First Cider i can replicate the taste

[drsmurto]

@4feathes

Whole, quartered or crushed apples may, just may make a difference to a cider but the recipe listed contains such a small percentage of apples to apple juice that there is no way you could taste a difference even if the apples dissolved completely. 3-4 apples in 20 litres of juice.

If, on the other hand, you made the % of apples as a proprtion of the juice much higher you may begin to see a difference, much like using freshly pressed juice rather than highly clarified and pastuerised juice from a bottle. At that point you probably should just start with freshly pressed apple juice. Or reinvent the wheel. Your choice.

 

[komodo]

When doing a cider from store bought juice I prefer to add yeast with a bit of nutrient to approx 6L then every couple of days add another 2-3L of juice till I get to my full batch size.
Dont know if theres any reason why not to do this but it works for me and I've elliminated that rotten egg smell.
Go easy on adding cloves would be my only other recommendation.

I'm wanting to get about 200L of fresh juice next time I do a batch. Will need one hell of a starter though!

 

[4feathers]

Hi people, Dr Smurto, am not particularly interested in reinventing the wheel as i have already found a great recipe that gives a good drink, easy, quick and able to be reproduced easily... and its always my choice, am over the apple chunks or not, its personal choice.
Komodo, this is something i thought about as well, i live about 4 hours one way from roadside apples and i was thinking me and my missus ,in the ute, pick a heap, home ,scrat,press, ferment. To make it worthwhile 200lt would be the go. Have tried smaller batches, lotta work but no drama, just the thought of 200lt in one hit is tempting enough....Anyway, i put another of this mix down last night and this afternoon its really going well already, changed this mix from Woolworths Organic fresh apple juice into a coles fresh apple juice [only because our town was flooded and woolies was under water], foam head was a lighter colour than usual. Upscaled to 30 litres and will halve after primary into 2 singles, 1 as usual and maybe some munuka honey in the other changing it to a Cyser. Keep brewin Peter

 

[robbiep]

how have others found this recipe?

 

[drsmurto]

Picked up 40L of organic, freshly pressed apple juice on Thursday.

At this time of the year fresh pressed juice costs the same as the highly processed ***** off the shelf.

 

[Bribie G]

What temperature for fermentation? I have a
mob descending for Easter and might do a keg.

 

[dogger]

DrSmurto - where do you get your juice from?

 

[4feathers]

Hey Bribie G, all my stuff is done at ambient temperature unless its really hot then its in temp controlled at around 25c.
DrSmurto, good to see you using the good stuff, i was amazed at the difference in end product after changing from recon juice to fresh apple juice, i was getting a bit low on Cider due to over consumption at chrismas so i broke out a recon cider i made in july last year, one glass and i put the lid back on and went for a young mead which was far better. Have been using the recon for conversion to Cider vinegar and it seems ok for that and its good for cooking, Roast pork in Cider for lunch tomorrow, yum. The last lot of fresh juice i bought cost me $2.50 a litre which i know is dearer than recon but its still cheap grog. See ya Peter

 

[drsmurto]

Scored my juice from a small grower in the hills via a contact at work. $50 for 40L. They did it as a favour so i doubt they will be selling it particularly as they pressed it themselves in a basket press. Took them an hour to get that much juice.

 

[Damien13]

Ok, so kegged this recipe, and it still has a slight funky rotten fruit smell to it, BUT we went camping on the weekend and tapped off 1.5L into a grolsh bottle, and when I poured it later the next day the smell was gone! soooo any ideas??? perhaps it was the bottle warming up then cooling, or perhaps it was volatile sulphur that dissipated on tapping into the bottle..
ideas???
it tastes bloody nice by the way.... highly recommended...

 

[4feathers]

Hey Damien 13, yeah thats why i put the recipe up, cause it is a nice drink[cheers to Franko].
As for the smell, it seems apple, brewing and alcohol brings out the best and the worst from this forebidden fruit, most issues are nutrient based and helps having a strong yeast up and running and continueing to do so. Try and keep slightly ahead of the yeasts needs so they don't start stressing, just a bit of stress seems to start the odours coming and then you fight that battle. Better to be ahead of the issue. Other things are temp, different yeast, airation and really all the things you read on this site. Could be a large number of triggers. Have a good look at how you made yours and look for potentials.
But as you noted, they don't seem to follow through once the product is ready to drink in the glass so it may be all volatile gases tied up in solution releasing until a point when it disperses. Enjoy your cider...Peter

 

[robbiep]

Yep, Franko's recipe is one of my old favourites...

Although I add a heaped teaspoon of yeast nutrient otherwise it can get a a bit of a 'rotten fruit' smell to it that puts you off.

Did any of you guys give this a try to get rid of the 'rotten fruit' smell?

 

[Damien13]

Yeah, I added a heaping teaspoon of nutrient... will try aerating and more nutrient next time...

 

[robbiep]

so aerating the juice and ingredients (by shaking the heeby jeebies out of it) before you pitch your yeast?

 

[robbiep]

Damien, what juice did you use?

 

[4feathers]

Hey guys, had a spare carboy and found some cheap recon juice yesterday so am going to do this with it. This goes completly against what i think and say but it seems that a lot of people still prefer CHEAP cider from recon juice so i thought i would make one up so i can make comment from a real attempt rather than a perception gained from ciders made in the past from recon.
First up just looking at it in the bottles its not cloudy but rather clear with a strange red tinge to it. So where does the red tinge come from, ive scratted my own, put through a juicer and eaten a lot of apples never seen a red tinge to it. An additive maybe or a change when dehydrated to make recon base. Nothing listed in ingredients, just 99% apple juice,vit C. From inported and Australian ingredients. I would think from what i read elsewhere the Aussie bit is the water added to the concentrate to recreate the juice.
Added the pear and starting to look like juice.
Ldme in, looking better.
Smell of apple is not as evident.
Smack pack fired up.
Ready to go, will keep you posted......Peter

 

[4feathers]

Hi people, well its up and running and its looking good...i'm afraid to say....but,i am confident... that OKA sounds good tonight... and there will be a difference between this and recon juice.. Peter

 

[Danielscott26]

Peter
Im interested in doing this recipe but i dont have kegs. Do i just bottle and carbonate as i would my beer?

 

[4feathers]

Hi ya Dan26, good on ya, it won't dissapoint. yes you can bottle and carb similar to your beer. I don't keg as i prefer a still cider. A lady friend who makes this does keg and also bottle /carb and i reckon its excellent, the bubbles do alter the mouth feel a bit but adds another dimension to the drink itself which i really like. Just be aware of the issues with bottleing /carbing early but thats no different to other bottled/carbed drinks we all brew. enjoy youself peter

 

[4feathers]

Hi people, working slowly, cool weather due to constant rain making this a nice slow but solid start, seemed to get smelly quicker after first hit of nutrient but easy fixed. Less head on the keg brew but smells ok. see ya peter