# Cider Using Syrup



## beermonster17 (28/4/12)

Hi all,I have been making cider with all different brands of apple juice using a cider yeast but I still can't seem to get anywhere near a commercially branded brew. I have tried the kits but they lack in taste and body and I have tried the pear juice to take the edge off the dryness. The best brew I have made is using two kits for one brew which ends up being quite expensive in the long run. I was just wondering if there is any way of sourcing the apple concentrated syrup other than in kits or does anyone know of a great recipe to recommend thanks,Beer monster


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## brettprevans (28/4/12)

beermonster17 said:


> Hi all,I have been making cider with all different brands of apple juice using a cider yeast but I still can't seem to get anywhere near a commercially branded brew. I have tried the kits but they lack in taste and body and I have tried the pear juice to take the edge off the dryness. The best brew I have made is using two kits for one brew which ends up being quite expensive in the long run. I was just wondering if there is any way of sourcing the apple concentrated syrup other than in kits or does anyone know of a great recipe to recommend thanks,Beer monster


I suggest u read.the cider threads and get some more knowledge from those threads. Tonnes of info.

Commercial cider is full of additives preservitives or has been pasturised to kill yeast then back sweetened to appeal to the masses. Dont try and replucate megaswill cider

ideally u want to use tge best ingrediants, so fresh juice is best. Going to.concentrates is the wromg way. Ur going to a worse product. Nothing wrong with store bought juice. Aldi juice is good as theres no preservitives to interfer with the yeast.


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## pk.sax (28/4/12)

Name the commercial brands and you might get more meaningful help.


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## Verbyla (28/4/12)

I'm assuming your bottling your cider

Once upon a time I was struggling to brew that "commercial" tasting cider. I tried juice concentrates, kits, juicing my own apples and store bought juice. I even played around with adding different malts. All my attempts failed to meet my expectations and it all came down to one thing... I was bottling my ciders. Bottling restricted me to get the balance of carbonation and sweetness I was looking for. 

I went out and bought a kegging setup and from the first brew was getting the results I was looking. Keggging gives you the ability to ferment store bought juice and then backsweeten it to taste through playing around with the dry cider off tap and adding different ratios of juice, honey or LME before sweetening the entire keg. 

Not saying it can't be done through bottling but kegging is much easier and will save you a lot of time and money.


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## beermonster17 (29/4/12)

Verbyla said:


> I'm assuming your bottling your cider
> 
> Once upon a time I was struggling to brew that "commercial" tasting cider. I tried juice concentrates, kits, juicing my own apples and store bought juice. I even played around with adding different malts. All my attempts failed to meet my expectations and it all came down to one thing... I was bottling my ciders. Bottling restricted me to get the balance of carbonation and sweetness I was looking for.
> 
> ...



I currently use a keg setup so how does the cider taste using honey and what is LME?,Thanks for the replies,Beer monster.


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## Verbyla (29/4/12)

LME is Light Malt Extract

I usually back sweeten with darker honeys(eg red gum) and juice as the GF likes it sweet. It's a little hard to desribe the exact taste but I would recomment carbing up a keg of plain juice cider and playing around with adding different ingredients to back sweeten. I know half the fun is experienting and making mistakes but I got to the point where I was looking for something that I was reaonable happy with that would get drunk. 

Tom


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## robbo5253 (29/4/12)

I have just done an all juice cider and then back sweetened with apple and black current cordial. Everyone is a big fan. I haven't put the cordial in the keg do you can sweeten as much or as little as you like. I find as I have a few I want it less sweeter and this allows me to do this. 
Cheers
Robbo


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## mikec (29/4/12)

Have you tried Cedar Creek apple juice? Available at harris farm, finishes clean and a little granny smith like, similar to Montieths. Not cheap but very nice.


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## nathan_madness (7/5/12)

You might want to have a look at this.

Melrose Apple Juice Concerntrate


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## DarkFaerytale (8/5/12)

can you not keg the cider early to stop fermentation and still leave some sweetness?

this is what i had planned to do in the future

-Phill


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