Cider Kit!

[REptile1]

I'm thinking of putting a Cider kit on ready for Christmas as one of my mates loves the stuff especially Strongbow

Can anybody recommend a good kit

Also when I brew beer kits (as opposed to grain) I generally substitute the sugar with beer enhancer or malt extract. What would be the alternative sugar substitute for cider:

[delboy]

why not save yorself some money get a youngs cider yeast and a shed load of supermarket pure apple juice, some sugar (demerara is nice) and make up 20 Ls of Turbo cider, thats what most people on here do rather than using kits.
Most agree its cheaper and better

[prodigal2]

I will second what Delboy suggests.
TC is a cost effective and tasty way to make cider off season, and basically replicates the process most of the big cider producers make their cider

[johnmac]

What would be the alternative sugar substitute for cider:

Apple juice! I've just made up a cider kit using 10 liters of juice to replace the kilo of sugar. Then made it up to 30 liters with water. It's just about to be kegged, so I can't tell you yet if it's as good as Turbo Cider.

[sparky Paul]

I'm thinking of putting a Cider kit on ready for Christmas as one of my mates loves the stuff especially Strongbow

Can anybody recommend a good kit

Here's a vote for kits!

Although lots on here do Turbo cider very successfully, I use the kits as it works out cheaper for 4/5 gallons, and the results are pretty good.

From what I've seen, I get the distinct feeling that most of the 1.75kg kits available are made by the same company and sold by the various brands. I would go for the cheapest - John Bull from BrewGenie at £6.99, or Brewbuddy from Wilkos, also £6.99, although BG are currently struggling to get stock.

I would stick to using table sugar as an adjunct, certainly do not use brewing sugar as it ferments out even more completely and the result is lip-curlingly dry. Even with table sugar it's pretty dry (think rough scrumpy). If you are looking for something like a commercial cider, they are all artificially sweetened, and you will have to do likewise. Most HB shops sell an artificial sweetener for wines which should do the job.

Hope this helps!

Now... substituting apple juice for the sugar sounds interesting...