Good juice choices besides treetop?

[pricelessbrewing]

In Michigan. Apparently we don't believe in good apple juice unless it's October.
Trader joes, kroger, meijer, aldis, walmart, whole foods (probably expensive).

Suggestions? Amazon maybe? Idk

 

[dallas996]

I am a hardcore believer in using quality juice. Call me eccentric or stupid but I have no problem paying 50 bucks for 6 gallons of organic pressed juice from Sprouts or Whole Foods when my end product always ends up superb. Plus you get the nice glass gallon carboys to use for 1 gallon experiments.

 

[Renoun]

Costco is selling both their own brand (Kirkland) and Treetop in my region. My last couple of batches have been made with domestic production unfiltered pasteurized organic apple cider (not from concentrate) that I got at a place called Grocery Outlet that is the kind of place you go buy cheap dented cans.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Walmart's store brand juice. It's plain old apple juice, only ascorbic acid added, and inexpensive. Best thing is it makes a decent cider; well as decent a cider as non-cider apple juice can produce. I usually make graff with it & it turns out good every time.
Regards, GF.

 

[MaxStout]

Mott's. Only has ascorbic acid added. It's about $4/gal at Wally World.

 

[Asgard]

If you have a costco, I like the Kirkland the best. $4/gallon for 100% apple juice (not even the ascorbic acid added) and it's even slightly cloudy.

 

[Urkelbot]

I've had good luck with the Kirkland stuff from Costco. I think it's even not from concentrate.

 

[Archer]

1+ Kirkland if you can't get fresh pressed

 

[MoonDawg]

Indian Summer brand always gives me good results.

 

[Texconsinite]

If there's an ethnic grocery store in your area, you might check there for some apple cider at less-than-whole foods prices


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[BigFloyd]

Mott's. Only has ascorbic acid added. It's about $4/gal at Wally World.

+1. I just kegged a batch of the "Hard Apple Caramel Cider" recipe from this forum. 5.5 gallons of Mott's. 2 lbs table sugar. All samples have been very tasty.

Possibly as important as the juice selection is yeast and fermentation temps. I'm sold on using Nottingham and holding it around 60*F until activity decreases before raising it up to the mid-60's to finish up before cold crashing.

 

[stevenenglund]

You could use a Breville Juicer and purchase cheap apples at restaurant supply stores like Cash N Carry or local producer-to-restaurant suppliers who have "dock" sales where the average Joe can still purchase their products.

Example prices at Rinella Produce, Portland, OR:
FUJI APPLES 125 CT $38.99
GALA APPLES 125 CT $28.99 (on special)

These are likely 40# boxes, which could yield anywhere from 240 oz to 360 oz to 500 oz (give or take a lot- I Googled those opinions). Apples have different grades which are determined by their size, weight, and diameter- I'm not sure the grades of the apples I have priced.

So if you made juice out of just Gala apples that's roughly 1.88 to 2.8 to 3.9 gallons. It's up to the yield efficiency of the apples and the method you use to extract the juice.

I've read that apples yield anywhere from 2/3 to 3/4 of their weight.

Sure makes you appreciate the prices of juice at the store- or makes you wonder how they make it so cheap... aka sugar water?!

Regardless: Don't forget the magic blend of apples if you're making cider: 50% sweet, 35% sharp, and 15% bitter!

 

[Asgard]

It's not surprising they can sell the juice so cheap compared to the apples. A lot of the cost is in spoilage, packaging, and shipping. All of that goes way down when you first make the juice. Same reason concentrate is cheaper than non-concentrated. That's also why it can be pretty cheap if you can organize a bulk buy at the orchard itself; in that case they're working in bulk, they get the packaging back, they spend nothing on shipping, and suffer no spoilage.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Thanks for all the input, I'll be going with kirkkland/costco it looks like!

 

[stevenenglund]

Great you found a choice! Let us know how it comes out. Do you plan on adding adjuncts?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I plan on buying about 5g of juice. I have slurry available, Nottingham and champagne yeast red star. Is it worth trying the red star out, or is it generally preferred to use Nottingham ale yeast?
juice+yeast
Juice+yeast+cinnamon
juice+yeast+back sweetened with concentrate.
Can you use concentrate as a fermentable adjunct or no? If so I'll add apple concentrate to one, and cherry to another. Will the flavor still be noticeable if added a few days later (primary mostly done) or will it all ferment out? If so I'll mix apple and cherry juice for one.

 

[hitthewall79]

I plan on buying about 5g of juice. I have slurry available, Nottingham and champagne yeast red star. Is it worth trying the red star out, or is it generally preferred to use Nottingham ale yeast?
juice+yeast
Juice+yeast+cinnamon
juice+yeast+back sweetened with concentrate.
Can you use concentrate as a fermentable adjunct or no? If so I'll add apple concentrate to one, and cherry to another. Will the flavor still be noticeable if added a few days later (primary mostly done) or will it all ferment out? If so I'll mix apple and cherry juice for one.

If your going to add flavor like that, you can do 1 of two things. Either you go mix them as you've stated, or you can buy the cherry, and use it at the end as a back sweetner/ primer. However if you do that, then you may need to stove top pasturise (its a sticky in the cidar forum). For ciders, I would go with nottingham over the red star if your going for cidar flavor, or go with red star if your looking for more of a wine flavor. Also be careful with that cinammon, as you may end up with the cinnamon being too over powering. What I would do with the cinamon is boil it, so you get a cinamon flavored water, and then take a sample out, and add the cinamon water to taste.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Well not really looking forward to pasteurizing so that's out. Now I realize this maybe odd but here's an idea.
Take concentrate, let it melt. Take the gravity reading. Find out the equivalent amount to usual priming amount, and use that amount to prime? I realize this may be a small amount of concentrate however and may not be feasible. Otherwise I probably will just mix some juices if I can find suitable cherry juice that doesn't have preservatives and isn't too expensive.

 

[hitthewall79]

Well not really looking forward to pasteurizing so that's out. Now I realize this maybe odd but here's an idea.
Take concentrate, let it melt. Take the gravity reading. Find out the equivalent amount to usual priming amount, and use that amount to prime? I realize this may be a small amount of concentrate however and may not be feasible. Otherwise I probably will just mix some juices if I can find suitable cherry juice that doesn't have preservatives and isn't too expensive.

I could be wrong, but I don't think they sell just cherry concentrate... Something you could do if your really after this cherry flavor is throw real cherries in there and let them ferment with your juice. I would go frozen over fresh though, if you really want me to explain I will, or you could just trust me that when you buy from a store frozen > fresh when it comes to home brewing fruit from a store


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[pricelessbrewing]

Well I assume it's because the water molecules freeze and burst the skin of the fruit and make the sugar easier to ferment. Also should lower the chance of mold?
In other news why doesn't cherry concentrate exist? I demand cherry flavored everything!!

 

[iRebound]

Kirkland apple juice are delicious.

 

[hitthewall79]

Well I assume it's because the water molecules freeze and burst the skin of the fruit and make the sugar easier to ferment. Also should lower the chance of mold?
In other news why doesn't cherry concentrate exist? I demand cherry flavored everything!!

Lol, not really, here's my long drawn out explanation

It all comes down to corporate standards... When you get produce from a big store, I have bad knees for you, your produce is probably close to 2 weeks to a month old already, when it gets to the store, because of packaging and shipping, and all that nonsense... Well, farmers try to compensate this by picking fruit before it's ready, so it can ripen on the way to the store. This boils down to organic chemistry that I will not bore you with, but basically, it's like trying to run a car on a 1/8th of a gallon of gas. Sure it may run, but your not getting very far... It's not getting the nutrients it needs anymore, and it will convert the sugars it has, so it tastes right, but that doesn't mean your getting everything out of it. With frozen stuff, they're frozen ripe, so they taste like ripe stuff. Since they've grown their entire life on the plant, they have way more nutrients inside of them, contain way more sugar, and are better for brewing because you'll get more of an actual fruit flavor. Now if you can find a farmers market where you can get stuff fresh, do that, but if your in a store, frozen > fresh. Plus, as a rule of thumb, I always freeze fruit before I brew with it, because it makes it squishy and way easier to mash, and if your using hot liquid, frozen fruit drops it in a hurry. So you were right when talking about that. And yes, the low temps make a lot of critters leave.

With your other news, I completely agree, I wish they had just concentrate of everything seperated, instead of all mixed together, like come on really, you have cherry banana sunrise (cherry, banana, oj, and grapefruit) but I can't have just cherry??? What really got me the one day was when I found 100% pomegranate juice! They had just pomegranate juice... It was almost $9 for a 1/4 of a gallon container if not smaller. That's $36 dollars a gallon...


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[Fuzzymittenbrewing]

In Michigan. Apparently we don't believe in good apple juice unless it's October.
Trader joes, kroger, meijer, aldis, walmart, whole foods (probably expensive).

Suggestions? Amazon maybe? Idk

Where in Michigan do you live? I live near Holland and the cidery in Spring Lake will fill your carboy with juice for cider fairly cheap.

 

[stevenenglund]

I trained for a ultra-marathon last year (30 miles on my 30th birthday) and I researched that Tart Cherry juice is an excellent anti-inflammatory. I bought mine at GNC and mixed it with water to have on my long runs.

It's just how the Vikings like their women: strong and cheap!

http://www.gnc.com/Dynamic-Health-Tart-Cherry-Juice-Concentrate/product.jsp?productId=3993793

 

[Terek]

Mott's. Only has ascorbic acid added. It's about $4/gal at Wally World.

i have found motts to be the best. and it usually is the cheepest

 

[hitthewall79]

I trained for a ultra-marathon last year (30 miles on my 30th birthday) and I researched that Tart Cherry juice is an excellent anti-inflammatory. I bought mine at GNC and mixed it with water to have on my long runs.

It's just how the Vikings like their women: strong and cheap!

http://www.gnc.com/Dynamic-Health-Tart-Cherry-Juice-Concentrate/product.jsp?productId=3993793

Holy !#%= that's $136 a gallon without tax... I wonder how many cherries they had to juice to make just 16 oz...

 

[Sudsyone]

I just back sweetened mine with dynamic health black cherry concentrate, can be found on amazon, and tastes pretty good, needs to age a bit though. Great deal right now as an add-on item, usually almost double this price
Dynamic Health Concentrate, Black Cherry, 16-Ounce by Dynamic Health http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QVDJ10/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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[Renoun]

Holy !#%= that's $136 a gallon without tax... I wonder how many cherries they had to juice to make just 16 oz...

I've been using quarts of organic store brand cherry juice from Kroger (available from QFC & Fred Meyer stores too) or Trader Joes blended in a few of my apple cider batches. If one is careful it is possible to find preservative free un-blended juice, finding cherry that isn't from concentrate is more challenging but possible. The juice is running $5-$7 per 32oz or $20-$28 per gallon. I've been adding three quarts in a 3gal. primary and topping with a fourth quart after i rack the first time.

 

[rocketsan]

Well I assume it's because the water molecules freeze and burst the skin of the fruit and make the sugar easier to ferment. Also should lower the chance of mold?
In other news why doesn't cherry concentrate exist? I demand cherry flavored everything!!

Google cherry lane concentrate. It's $20+ a bottle (think it's a 1litre bottle). Made for a great cherry oatmeal stout...


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[Belenus]

Sams Club house brand apple juice (from concentrate, only ascorbic acid added) 2-96oz bottles for less than $4. Use it all the time. I have also added 5lbs of Sams Club frozen black cherries (after simmering on the stove to pasteurize) to the secondary of a batch and they were good too.