Beginners Guide To Cider?

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chelta

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Hi!
I'm looking to do my first home brew, and since my partner has done an ale I thought I'd like to do a Cider.
I bought from BrewCraft their Irish Cider kit which comprises of:

1x Black Rock Cider Kit
500g Lactose
500g Dextrose
250g maltodextrin
250g malt extract
1x apple schnapps extract

I've read on the forums that Berri apple juice is good to add so bought 5x 2.4L of it.

Also read up about Wyeast 4766 so have that to use instead of the dry kit yeast.

Just wondering if I should make a yeast starter, and if anyone can tell me a good way to do it based on the ingredients I have? Also whether I should use the blackrock kit or just go straight for using only the berri juice? What would you suggest as a 'beginner cider yeast starter' and 'beginner cider recipe'?

Thanks!
 
The Wyeast "smack pack" wakes up the yeast with the nutrient pack inside. When the bag swells up, you know that the yeast is alive and ready to go. So there is no need to make a starter for this.

I'm also doing my first recipe, using the exact same yeast you are. So far it is fermenting just fine.

I'm only doing one gallon as follows:

1 Gallon of fresh apple juice (no preservatives of any kind)
1/2 lb. of brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick (to taste)

From what I've heard, this recipe produces good results. Hope this helps!

Happy Brewing.
 
I'll be attempting my first batch of cider using fresh pressed juice next weekend.

I'll be adding calcium and pectin methyl esterase (PME) enzyme to hopefully achieve a successful "keeve".

Keeving - What's That?
 
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