Apple and Ginger Cider.

[Mutaneer]

Ok guys, just after some advice here.

I'm looking to build an Apple and Ginger cider, but unsure which way to go.,

I've currently got 20L of fresh juice cider fermenting away aswell as a Coopers GB kit.

My thoughts are to simply mix the two until I get the right ratio of ginger to apple, then bottle carb as per my usual routine.

But I'm also tempted to add half/ 1/3 of a can of the GB wort to some more fresh juice in my larger 30L fermenter, and top off with 5L more water to increase the volume a little to drop the ABV%
I'd have less control of teh end product flavour, but wondering if i'd get a better finished product as the yeast would have some extra goodies from the GB wort to work with alongside the Apple Juice.

Thoughts?

 

[Weizguy]

I'm keen to follow this thread.
My missus liked a commercial ginger cider on our last visit to the Grain Store in Newcastle.

I would consider adding some powdered ginger to the cider

 

[Deep End]

I imagine the ginger will either be unnoticeable or will take over...one or the other depending on quantity. But I may be wrong, it has happened before.

 

[Mutaneer]

Last night I spent a few hours researching how much ginger to add and how to go about it.
It involved mixing varying amounts of finished cider and finished ginger beer in a glass.
using full glasses, and not smaller amounts, I tested this thoroughly

So I had three components
-My Cider (dry)
-Coopers Kit GInger Beer (sweet but not very zingy)
-My first batch of raw ginger beer (dry and zingy)

Mixing 50:50 ratio's the results were
Coopers + Cider, very drinkable. the sweetness of the ginger beer balanced the dryness of the cider and had a nice trace of ginger zing.
Tastes almost identical to the Kirin Apple/ Ginger Cider. This is a crowd pleaser

Raw Ginger + CIder, My favourite, more zingy and less sweet, but would not be to the taste of most others who prefer the sweet drinks.

I'm thinking for simplicity it would be much easier to control the end product by brewing them separately and combining before bottling.

 

[cakeoflongness]

Just curious as to whether this was a successful brew so far?
My guess with a 50:50 ratio is the ginger beer will take over for sure, but I could be wrong. I would have but the smallest bit of ginger in the mix making it more of a spiced apple cider sort of thing :icon_drool2:
Great idea combining them at the end, getting the perfect mix!
Send me over a bottle!!

 

[hwall95]

I've done an apple and ginger cider before but really it turned into a ginger cider as I put too much ginger and the apple was barely noticeable.

Recipe was 21L apple juice and 350 grams grated ginger with washed Nottingham yeast. Overall it ended up quite nice and dry, but I would definitely lower the ginger to let some apple come through.

 

[Mutaneer]

I've put this on the back-burner for the minute until I finish dealing with my Barrel-aged cider and get christmas over and done with.
But I'm quite enjoying just mixing both finished drinks in the glass.
Or as I did the other evening with a few friends around, took a 1.5L GLass jug, dropped in some ice and lemon slices then filled it up with equal parts cider and ginger-beer
went down a treat