$6 organic cider, already in carboy, whole foods

[KatoBaggins]

Ok, I bought 5 gallons at WF tonight of the organic stuff because SWMBO wanted it organic, even thought it was expensive at $8.99 a gallon. Also, because I wanted the 5 glass carboys for meade and other things I don't want to make a lot of. I figure the glass carboys are $3.99 at my local wine supply place so, I'm really only paying $5 a gallon for the juice. That makes the price more palatable. (pun intended)

I'm thinking of going with the wheat yeast I saw in another thread instead of the Red Star Montrachet. But I already have the Montrachet, and will have to order the wheat yeast. It will be a test of my patience to see if I can wait that long.

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Ah Joe, pretty sure they are talking about the organic juice that comes in 1 gallon glass containers. Not just any old filtered juice.

yeah thats right

I can get 3/4 gal at wal mart in plastic for $2...

 

[jaginger]

my grocery store has it $2 / gallon for the next week!

 

[JoeSponge]

I have to update... After racking to remove the latest dirt, I transported to my housemate's fridge, and boy, what a difference a day makes. I'm back to over an inch of spent yeast/apple moush, and the cider in top looks much more like a regular fluid. I'll pull it out and rack one more time to get that dirt out, and then let it sit.

Or possibly bottle and let it age, then I'll have an empty gallon jug for a next batch.

 

[Nomadic_Joel]

Grr US prices are SO cheap!

 

[JoeSponge]

Yes, we are lucky sometimes.

With people in such a dither about "the economy", stores are doing some peculiar things... our local grocery had a "10 for $10" sale on 1/2 gallons of apple juice. I was all ready to stock up until I started examining the bottles... "Manufactured in Wincester, VA" -- fine, I've been through Wincester. "from concentrate from China". I put everything back on the shelf, on principle. I just can't put more money into a country that would like us dead (or red), and as many times as America has been poisoned from Chinese products, I can't see why anybody would buy if they knew the country of origin. I'll pay the higher prices. I have to wonder if anything we buy here isn't tainted in some way from China...

To try to get back on topic some small way... @Kato... I made some fortified cider w/ the Montrachet. It's kicks butt.

 

[Nomadic_Joel]

Its not luck......state choices. We choose free health care, free child care, and other social programs for high taxes. Our food prices are more expensive because of the taxes for our "evil socialist" system.

Our entire way of life is unfortunately based on both cheap transport and cheap trade....im pretty sure your carboy, hydrometer, tubes, and much more were made in China....Anyways...after working in Bolivia, India, and China..and seeing some real poverty...I should not be complaining of high apple juice prices.

To get back on topic...we have some food cooperatives here in Vancouver which once your member...you get everything at pure cost...so I wonder what the prices are like for their apple juice...honey...dextrose..

 

[jaginger]

i love the free market

 

[Shooter]

SWMBO just picked up three of these jars of cider at Whole Foods for me!!! I bought a three gallon carboy and already have a 2.5 gallon batch of cider, my first ever, going strong. Once it's done I'm going to use the new juice for batch number two and am actually thinking of doing a couple of one gallon batches of mead, one dry one semi-sweet, and keeping the third bottle for secondary transfer purposes.

 

[jdwest32]

I need some advice. I just bought 5 gal of the cider at whole foods so now what do i do with it? i would like to have it semisweet and carbonated but don't know how to do that without having exploding bottles. i like the sweetness of ace pear for example.

This will be my first attempt at cider.

 

[KatoBaggins]

I don't know what ace pear tastes like, but I liked the sound of the Wyeast 3068 yeast that was used in this post. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/better-than-apfelwein-29003/ so that what I'm planning to do. I have mine in the primary tonight soaking with some campden and some peptic enzyme. Tomorrow I'll pitch the 3068.

 

[jdwest32]

i just tried some Samuel Smiths Organic. it is dry and very good. i would not mind having it that dry at all.

 

[MacBruver]

I just found a similar deal at a whole foods type market near me... $6.50 for organic apple juice, in carboy I bought two, and some corn sugar. One has just corn sugar- about a cup, and the other has an 8oz bottle of cherry juice concentrate.

The juice alone tested at 1.050 SG, and the bottle with the cherry juice in it came out at 1.060 on the nose. The one with corn sugar is a little higher, maybe 1.065... i tested it before I added all the sugar so I'm not quite sure.

I just used a packet of Munton's dry yeast I had laying around... we'll see what it does. The cherry concentrate didn't really add that much direct cherry flavor, but it does have more body than the plain one.

I just popped a bottle of this and it is excellent!! Both have been in bottles carbing for a week now and I am drinking the plain cider. It's perfectly carbonated, just a touch of residual sweetness, and very very tasty. I put a bit of lactose in for the sweetness and it worked out quite well. I am kicking myself for only making a gallon of each! It's time to step it up here...

 

[JoeSponge]

Well, I couldn't stand waiting, and I opened one of my WH bottles. In a word, "yech". Interesting smell, kind of like butterscotch -- which isn't a good thing in anything I've read, and beer. FG 1.018 -- but no sweetness in taste. Taste is a bit yeasty but not quite beery, a little sour. Cider is still very cloudy, but clearer than it had been before all the non-sense. I have to wonder if they heat pasturized it, and got it too hot.

For the record:

Whole Foods Organic Apple Juice
Nottingham Yeast
Dates:
01/29/09 Started
03/16/09 Racked to new container
03/31/09 Cold crashed to see if yeast would drop
04/01/09 Bottled, jokes on me.

I'll let it sit a while, but this was not my finest hour. Oh well, live and learn, if we're lucky.

Next week, I will start some Kedem Apple Juice on Safale S04.

How did anybody else's WH OAJ cider turn out?

 

[MacBruver]

That is weird- 1.018 is way high. It should have finished much lower than that, less than 1.010 for sure... seems like something might have happened with your fermentation. What was the OG?

In order to get mine to completely clear, I used both pectic enzyme (about 1/4 tsp) which cleared it up a lot, and then gelatin (1 tsp, dissolved in 1/2c cold water, brought up to 180f and chilled). The gelatin was amazing- it got it to be crystal clear. The taste didn't perceptibly change from either one, it's purely an aesthetic thing.

 

[chirs]

MacBruver, are those measurements for pectic enzyme and gelatin for a 5g batch?
I just bought 5 gallons of the whole foods AJ ($6.99 here). I'm thinking of returning 2 gallons and subbing for the something filtered...and cheaper (similar to what Edwort uses). I think that awesome unfiltered apple taste will still be dominant if its 3/5 of the mix...and it will be a bit clearer.

 

[MacBruver]

No, those measurements were for 1 gallon. The pectic enzyme comes with directions on it... as for the gelatin, a whole packet works perfectly for 5 gallons... that's what I've been using for my beer.

 

[chirs]

Can the pectic enzyme be used after fermentation is complete?

 

[jcobbs]

The LHBS here gets $5 each for 1-gallon carboys, so basically you're buying a glass gallon jug and getting a gallon of good apple juice for $1. Can't beat that juice price at Wal-Mart.