Black Rock Cider Kit - First time brewer!

Hi , Just bought a Black Rock Kit along with the fermentation bucket and various other things included in a starter kit. Ive never made any beer or cider in the past and was wontering if anyone had some tips etc for a newbie. I intend to get this going in my garage tonight using a brew belt to keep the temperature up as it gets cold out there but not freezing as its attached to the house. Any help would be appreciated.

Chris

Well thanks alot for being so welcoming to a new member! . . . Have now joined thehomebrewforum.co.uk and have had lots of info and advice.

Over & out!

Wow man, give it a chance! Welcome! I'm new too, and a little patience goes a long way!

I haven't heard of that kit, but I just got started making cider myself. Any idea on what temp the brew belt keeps your bucket at in the garage? What kind of yeast did you use and what are the ingredients in the cider/juice?

Yeah man, gotta relax and be a little patient. Not every thread gets an immediate response. And this hobby requires a fair bit of patience.

I've used black rock before. It came out alrite. Its a reasonable kit for the price. If you got black rock, I assume you're in australia/nz? If so I doubt it'd get cold enough in most places to breally require a brew belt.

What temperature is the area you plan to use?

I'm assuming that a lot of the regulars on here get tired of reading and answering the same questions over and over for every new member that joins. When I first joined I found that just by browsing and searching the forum, I found out a ton of useful info and found answers to a lot of questions I had by reading about other people's experiences.

Basically everything I needed to know to get started was found here in the forum. Sure it takes a little more time to search and scan through all the threads, but like smegger said, this hobby requires a fair bit of patience.

Best of luck to you sir!

Sorry guys, didn't catch this thread. Been busy making wine. Hope you enjoy brewing Chris.

chrisbarter said:

Well thanks alot for being so welcoming to a new member! . . . Have now joined thehomebrewforum.co.uk and have had lots of info and advice.

Over & out!

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I thought you were thanking me for being... as being here on this planet. But then I finished reading your sentence and got it.
Anyway, welcome to HBT! The forum search will reveal a lot of info on making cider, I've never used a "kit" before so curious how yours turns out. Cheers,

Sorry for a bit of a ****ty post was having a bad day etc!.

Thanks and smegger no i'm in England actually and picked the kit up in my local homebrew shop East Grinstead Homebrew.

Not sure what it will tast like as it got up to 31/32 degrees in the first day or so.

Im fermenting it in my garage where the ambient is about 4 or 5 c at the moment but is now in a temperature controlled heated box ( and old broken fridge with a temp controller and a heater!) Now have a gallon of turbo cider fermenting in a DJ too.

Thanks

Chris

Hopefully you'll be ok if it only got up to 31/32 the first day, although thats not ideal. If it uses a wine yeast, it should be fine...if the kit has an ale yeast...it might have caused a little funk, but I bet it's still fine. I'd try and keep it around 16-20ºC? (60-65ºF) if you can.

chrisbarter said:

Sorry for a bit of a ****ty post was having a bad day etc!.

Thanks and smegger no i'm in England actually and picked the kit up in my local homebrew shop East Grinstead Homebrew.

Not sure what it will tast like as it got up to 31/32 degrees in the first day or so.

Im fermenting it in my garage where the ambient is about 4 or 5 c at the moment but is now in a temperature controlled heated box ( and old broken fridge with a temp controller and a heater!) Now have a gallon of turbo cider fermenting in a DJ too.

Thanks

Chris

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Ah, that explains why I've never heard of it. (New England, USA here)

Well, let us know how it turns out. BTW, what's 'turbo cider'? A fast drinking, young cider?

WilliamSlayer said:

BTW, what's 'turbo cider'? A fast drinking, young cider?

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Pretty sure that means high ABV cider, but I could be wrong.

Pickled_Pepper said:

Hopefully you'll be ok if it only got up to 31/32 the first day, although thats not ideal. If it uses a wine yeast, it should be fine...if the kit has an ale yeast...it might have caused a little funk, but I bet it's still fine. I'd try and keep it around 16-20ºC? (60-65ºF) if you can.

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Ok thanks , the kit says 25-28 as the fermenting temp and iv got it stable at around 26 now. You would usually go lower then?

Pickled_Pepper said:

Pretty sure that means high ABV cider, but I could be wrong.

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I got the recipe here

http://w.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=13910&hilit=turbo+cider&start=0

Iv gathered it is turbo as its very fast to get going as there is no pressing as you use supermarket juice. Along with the fact that yeah with a little sugar it can be made strong!.