Looking for feedback on a new cider product

[willyg243]

Hello,

I am doing a little market research before I move forward on introducing a new product to the U.S. Homebrew market. I am planning on releasing an apple cider concentrate that can be used for making hard ciders. The advantage being that it is consistent, available year round, and can be stored for up to a year.

Before I go nuts and start running production I was hoping to get a little feedback from the market. Please let me know what you think of the idea or fill out this survey, so I have some hard data to work off of. Thank you for your help.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TMFSG9M



-Will

 

[JRems]

How is it going to be different than other hard cider concentrates? I saw awhile back mr beer had one. How is it different then the frozen concentate available at grocery stores? Is the extract going to be made from cider apples or just regular apples? Also what would be the price for enough extract to make a 1.060 5 gallon batch?

 

[Jon_TWR]

I took the survey, but with apple juice available at the store year round making a good cider, and orchard fresh pressed uice availible all fall and much of the winter, this'd have to have a significant price or taste advantage over one or the other for me to purchase it more than once.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

A really interesting idea.

Most apple juices including frozen have been filtered, which can remove much of the tannins, polyphenols etc ... you’d have to not filter so finely as to do that.

Most apple juices are pasteurized ... including the frozen ones. This is to kill bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella. Though not the worst thing in the world, on the other hand, heat pasteurizing is ideally avoided, at least pre-ferment, by many cidermakers. Flash pasteurizing may be a necessary evil though.

Consider the label required by the FDA for all but by-the-glass sales at roadside stands and cider mills ...
“WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.”

Most apple juices ... certainly all bottled but possibly (?) frozen as well go through a process to remove pectin. This is to avoid pectin haze developing while the product is on the shelf. Pectin, on the other hand, is what is utilized in keeving ... a process of removing nutrients to cause cider to stop fermenting (i.e. die) on it’s own and finish just slightly sweet. Miscellaneous Frenchmen and Brits and various die-hard cidermakers may want a cider with the pectin left in.

Otherwise IF the juice was competitive cost-wise ... it might be a saleable product at Brewers/Vintners supply houses that are willing to dedicate the freezer space to it ... uh, if they have freezers. (I'm assuming your product is frozen, otherwise you would need sulfites - which are not such a problem for some yeasts - and possibly sorbate - which is a big problem ... to keep the product unoxidized and unfermented.)

I think the product would require a real thorough and well-thought-out market study.
The first thing I'd do is check with my retailers to see if they have the freezer space ... are you willing to include a small, energy efficient freezer display with your product?