cider kits - any good?

[BIGTRACTOR]

hi, being from the westcountry i do enjoy the odd cider, have seen many kit ciders, just wondered if anyone has had any success with them. i have made a couple about 5 years ago and they were really sour and yeasty (but i may have been to young and inpatient then!!)

are there any good ones out there, if so anyone got any good tips for making it? or am i best sticking to the old turbo cider? (5 litres of lidls apple juice in a demi john)

[eskimobob]

I have brewed somw of the CWE kits many years ago and always found the cider to be strong and drinkable. Perhaps a little dry for my taste but I guess that was due to the amount of sugar added - all fermentable. I also used Champagne yeast to get a higher alcohol percentrage which is also probably why it ended up a bit drier...

Just in the process of trying the Turbo Cider

[fizzypop boy]

By the way EB hows the turbo going?

[eskimobob]

Well I keep thinking it is nearly finished as it seems to quieten down then next time I look there is about 10mm of foam on top again and it's bubbling away... Not a great variation in room temperature so I'm a little confused. It's now been fermenting for 4 days so no great worries

[Frothy]

QUOTE (Daft as a Brush @ May 26 2006, 09:09 PM) Before my mate moved on to using apples and a press etc he used to make good cider from CWE kits. Personaly i'd stick with turbo cider though, try different brands of juice and different yeasts, the flavour can really vary. I prefer Tescos value juice with Gervin no3 yeast.

btw, I think i'll slide this one over to 'Other Brews' as this forum I for beer kits
Dude - what is turbo cider?

I had the same thought of using bottled juice a couple of weeks ago with the Tescos apple juice from concentrate on special offer for 3Litres and adding a 1L of the decent cloudy pressed stuff. 8.0% pot' vol without even adding sugar.

- over 8 pints of 8% cider for £3.50 is so much cheaper than a kit although I'm sure the kit contains a mix of bitter & sweet apple juice etc.

Matt

[eskimobob]

I asked that question too Frothy a few weeks back...

Here's a http://www.forumforfree.com/forums/inde ... ost&p=8383 to it.

[Frothy]

awesome thanks for the recipe - I've just done a batch similar to this but with ale yeast. 2 weeks and counting.... its still happily fermenting away