Can I add vimto/ribena to cider

[beesley121]

Hi guys,

I made up a kit of youngs cider a few months and kegged it in a corny!!! Its been sitting there for a few months to clear and it tastes great but my gf really like the jacques cider that you can buy from the supermarket. According to the bottle it says its a cider with the addition of forests fruits. I can think of a liquor that contains forests fruits but if I add vimto/ribeana to it and keg it again, will I get simular results. Im just scared about it fermenting out too much and not leaving the flavor or persatives damaging it

what do you think??

[mshergold]

Probably not best to add Vimto or Ribena at this stage. We recently made some Ribena 'wine' from a recipe in one CJJ Berry's books and I'm sure we had to boil the Ribena, sugar and water solution to get rid of any chemicals (something like that). I'll try to remember to get the book out and post what he wrote on the subject.

I'd try adding some concentrate to the glass before the cider a la cider & black in the pub and mabye add some Ribena/Vimto to your next batch when you make it up. It'd be a shame to risk wasting your time, effort & money if it doesn't work.

[GTATTY]

You may be better adding cassis which is a blackcurrant liquer

That's what I'm gonna add to my next cider kit if the one I'm fermenting now turns out good

Regards

Graham

[Ross_b1]

Hi Graham,

Mshergold was correct, just checked 'First steps' and CJJ says that One 12oz bottle of 'bena will make 1gallon of wine. You will need to disolve 1.5kg (3lb) of suger in warm water add the 'bena and boil for 10 mins to drive off the preservatives.

Not too sure how it would turn out when added to the cider though.

Ross

[longhairedsi]

Hi

Might be a bit late for them now but..

For my last cider kit I went out and collected about 1kg of blackberries from the field behind my house, I'm sure you could do the same with frozen "summer fruits" etc you can get in the supermarket.

This is what i did (after the cider had feremented, I was kegging it, not bottling)
Simmered them for about 15 mins to get all the juice out and kill any nasties, then mashed well em with a sterilised potato masher in the pan, then strained em through a serilised seive into a bowl(making sure to press out all the juice) then poured that straight into the keg with the sugar then syponed in the cider.

Believe me It's very nice! a slight aftertaste of blackberries. If was going to do it again i'd add more berries, mabey 1.5kg - 2kg. Also next time I think would try adding it at the begining of fermentation when starting the kit.

Cheers
Si

[delboy]

You can certainly add vimto or ribena if you want, i would think though that the best time to add it is to the glass just before you pour your fermented cider into it for supping

Honestly though if you add it to the fermenter you'll lose a lot of flavour, when not keep it simple and add it to the glass exactly to your tastes exactly when you want it (you might grow tired off 5 gallons of ribena cider).