Supermarket apple juice cider?

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kyral210

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I was wondering, apple juice in the supermarket is 100% pure apple juice concentrated, shipped, rehydrated and then shipped to me. If I added some more sugar to this, maybe some yeast nutrient and yeast, would I get a decent cider?
 
I don't live in US so I may not have the kind of juice concentrate you guys have there, but...

I have made two batches of apple cider from concentrate. 100% apple juice, no preservatives, no added sugar. Just juice, yeast and time. The better batch is now on it's sixth month and I still don't think it's any good. It is beginning to have a resemblance to a real cider but the taste is strongly "home made". Meaning it's a bit sharp, no body (thin taste?), and a definite hint of yeast in it (it has cleared very well).

So I am skeptical when people say they get "good stuff" in four weeks. I am also skeptical when people say they get good stuff from juice concentrate. (I have also heard people say they get "good stuff" in two weeks with baker's yeast and artificially flavored apple juice, but I'm not skeptical about that.) Perhaps I have less suitable apple juice. Perhaps I'm an elitist. Perhaps it just needs more time. Perhaps I just suck at making cider :)

Just my limited experiences.
 
I don't live in US so I may not have the kind of juice concentrate you guys have there, but...

I have made two batches of apple cider from concentrate. 100% apple juice, no preservatives, no added sugar. Just juice, yeast and time. The better batch is now on it's sixth month and I still don't think it's any good. It is beginning to have a resemblance to a real cider but the taste is strongly "home made". Meaning it's a bit sharp, no body (thin taste?), and a definite hint of yeast in it (it has cleared very well).

So I am skeptical when people say they get "good stuff" in four weeks. I am also skeptical when people say they get good stuff from juice concentrate. (I have also heard people say they get "good stuff" in two weeks with baker's yeast and artificially flavored apple juice, but I'm not skeptical about that.) Perhaps I have less suitable apple juice. Perhaps I'm an elitist. Perhaps it just needs more time. Perhaps I just suck at making cider :)

Just my limited experiences.

Agreed. You can make a drinkable product, and you may even like it (especially if you backsweeten with concentrate). But it doesn't compare to cider made from fresh pressed juice from the orchard.
 
You don't even need to add sugar. The apple juice I got from a supermarket had an OG of 1.048. Unless you want a really strong brew, skip the sugar. Otherwise, use wine yeast.
 
I don't live in US so I may not have the kind of juice concentrate you guys have there, but...

I have made two batches of apple cider from concentrate. 100% apple juice, no preservatives, no added sugar. Just juice, yeast and time. The better batch is now on it's sixth month and I still don't think it's any good. It is beginning to have a resemblance to a real cider but the taste is strongly "home made". Meaning it's a bit sharp, no body (thin taste?), and a definite hint of yeast in it (it has cleared very well).

So I am skeptical when people say they get "good stuff" in four weeks. I am also skeptical when people say they get good stuff from juice concentrate. (I have also heard people say they get "good stuff" in two weeks with baker's yeast and artificially flavored apple juice, but I'm not skeptical about that.) Perhaps I have less suitable apple juice. Perhaps I'm an elitist. Perhaps it just needs more time. Perhaps I just suck at making cider :)

Just my limited experiences.

Well I have made the apfelwein and instead of using just the reconstituted apple by the gallon- I also put in a couple of the 12oz containers of frozen apple juice concentrate(thawed of course)not diluted, just dumped in. It boosted the richness of the apple juice and while it might take a bit longer to age, the flavor is lovely even tho young.
So if you are making say, 5 gallons I would use 5 12oz containers of frozen apple juice concentrate along with the sugars. Just put the AJ concentrate in before you put in the last gallon of apple juice and then just fill till you hit the right level in your container. I did make one without the extra AJ concentrate and found the same problem you did- slightly watery not rich at all.. It tastes fine but not as good as the ones with AJ Concentrate.
If you can't get the frozen concentrate- try making a F-Pac Which is just apple juice that you low boil until it is almost syrup and then add to the wine. The only problem there is it might cause a pectin haze. Whole other thread!
 
Hello, all!
This is my first post before my first attempt to brew anything. I intend to try a cider with boring supermarket apple juice. My big question is why boil? Presumably boiling a wort is largely to sterilize it, and perhaps to effect some chemistry, but if my juice is already sterile and I have sanitized my tools, couldn't I just pour the juice from the bottle and pitch the yeast right into it? Do I really need to boil a sterile apple juice before fermenting? Thanks for quick responses; I want to start ASAP, so it will be done by the winter holidays.
Andris "ozols"
 
Naw you don't have to boil anything unless you're adding sugar that came from a giant bin full of bugs and children's fingers, in which case you might want to boil the sugar in some water before adding it.
 
The lack of body in just storebought Juice/Yeast is due partialy to the kind of yeast (ale yeast leaves a bit more body), and also due to the lack of tannins or acid in storebought juice, which is made from dessert apple varities most of the time, not hard cider apples. I have attempted to add back in acid and tannins using black tea and lime juice, the recipe is in my drop down.

YMMV
 

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