol v's sweetness level is reached).
The spare fridge sounds good, especially since having another fridge to control the fermentation temperatures would be ideal.


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## Rod (1/3/10)

On the subject of sweetness

My wife likes the oz tops cider made in the original container minus 200 ml

She thinks it could be sweeter , after making many batches , go figure

I started a batch yesterday and added 50 grams of lactose , shook the container until it dissolved and then added 
the yeast

Only problem maybe to determine the end point , usually done done by taste 

I did not wont to add the lactose after fermentation and the cider has normally settled , maybe I could rack

I know I could stop the fermentation earlier to get some sweetness , but even in the fridge it will keep going

I am not keen on using artificial sweeteners to get it sweeter , Lactose seems better


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## BrenMcgee (4/3/10)

I just did a couple of bottles of this this arve. A 2l Coles apple juice with an extra cup of sugar added for a bit higher alcohol content, and sweeter taste, and a 2l coles apple and blackcurrant with nothing added. Will see how it goes just following the instructions, and not racking off the yeast or anything, as it will always be stored in the fridge, and will go pretty quick I imagine 

Next time I might try racking it, because I will have 2 clean empty bottles from this one!! Also keen to give the ginger beer a go, and saw on the website one bloke even did a Mead with them so might look in to that as well.

It is something to get me by until I get some gear and put a real batch of Mead down!


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## BrenMcgee (8/3/10)

So I am drinking a glass of the apple cider with extra sugar added, and it is delicious. Followed the instructions, poured a cup of juice out of the bottle, added a cup of sugar, added yeast and shook it all up. Then let it ferment in a cupboard for 3 days, and put in the fridge for a day. Turned out beautiful. And more importantly, the better half loves it too!! 

We will be trying the apple and blackcurrant cider tomorrow night, as it didn't score any extra sugar so I gave it another day to ferment. It got put in the fridge this arve.

I have a quick question about testing for alcohol content. I believe I have a hydrometer around somewhere, but to get a final alcohol reading do I need to know the Starting Gravity, as well as the Final Gravity?

Thanks!


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## the_yobbo (30/3/10)

Bren said:


> So I am drinking a glass of the apple cider with extra sugar added, and it is delicious. Followed the instructions, poured a cup of juice out of the bottle, added a cup of sugar, added yeast and shook it all up. Then let it ferment in a cupboard for 3 days, and put in the fridge for a day. Turned out beautiful. And more importantly, the better half loves it too!!
> 
> We will be trying the apple and blackcurrant cider tomorrow night, as it didn't score any extra sugar so I gave it another day to ferment. It got put in the fridge this arve.
> 
> ...



I'm sure you've been answered already, but yes, you need the SG and FG to calculate the alcohol percentage. 

I'm currently trying out a variety of cider recipes in an attempt to give myself a sweeter cider. Your system of brewing for only 3 days and chilling seems to do the trick, however it does require the cider to be drunk relatively quickly before fermentation continues creating potential bottle bombs. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee what I'd brew would be drunk that quickly.


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## Adam Howard (20/6/10)

G'day,

I figured this would be an appropriate thread for any brewers new to cider.

I'm currently thinking I want to do a full batch of cider just to make a change from beer brewing. I'm pretty keen on doing something with strawberry because my girlfriend loves the Rekorderlig Strawberry and Lime cider.

Berri do an apple and strawberry juice so I was going to use 20ish litres of that fermented with around 400g of lactose using the cider Wyeast. Then plan on getting around two kilos of strawberries, pasturising at 70 degrees then draining the liquid off through muslin and adding this to secondary.

Are there any flaws with that plan? I'm thinking 400g of lactose will provide enough sweetness after reading a few threads.

Cheers,

Adam.


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## manticle (20/6/10)

Seems fine and worth a go. 

Personally I'm not a fan of the idea of pasteurising - I'm scared it will give a brew a cooked fruit flavour so in your situation (and bear in mind I'm not and haven't been in you exact situation) I would simply give the strawberries a really good wash and rely on the pH and alcohol gods to deliver you from wild yeasts and bacterias. I have (and will again in a few weeks) made ciders from fresh apples using neither campden nor pasteurisation with good results. I've also made a tiny batch of fairly ordinary (but not yeasty infected type) white wine without pasteurising or sulphiting the fruit.

Alternatively you could [maybe] use frozen strawberries (bacteria and yeasts can wake up from a frozen state but I'm not sure if there is an outside limit on how long they can survive - worth researching) or soak them in vodka first.

As I said - just my approach if I was theoretically in your situation rather than a voice of experience. Campden could also be used but I hate sulphites and wouldn't recommend on that basis.


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## Adam Howard (20/6/10)

Thanks Manticle!

Yeah i might just mash up the strawberries and extract the juice. Don't want anything but the juice in there to save with tap clogging hassles. 

Gonna order some Wyeast 4766 now!


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## pdilley (20/6/10)

High quality cordials and syrups go good mixed with cider at serving time. Not that blue stuff for kids Cotee? or whatever the brand is, it will taste like chemical nightmare if mixed in. The best I have found were those ones imported from Croatia? in some supermarkets. They are in tall glass bottles (Sour Cherry, Raspberry, and a mix of blueberry and apple?) they seem expensive but are very highly concentrated so if smart people calculated the cost per volume of drink they make they would find they cost the same or less as chemical Cotee crap.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## Screwtop (20/6/10)

For a really nice Zoider, grab a bottle of Old Rosie Scrumpy cider from Dans, pour carefully keeping the yeast in the bottom, drink the Scrumpy (it's fantastic). And add the yeast to your 2L (less 200ml) of perservative free juice. 

Yummmm

Screwy


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## sluggerdog (18/11/11)

Screwtop said:


> For a really nice Zoider, grab a bottle of Old Rosie Scrumpy cider from Dans, pour carefully keeping the yeast in the bottom, drink the Scrumpy (it's fantastic). And add the yeast to your 2L (less 200ml) of perservative free juice.
> 
> Yummmm
> 
> Screwy



Saw this at Dans today and remembered reading this thread a few days ago. I couldn't resist it. I kicked this off a few mins ago. Looking forward to tasting the result.


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