I don't drink cider and to be honest can't stand the stuff but as I had a DJ I thought I would try making some for fun. I do like my beer, and seemingly so does everyone else. I figured that if I could produce cheap cider those who aren't really arsed about 'proper' ale can drink my cider instead.
As I didn't want to spend money on either wine or cider yeast I just bought Allinson's bread yeast from the supermarket. There were 6 sachets for just under a pound. A four-pack of cheap apple juice from somerfield completed the recipe (I wanted to keep it basic).
I read-up on a few of the threads on here and then quite literally chucked it together. The bread yeast had the cider fermenting in no time, and although I had read about volcanic eruptions out of the airlock I had no such excitement.
Anyway, to cut to the chase my mate opened the first one the other night and was suitably impressed. He said it was preferable to some Wilko's kit cider he'd tasted a week or so prior. It was clear, carbonated and had an apple-y taste which some people claim their cider lacks - perhaps through using yeasts which convert more of the sugar to alcohol. I think the ABV is about 6% but I didn't bother taking gravity readings - I don't really see the point. I also primed the bottles (1 pint Magners) with 30ml of apple juice each. It had 10 days in primary and 12 days in the bottle before tasting.
For the time being I will stick to bread yeast and hand a few bottles out to get some feedback, it certainly doesn't seem to be detrimental to making the cider. As far as I am concerned if people can be fobbed off with my cheapo cider, they ain't drinking me ale
- Which reminds me, I need to take down the sign that must be over my front door saying 'free beer'.Thanks very much to all the people who have put up so much useful information on this page. I am not usually one to post (I think this is #14) as all the information you need is available freely, and let's be honest someone has always asked the question before you. . . . just use search. I just wanted to show some love
Oh, and now I have 3 DJs
