Ciders

[aquila]

Hey,

Im new to this website so to start with i would like to say hi.................so HI

I have now been brewing for about 6 months, and have made some great beers. Just using the coopers range.

I now want to try something a bit diffrent. And as my wife likes west coast coolers and strongbow, i was thinking something along the lines of a fruity flavored cider.

If anyone could help me out with recipies or ideas i would be greatly appreciative.


Cheers
Aquila

 

[SJW]

There is a ton of stuff on here about Ciders, just do a search. And dont talk to me about Ciders, I have a Blackrock Cider kit with 1kg of sugar been going for near 2 weeks now and only dropped from 1.044 to 1.018....Not happy Jan..

 

[Adric Hunter]

I find a blackrock cider is good BUT you need to reduce the volume to 18-20 litres and add about 125gs of lactose to the brew other wise it is very very dry,that is twice as dry as a Strongbow dry

 

[frasertag]

i have spent the past week experimenting with Oztops.
I must say they are excellent better then any batch i have brewed (Blackrock,Brigalow) with various recipes although i like the dryness of my cider, my wife does not. This way i dont tie up my fermenter with cider and get a better product ready in 5-6 days for my tastes 3-4 days for her taste

 

[sponge]

hey

i keep hearing about 'oztops' but dont actually know what it is

i tried going on their website but it doesnt seem to want to load, and a few of the other sites ive found which talk about oztops only say that u can turn juice into sparkling wine or something like that. cant u do that normally with a fermenter and a bit of yeast? maybe its because im a newbie and missing something very obvious here....


cheers, sponge

 

[frasertag]

hey

i keep hearing about 'oztops' but dont actually know what it is

i tried going on their website but it doesnt seem to want to load, and a few of the other sites ive found which talk about oztops only say that u can turn juice into sparkling wine or something like that. cant u do that normally with a fermenter and a bit of yeast? maybe its because im a newbie and missing something very obvious here....
cheers, sponge

Basically purchase 2 or 3litre PET of juice
No presservatives of corse

Then get it home add in a little extra suger if you want it stronger in alcho.
drop a small amount of one of the two included yeasts (one is for 15-25deg other is for 25-35deg both with distinct flavours)
put on the "oztop" and let ferment for 1-2 days for Super sweet 3-4 Days for sweet 5-6 days for dry, if you added extra suger add an extra day for each 150g per 2litre is the rule i was told from the LHB. after that simply place in the fridge, after a day of chilling it is ready for drinking, fit the standard lid back on if its going to live in the fridge, if its going to be warmed back up you need to put the oztop back on. Nicely Carbinated.

The lids actually allow air to escape via a small diaphram built into them.

My concern was that the yeast is put into a dead state when chilled but was able to come back to life once it was warmed up again as in the instructions it says if its too sweet simply pull it out of the fridge for another day or two. I was worried my stomach would wake it up and begin fermenting in my guts.
But i have found i dont feel sick and dont get the runs or anything like i thought would happen. I was told this is because if the yeast is cold your stomach acid kills it i dunno if its true but there is no harm done by the yeast is all i can say.


$25 gets you 4 juice lids and 4 soft drink lids. enough yeast for 150litres (much more my LHB said use less yeast then instructed as it is yeast and it grows rapidly)

 

[Pumpy]

Hey,

Im new to this website so to start with i would like to say hi.................so HI

I have now been brewing for about 6 months, and have made some great beers. Just using the coopers range.

I now want to try something a bit diffrent. And as my wife likes west coast coolers and strongbow, i was thinking something along the lines of a fruity flavored cider.

If anyone could help me out with recipies or ideas i would be greatly appreciative.
Cheers
Aquila

Get the 3 litre Just Juice Apple and Pear when on special about 8

add 500gms of Sultanas minced

kilo of chopped Granny smiths

Kilo of Light dried malt powder

Use an ale yeast

Dont use a Champagne yeast it will eat up all the residual sugars and be very very dry

The sultanas will help give the residual sugar and body to the cider

You will need to put an air lock in and be ready for a couple of month to ferment .

following bottling it will clear really well .

You must use the apple /Pear juice to get good results

Pumpy

 

[leiothrix]

And better still, use honey rather than malt. Technically makes it a cyser, but cider shouldn't have malt in it anyway.

 

[brewgirl]

I just bought some Oztops today. I'm having some fun experimenting. I've got brewing in the cupboard....

Apple with extra sugar
Apple and mango
Apple and pear
Apple and cinnamon.

I've got them all the soft drink bottles with the med and high pressure caps on them... I hope they turn out ok.. I think Oztops are a great idea.

I've also heard of people putting some wort into the bottles when they're brewing beer so they can sample what its going to be like before the bulk of it is ready to drink.

 

[drsmurto]

Pumpy - ale yeast of preference for this? Dry or liquid?

I have used the wyeast 4766 cider and the result is quite nice. Interested to know what difference an ale yeast would have on ciders or ginger beers made form simple sugars.

 

[frasertag]

I just bought some Oztops today. I'm having some fun experimenting. I've got brewing in the cupboard....

Apple with extra sugar
Apple and mango
Apple and pear
Apple and cinnamon.

I've got them all the soft drink bottles with the med and high pressure caps on them... I hope they turn out ok.. I think Oztops are a great idea.

I've also heard of people putting some wort into the bottles when they're brewing beer so they can sample what its going to be like before the bulk of it is ready to drink.

Whatever you do dont use pulpy juice it will clump together and be all gluggy

 

[brewgirl]

Whatever you do dont use pulpy juice it will clump together and be all gluggy

Thanx for the heads up... I haven't used any pulpy juice yet... and now I definately won't... Just got tetra pack ones from the isles, and a couple of bottles of plain apple juice, all very clear, except the one with mango is a little cloudy...

 

[leiothrix]

I made one with the apple/mango juice and the pulp from the mango all clumped together and floated to the top. Looked kinda gross, but I poured the lot through a sieve to collect the juice and it was nice.

Oh - instead of using a beer yeast, try a wine yeast. Like Lavlin ICV-D47 - it's a white wine yeast. Has an alc tolerance up to 14% too so if you wanted to you could make a cider that would really knock your socks off.

 

[tangent]

Definitely try the Wyeast Cider yeast! You won't be disappointed.

 

[brewgirl]

I made one with the apple/mango juice and the pulp from the mango all clumped together and floated to the top. Looked kinda gross, but I poured the lot through a sieve to collect the juice and it was nice.

Oh - instead of using a beer yeast, try a wine yeast. Like Lavlin ICV-D47 - it's a white wine yeast. Has an alc tolerance up to 14% too so if you wanted to you could make a cider that would really knock your socks off.

The apple/mango one is looking pretty grose... but I'll just strain the goop off and drink it anyway. The bottles have gone all nice and hard, can see them starting to carbonate. I can't wait to try them...

The yeast the comes with the oztops is a wine yeast... well at least one of them is anyway...

Says you can add up to a cup of extra sugar per 2L, says it will increase the alcohol content 'serveral percent'... so I added 1/2 a cup to one of the 1L apple juice ones, just to see how strong it will get. The hydrometer says is has a potential of 10%... I'm till only learning how to read it. It will be good if it doesn't get too strong though, and leaves a slight sweetness.

No matter how it all works out, I'm just loving the small size, if one or two don't work out doesn't seem as much of a waste as 22L.

I really need to learn alot more about yeast.

 

[NRB]

I've just made 20L of experimental cider (first cider ever) using a cheap Brigalow Apple Cider kit, 2kg white sugar, 2L apple juice, 2L apple/pear juice, carbon filtered tap water and will pitch Munton's Gold yeast when temp drops as it's currently sitting at 24C. OG 1.060.

If anyone recommends I DON'T pitch the Munton's Gold, I also have US56 and the kit yeast available.

Hopefully I'll have a drinkable cider for summer and something for the ladies on tap.

 

[frasertag]

I've just made 20L of experimental cider (first cider ever) using a cheap Brigalow Apple Cider kit, 2kg white sugar, 2L apple juice, 2L apple/pear juice, carbon filtered tap water and will pitch Munton's Gold yeast when temp drops as it's currently sitting at 24C. OG 1.060.

If anyone recommends I DON'T pitch the Munton's Gold, I also have US56 and the kit yeast available.

Hopefully I'll have a drinkable cider for summer and something for the ladies on tap.

Sounds like one of the brew I did

OG was 1054
FG was 990
It was around 9.2% and was very dry but man i loved it
Hard to drink more then 2 longys

 

[skb]

Hey NRB any update on how our cider is going, I am interested in trying the same.

 

[NRB]

It's taking its time to ferment skb, down to 1.012 currently. Tasting not too shabby, but I can definitely detect the artificial sweetener on the finish. I hope this disappears when it ages. I think in future I'd simply use apple/pear and apple juice along with some yeast nutrient and sugar if I want more alcohol. I'm another in the "don't like" artificial sweetener camp.

 

[frasertag]

It's taking its time to ferment skb, down to 1.012 currently. Tasting not too shabby, but I can definitely detect the artificial sweetener on the finish. I hope this disappears when it ages. I think in future I'd simply use apple/pear and apple juice along with some yeast nutrient and sugar if I want more alcohol. I'm another in the "don't like" artificial sweetener camp.

3months
And a brigalow kit becomes tastey
Before that the artificial flavour is overpowering and the cider flavour is very dry and abit off.
Age this puppy for as long as possible
its going to be like one i made around 9% as i stated above mine fermented down to .090 it was in the "Wine" section of the hydrometer.

i had a few mates over last weekend we had some digging to do around my property
we started off with a few coopers draughts, followed by a gingerbeer.
they started complaining that they were digging to much and not drinking alcoholic drinks as the other two were relitively light drinks
after 2 ciders each (around 6 months old) there was no more digging happening... just alot of laughing and the cider was extreamly tastey
the flavour had matured and the artificial flavour was not mentioned by anyone including me.

Compare this to another lolly drink like gingerbeer and i recon most gingerbeers (even my extra spicy) start going down hill after 12weeks.