# William Tell Apple Cider Kit



## wardy (21/4/04)

HI guys,

just bought this william tell apple cider kit (dry), and can't find much information on it. The HBS person didn't know much about them either, other than it was a popular seller... so i took a chance.

I wanted to know of anyone else's experience with cider??

it doesn't mention anywhere what the SG would be when made up, and therefore what the alocholic content is going to be once fermented. There is no mention of adding dextrose (i would love to give it some punch), and i would also like to use something other than the yeast sachet that came with it, ie safale or saflager. My guess is that safale would probably be fine???

Also, 1.7kg kit only makes 15 litres, i would really like to get it above 20L, so should i just add some more apple juice (non preservative) in the ratio of 25% more? or dextrose?

any tips would be much appreciated. cheers


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## AndrewQLD (21/4/04)

Never used that kit before, If you want to increase your sg then I would add a couple of bottles of pure apple juice until you get to the lt amont that you want ie:21lt. Then dextrose to bring up the s.g. you could even use dry malt powder to give you a scrumpy cider YUMM.


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## Doc (21/4/04)

I've done a couple of kit ciders.
The thing I noticed was that with the champagne/wine yeasts the cider always came out quite dry.

The way I got around this was to use White Labs Sweet Mead/Cider yeast WLP720. This made my ciders a lot better and definitely more drinkable. 

Beers,
Doc


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## wardy (21/4/04)

thanks andrew and doc,

i will give both these suggestions a try... experimenting is always fun (except when it's a disaster of course!)


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## pr1me (21/4/04)

I havent tried this kit(or heard of it) either, an alternative I use to dextrose in my cider is dark brown sugar(usually about 2kg) aswell as some honey and fresh fruit.

I havent yet had a really dry cider, but most champagne yeasts are fine, in traditional ciders though, even bakers yeast is used.

my last batch has come out at 12% and thick as a liquer.... cant wait to visit the emergency ward with some of that in me


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## wardy (21/4/04)

holy SH*T pr1me, that sounds fantastic. i didn't know you could make cider like that... does it taste good? Dark brown sugar certainlys sounds like the profile i am after, at the minimum i was thinking malt.


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## pr1me (21/4/04)

It's not fantastic yet, you can definately taste the alcohol in it at the moment. Its like a mix of cider/mead/liquer at the moment, its only just out of the fermenter. Once its matured a bit, and the sediment settles, and whatever is left of the fresh(by now not so fresh) fruit dissolves(rots) into the brew, it will lose the manky taste and will start to be more refined. Previous batches have done this and seem to be the norm when using fresh fruit.

To tell the truth though, i had not intended to make something this strong, was shooting for about 8%, but after i did my readings i was a bit surprised.

Also in this brew i emptied a bottle of blueberry puree and 3 litres of dark grape juice into it, 6 litres of apple juice, and then the kit(what the f*ck was i thinking). Think i just had an abundance of sugars in this brew.

Next brew wont use a kit, but just pure (cloudy) apple juice, some grape, some fresh fruits, 1kg dark brown sugar, 500g honey, some cinnamon, and some dry cider yeast i got from grumpys last week.


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## wardy (21/4/04)

i admire the diversity pr1me.

how do you sterlize the fruit and juice that you add to the ferment... do you boil this up with water or just throw it in?


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## pr1me (21/4/04)

i dont sterilize the fruit, other then to wash em under a cold tap, cut off the blemishes, quarter them, then store them in the fridge for a day in lemon juice to add acidity to the apples. Sometimes i use nectarines or peaches just to add something different to the mix.

basically it all goes in au natural. 

as to the juice, nothing gets done to it in regards to heat unless you want hot water in with the kit, otherwise a bulk juice batch is just done cold. When i add honey i dilute it first in a little boiling water and then add to the mix.


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## wardy (21/4/04)

that sounds much easier, thanks. i will give it a try!!


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## Jovial_Monk (21/4/04)

Apple season is upon us. Best cider is made with fresh, unfiltered apple juice, no yeast no nothing.

i made one cider with filtered aj and champagne yeast, went from 1076 to 1006, plenty alcohol, also too dry and little apple flavor left.

So this year will buy 40L unfiltered aj, 20l to go into a fermenter, fit airlock, let nature take its course. Also, after main ferment is over I will leave secondary at reasonably warm temps to let the malolactic ferment happen. the other 20L will go into an Apple Butter Cyser of OG 1180 or so, hard to measure when the bulb of the hydrometer is showing and the scale is way out the liquid 

Jovial Monk


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## GMK (21/4/04)

wardy,

A mate of mine has made this cider using this kit.
He used 2 kits with 6 ltrs of apple juice....used a white labs cide yeast vial.

Did come out excellent though.

For me i would try the following:
William Tell can - 10 ltrs of natural apple juice no preservative with the following:
500gms of dark brown suagr, 2 teaspoons of cinamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg - sprinkle ogf ground cloves.
no boiling - just mix it all up in th efermenter.
Use the whitelabs of the wyeast sweet mead yeast.
It does the job really well.

Good luck.


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## wardy (22/4/04)

Thanks everyone, you've really given me something to work with. this one sounds like it's gonna be fun!


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## pr1me (22/4/04)

I can attest to kenny's mates cider, was a f*cking awesome drop


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## GMK (22/4/04)

Thanks prime...that cider was made with 2 william tell cans and 22 ltrs of preservative free apple juice.

Bloody expensive and way over teh top - but it won the ACT STATE cider category...

Awesome - but way over the top.


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## sosman (22/4/04)

So Pr1me do we get to see the full recipe?


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## pr1me (22/4/04)

those at kennys on monday might even get to try it, although it tastes like camel piss until it matures(im thinking atleast another 2 months in the fridge) and can try my older cider(slightly different recipe), fully matured and only 8%, last two 1.5 litre magnums left of that will be at kennys.

if you seriously want the recipe pm me and ill send, but at this point im just experimenting until i can get something thats spot on, and i can replicate over and over again.... until im dead..... which also might coincide with the party at kennys if my current cider has anything to say about it.


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