Is 100% Granny Smith juice ok for cider?

[nosco]

I started making cider lately so I'm heading up to Harcourt tomorrow to get 25lt of juice which is Granny Smith, straight off the press. Just for the hell of it. I was gonna use 4766 for 20lt and maybe some Munich or Nottingham for 5lt. I know it will ferment out dry but will Granny Smith be too sour?

 

[Airgead]

Depends. If the grannies are picked green it can be but if they are picked fully ripe (they go a bit pale and are sometimes called champagne grannies) its fine.

For green grannies, I usually use 20-30% with the rest being sweet eating apples.

Cheers
Dave

Edit: taste the juice and see is the best advice.. if the juice is too sour, the cider will be as well. You can make up and all desert apple cider and blend the two...

 

[nosco]

Thanks Dave, I'll make sure I have a taste. If it's too sour I'll get some regular Apples and borrow my mums juicer. Maybe I'm late in the apple season to be getting only GS. Should be a good road trip. I'll stop in at Holgate Brewery on the way.

Cheers.

 

[Airgead]

Actually, its a little early for Grannies.... The orchard I get mine from doesn't get them in till April. Mind you, the Victorian season may be timed a little differently.

Year before last we were almost ion May before we picked the champagne grannies.

 

[nosco]

Ill have to quiz em bit I think. I quess theyll be using it to blend later.

 

[nosco]

A bit of a mixup with pickup time so I didn't end up getting the 100% GS but Simon at http://www.whitegumapples.com.au/applejuice.htm was very helpful. I got 30lt of Royal Galla and GS blend for the same price as 25lt. It's unfiltered and unpasteurised but it has a yeast inhibitor in it so he said leave for 2 days with the lid off for it to dissipate. Hopefully it doesn't start to ferment but I might use 10lt to ferment naturally and see what happens.

Apple season has only just started so the GS apples in the blend are last years and the Galla have just been picked. It was very sweet but at least I won't to muck around with a juicer.

 

[Tb1978]

Keen to give the fresh juice a go.. What do they sting you for 25ltrs?

 

[nosco]

It was $2.30Lt which is $57. It's heaps more than $1Lt you get at Aldi but it'll only be once year thing for me. But for $57 I get 75 330ml bottles so it still works out to be good value I reckon. Plus I got a 6 pack from Holgate . Maybe wait until the season gets underway a bit more. I had to time it with my holidays. I'll time it better next year.

 

[Ferg]

Try SummerSnow in Officer. I recently got 50l for $50.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

In the end, try a sample before you purchase and start your batch.
Don't forget a good yeast starter too.

I've been adding some really nice honey to each batch I make.
There's a really good Ginger Beer Factory in Morpeth that sell hundreds of different honeys.
Add 1kg of honey to your batch of 22ltrs as it helps take away that sour tart taste and adds a really nice smoother flavour.

 

[nosco]

Yeah I should plan it a bit better next time. This week has been a cock up really. Circumstances yesterday meant I couldn't make a starter. I checked this morning and the juice had just started to ferment. So I let the 4766 pac swell a bit and pitched into 20lt. I did the other 10lt with notty.
Hopefully its ok.

 

[markyspark]

I ended up getting 5 boxes of granny smith apples (350 in total), I got them from a bin of a supermarket and the apples are all in perfect condition and within the use by date. Dumpster diving can be very rewarding at times

So I'm new to brewing cider, I have made 3 x 5lt batches now from mixed apples but have not yet tasted them, I only bottled my first batch last week. Going to give it a try with 100% granny smiths. Is there anything special I should know about using supermarket apples? Is it worth peeling the apples since they are "waxed & polished? Will the wax affect the brew in any sort of way? Planning on using Craft Series Yeast MO2, that was recommended to me for the last batches I brewed. Recon I will add honey this time too.

Mark

 

[Airgead]

Never used waxed apples. Peeling them will be a huge pain so being lazy, I'd take a shot and throw them through the juicer whole.

Using all grannies can make things a bit acidic. You might ned to back sweeten once its done to balance it out.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Dave70]

I ended up getting 5 boxes of granny smith apples (350 in total), I got them from a bin of a supermarket and the apples are all in perfect condition and within the use by date. Dumpster diving can be very rewarding at times

So I'm new to brewing cider, I have made 3 x 5lt batches now from mixed apples but have not yet tasted them, I only bottled my first batch last week. Going to give it a try with 100% granny smiths. Is there anything special I should know about using supermarket apples? Is it worth peeling the apples since they are "waxed & polished? Will the wax affect the brew in any sort of way? Planning on using Craft Series Yeast MO2, that was recommended to me for the last batches I brewed. Recon I will add honey this time too.

Mark

In the past I've placed a bunch of apples in the plate drying rack on on the sink and hit them with near boiling water, based on the assumption they coated them in carnuba wax - melting temp of around 82 deg - Still a pain in the arse. Don't know if the technique worked or not, didn't seem to affect the final result either way.
If I had to peel them, I'd be using ALDI juice..