Black Rock Cider

[hotboost]

Hi I'm about to try make this black rock cider.
IT says use water . Im using dextrose instead of sugar. Whats the go with using 2 or 3 litres of apple juice as a subitute for 3 of water. Obviuously still top remain with normal water.

 

[0M39A]

feel free to use a few litres of apple/pear/both juice, infact its recommended. the main thing to remember is to get preservative free juice, as preservatives can be bad for your yeast

another thing to keep in mind if that apple juice has a SG of around 1040.

also, there is no real point using dextrose, as regular table sugar is fine, as it imparts a cidery kind of taste to what your fermenting anyway, and is usually far cheaper than dextrose.

 

[hotboost]

I have the destose now. So I might as well use it.
I have a berri 2.4litre juice . with no preservatives plastered all over it . so i guess u take ther word for it.
Will it make that much of a difference?
What should the hydrometer start off AT?
Im new . and waht i can kind of guess between 1065-1092

 

[hotboost]

Pss. apple / pear juice ok . Its not pure apple

 

[tangent]

Don't get too worried about preservatives. At those concentrations, it's not going to effect your whole brew.
The trick with brewing anything is: the more fake sh!t you can replace with real ingredients, the better.
So in your case, added apple juice is good. 100% apple juice and no can is even better.
If anyone tells you to put lactose in it to sweeten it, punch them in the face.

 

[axl]

Im new . and waht i can kind of guess between 1065-1092

If you only have 1kg of dextrose & 2.4 ltrs of juice you will be looking at an OG of around 1.045-1.050 max. If you want a stronger cider chuck in an extra kilo of white suger as well. This will give you an OG of around 1.070.

 

[Haiper]

I am just making one of these right now, see my other thread on this page.

I put in 2l of preservative free apple juice and 2kg of white sugar. I was told by the lovely lady at the HBS that she makes it regularly and uses 2kg of white sugar. She said NOT to use dextrose and to save it for beer or something that requires it. You'll just be wasting more expensive ingredients for those that probably make the cider taste better in the long run anyway.

I have had mine in for over a week now and it tastes really nice. I find that I heat up all my ingredients in a big stainless steel pot before transferring to the keg as it melts the sugar better as there is such a lot of it. When the mix goes in the barrel it's pretty thick and syrupy.

Don't ask me what my hydrometer reading was when I started.....because I forgot to take one. :unsure:

 

[frasertag]

You will find with all the suger and juice it will ferment like crazy and produce a decent % alc

I find that with the juice compared to without its slighty on slightly sweeter but the aroma is much more like apples and that just makes it for me

I made a batch once
2kg of sugar
1 brigalow kit
4 litres of Pres free apple juice (cloudy)
its reading was 1054
2 weeks of fermenting like crazy and the final was .990
I think it was around 9.2%
So be prepared for a powerful kick haiper

 

[hotboost]

Cheers how much sugar do u recommend on the secondary (ie in 750ml pet).
I was thinking 1 teaspoon. Or would you use 2 carbonation drops ..

 

[hotboost]

Can you bulk prime the secondary . ie general rule if you dissolve 160 gms of dextrose in 250ml of boiling water and let cool a little and then 30 minutes prior to bottling gently stir this into your brew so that you don't stir up any of the settled sediment.

 

[Haiper]

Cheers how much sugar do u recommend on the secondary (ie in 750ml pet).
I was thinking 1 teaspoon. Or would you use 2 carbonation drops ..

The rule of thumb I've been given is:

No sugar for flatter cider
1 tsp for mildly fizzy
2 tsp for fizzier

That's in layman's terms, which I understand......

 

[hotboost]

JUst plain white every day run of mill sugar. does it dissolve ok?

 

[Haiper]

JUst plain white every day run of mill sugar. does it dissolve ok?

Yup dissolved fine. Like I said, I made up my batch in a big stainless steel pot on the stove. I got the kit and some juice nice and hot before I added the 2kg of sugar and just slowly stirred it in. It went in fine. Then when I added the rest of the cold water it came out a perfect temperature to pitch the yeast. (I almost had the pot boiling but not quite)