Can you brew a decent cider from cheap reconstituted shop bought juice

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Price alert.
Coles
Golden Circle all juice varieties 2 by 2 litres $4
Probably a bit better than the generics.
 
I dunno, I've been in the UK and had proper scrumpy and other ciders and TBH there isn't a whole lot of difference to them besides being almost flat compared to my cheap juice ciders. Not enough anyway. I'm looking at getting some fresh unfiltered unpasteurised juice from out Thirlmere way to compare it but I'm in no hurry. Also helps that I've turned SWMBO onto sours (besides it being an expensive habit)

I find using Apple/pear juice means it won't ferment all the way dry.

Another option that I've used that worked reasonably is adding some well stewed tea.
 
One way of getting a sweeter cider is to use a yeast that isn't really suitable for the job. After doing the best it can, it then waves the white flag and drops out before attenuating fully.
When I lived at Old Bar I gave a buddy a 20L fermenter and he did an Aldi Cider without nutrient but with a pack of S-04 that I'd had hanging around.

It turned out bloody beautiful, fairly sweet and would have given Mercury or Strongbow a good run for its money. Didn't help said mate who loved it so much that he was dragged out of the toilet unconscious at 2 in the morning but that's another story., :p
 
I have fermented a bottle of apple blackcurrant juice. Came out fairly tart but nice with a decent back sweetening.
My last cider was 6x 3l juice (18l- coincidence?) with 1 bottle being apple black currant. Gives a nice depth of flavour, no discernable change of colour and only very faint berry taste which seemed to fade out halfway through the keg. Would recommend this for cider and probably increase the berry juice ratio for an 'apple berry cider'.
 

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