Cider Kit Recomendations

[andywills]

I noticed no one recommended the youngs kit?

hope they arent too bad, got one on the go now, they were on offer for £6.99 when I brought it.

Quickie question.....if i want to prime using apple juice instead of sugar, how much should i use? (doing 32 pints)

[Curious Brew]

I noticed no one recommended the youngs kit?

hope they arent too bad, got one on the go now, they were on offer for £6.99 when I brought it.

Quickie question.....if i want to prime using apple juice instead of sugar, how much should i use? (doing 32 pints)

I've been using a litre of apple juice for a forty pint length. Start off a bit lively but keeps it carbonated almost to the last.

Maybe try about 0.5 of a litre?

[Adam]

my THC is off of a youngs kit and it is good after a 4 week rest, much longer now but i will be moving onto the keg as soon as i am better.

smiles
adam

[richard_senior]

Don't do it!!!
Last year I made cider from my neighbours tree. I didn't use an apple press, I just tossed it all (peeled and cored) in the brupaks kettle and made 25l of apple sauce, then I let the sauce ferment... I can't say it fell bright and I just siphoned it off.. that would be a lie I had to work hard to get 15L back out of it.. but what I did get was fantastic! oh.. I used turbo yeast too.

This year.. I thought I'd save myself the effort and buy a kit....
It's lovely and clear... and it tastes....... a bit like apples.. That's all I can say to you. If you're going to make cider.. do it proper.. there are no good kits.

[Bryggmester]

Just come back from a week in Devon. Lots of lovely farmhouse cider imbibed. On my return tried my THC made with a John Bull kit and extra apple juice and I must say that TC from apple juice is a better idea. The kit brew tastes of artificial additives, TC can't match the proper stuff but I prefer it to kits.

[Ianb]

I made a John Bull kit when I got back into brewing. It smelled and tasted horrible out of the fermenter, and was about to be thrown down the drain until someone on here suggested leaving it to mature.

So glad I did, after twelve months under the floor, it has matured into a lovely dry cider. Shame it's all gone now!!!!

Incidentally I found a year old bottle of TC this weekend and that too had improved immesureably. The secret seems to be maturation.

[RajBoab]

I've just made up a batch of THC from a Youngs kit (from Wilcos) and 11L of Tesco value Apple Juice topped up to 20L. I left it to ferment for 10 days and barreled with an additional 1L of AJ. I went from 1.064 to 1.001.

After a week in the barrel it's still slightly cloudy but nothing that has prevented me having a sneaky taste! There's plenty of fizz out of the tap but the foam dissapates a lot quicker than a foamy beer head does. There's none of that serving up half a pint of foam!

It tastes ok. Not as appley as I had hoped for. It's super dry and a bit tart. Better than the TC though. Hopefully with a bit of maturing it will improve. It will get drunk either way, as will I!!

I may think about adding some powdered artificial sweetener if I do one again and maybe even add a bit of apple essence.

[RajBoab]

I've just made up a batch of THC from a Youngs kit (from Wilcos) and 11L of Tesco value Apple Juice topped up to 20L. I left it to ferment for 10 days and barreled with an additional 1L of AJ. I went from 1.064 to 1.001.

After a week in the barrel it's still slightly cloudy but nothing that has prevented me having a sneaky taste! There's plenty of fizz out of the tap but the foam dissapates a lot quicker than a foamy beer head does. There's none of that serving up half a pint of foam!

It tastes ok. Not as appley as I had hoped for. It's super dry and a bit tart. Better than the TC though. Hopefully with a bit of maturing it will improve. It will get drunk either way, as will I!!

I may think about adding some powdered artificial sweetener if I do one again and maybe even add a bit of apple essence.