Old Bloke's Cider Making Guide Discussion

[Jim]

I've split this topic from the original post, which is now in the how-to and stickies forum.

[oldbloke]

An awful lot got lost when that other place imploded, I may get round to fixing the broken bits sometime

[frogbrew]

Great guide there oldbloke......
Is there a link to different juices/ recipes on this site anywhere do you know?

[oldbloke]

There are several threads on all the homebrew forums, with loads of info, but very little in the way of proper side-by-side tests
All w can really say is, any AJ works, for some you might want to try adjusting the acidity, and many OtherJuice additions work - cranberry, pomegranate, blueberry, cherry... If you make it in gallon batches in demis you can fiddle a lot until you find something you like

[hophit]

I'd like to make some of this for my partner - she prefers cider to beer. Thing is I really want to make it slightly sweetened so it isn't as dry as a vulture's crotch.

Is that possible without adding fake sugars like you get in diet coke or adding something sweet at the point of serving? Is there a way of adding a sweet unfermentable sugar at the bginning? Could you add lactose like you do for milk stouts?

[oldbloke]

It's tough to leave unfermented sugar and still get natural carbonation. Somebody here swears by pasteurisation after carbonating while some sugar's left. Or if you have the means to carbonate artificially you can stabiilse as for wine while there's sugar left.
I found a little Morrison's own-brand sweetener doesn't taste horribly artficial - but I just want the edge taken off rather than a sweet or even medium cider so I don't use much. Also with a less acid juice the dryness is more acceptable, and it also is with more body to the brew so the choice of adjunct juice can help here. My 60th birthday special, with /lots/ of Suma so it came out almost 9%, barely needed any sweetener at all as the acid was quite low and the body was very good - loads of actual apple in it.

[frogbrew]

Where do you get the Suma concentrate from oldbloke and how much is it?

[oldbloke]

Where do you get the Suma concentrate from oldbloke and how much is it?

Hippyfood shops mainly. I happened to see the catalogue Suma give to retailers last Friday - 6 500ml non-organic bottles are 21.57 (includes VAT). I dunno if that's the wholesale or retail price though. Suma's website lists single bottles at 4.60 at the mo. I always try to get a discount for ordering a slab of 6 and for having it in and out the shop in hours. If doing a large batch the 5l poly is better value of course. I would never pay a delivery charge by buying from Amazon or Ebay - it's exepnsive enough already, that would be madness. The warehouse is on a feasible route from my place to Halifax, mean to drop in someday.

[frogbrew]

ok thanks. how much would you use in say a 1gallon batch?

[oldbloke]

ok thanks. how much would you use in say a 1gallon batch?

Prices first - ordered a slab of 6 today. Woman seemed to think the 21.57 in the catalogue was retail, but wasn't really sure. If it's not, then I know what price point I'll try to haggle them down to...

OK, quantity - my standard gallon recipe is 1 500ml bottle Suma, 500ml cheapo AJ, 500ml SomeOtherJuice, tsp tannin, tsp nutrient, half a pack of yeast, and lately some sweetener - experimenting with quantity, but not much. Not more than 1tsp. That's around 6 to 6.5%, IIRC.
But for special occasions I'm putting on an 8%ish one this weekend, at 750ml Suma, 1l cheapo AJ, 0.5l Otherjuice, etc.

Had a bottle of a 10 month old one this evening (just Morrison's cheapo + blueberry + tannin). Age really does improve them. That one had a little chalk in it. If you don't use Suma, you may want to think about chalk to take a bit of the acid out.

[Jim]

Before this develops into a huge discussion thread, I'm going to split off the original post and put it in the How Tos and Stickies, locked.

Discussions can continue on the remnant of the thread in here.

[frogbrew]

Thanks oldbloke, that info/recipe will be very useful.