Help making a Mandarin and Lime Cider, with hazlenuts.

[LittleBen]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty new to brewing but I've been wanting to do it for ages and finally got around to starting the other week.

I'm currently fermenting a batch of 'from a can' apple cider.

But, for my next batch, I want to make a mandarin and lime cider.

I was thinking I'd mix up 23 liters of mandarin and lime juice then add a kilo of dextrose and some yeast.

My questions are;

1. Dose this sound like it will work?
2. I like a sweet, rather than dry, cider. Which yeast should I use? The guy at the homebrew shop gave me an ale yeast to use in my first one as its less aggressive and will leave more sugar in the brew, hence, giving a sweeter cider.
3. How could I get a little hint of hazelnuts in there? Should I use an essence or actual hazelnuts?

Any help on this would be massively appreciated. Also, I'm pretty green so try to go easy on me

Thanks heaps guys

 

[ajbram]

Simply, NO.

Citrus tends not to ferment very well. You can add it in secondary to get some flavours that you like, but it doesn't ferment well.

 

[LittleBen]

Cool, thanks man.
So I should ferment the mandarin then add the lime before I bottle it? Will the lime be a problem if I'm putting in carbonation drops?

Thanks again

 

[GinKings]

Mandarin and lime are both citrus fruits.

 

[ajbram]

I'd stay away from mandarin... Either make a mead or a cyser and add the mandarin and lime in the secondary... look up the recipe for JAOM and modify from there.

 

[smh]

So I was just poking around the recipe database and found the following recipe for Hard Lemonade: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/hard-lemonade-126630/

Now, lemon is also a citrus fruit, and if you can get this to ferment, them I'm sure you can also get Mandarin/Lime.

My guess is that you'll need to make everything perfect if citrus is as hard to ferment as everyone says. WHY is that, anyway?

As a beginner you may want to perfect the simpler recipes. If you want to go for this, I would probably try a smaller batch than 23L; that's a lot to ruin. Just try in a 4L "milk" jug with an airlock. That's how I do my tests with different ciders.

 

[GinKings]

LittleBen just started brewing "the other week". I would suggest getting experience with something simpler and save the citrus project for another time.

 

[LittleBen]

Thanks for the replies Yeah, I'm quite new to brewing but keen to experiment. I think I might get a 3 or 4 liter container and just give it a shot and see what happens. I'll document it and let you guys know how it goes thanks heaps guys