Cider question

pintocb · 04-17-2008, 01:35 AM

I have some decent brewing equipment on the way, but while I'm waiting I thought I'd brew some hard apple cider in my last use of my Mr. Beer kit. The recipie calls for a lot of white, granulated sugar. Is there a substitute for the sugar that will help the finished product turn out better?

Cb

**Nurmey** · 04-17-2008, 01:40 AM

My preference is to leave the sugar out completely. I like the cleaner taste of apple cider fermented with yeast and nothing else.

pintocb · 04-17-2008, 01:42 AM

Can you get juice at a store that you can brew with? Do you use regular ale yeast? My kit didn't come with any yeast or instructions.

**Nurmey** · 04-17-2008, 01:52 AM

Any apple juice or cider will work as long as it doesn't have preservatives (sorbate) in it. Malic acid and ascorbic acid are fine. Ale yeast will work fine.

fatboy570 · 04-17-2008, 03:08 AM

If you want to add a little kick, add a few pounds of honey. It will ferment to a drier finish, and add 1% per pound. No need to boil, just dissolve in hot water

**Jesse17** · 04-17-2008, 03:51 AM

I like to add 2 lbs. brown sugar to a 5 gal. batch. It makes it around 8% and leaves a nice crisp taste/feel.

You can also use frozen apple juice concentrate. Just look at the nutrition values, and add enough apple juice concentrate, to equal the amount of sugar called for in your recipe.