My First Cider

[Nash]

Hi. I am trying the different cider kits for now. Bottled my first batch a couple days ago. Am doing 5 gallons of each kit instead of 6. OG 1.052. FG 1.004. Brewers Best Cider House Mango Peach. Tasted good flat and warm. It should taste even better cold and carbonated.

Currently in fermentation is an ABC craft mixed berries. Then a Mangrove Jack's strawberry pear. Trying different namebrands. Making a batch every weekend for about two months. Want to have alot in stock come summer time.

 

[Rish]

You can make good to great ciders using store bought apple juice which will be much cheaper than kits. Look here for recipe ideas: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/cider-recipes.81/
You can add teas, spices, other juices or purees to make a variety of ciders that appeal to your taste. Good luck!

 

[fluketamer]

what rish said.

i tried the mangrove jack cider kit and ended up dumping it. it had artificial sweetener i think xylitol and artificial blueberry flavor. it also had glucose syrup solids iirc. none of those things are needed to make great flavored cider.

two gallons of motts with 1 liter of fruit juice (add lemon juice yeast nutrient and a cup of strong black tea) fermented dry with almost any yeast makes great cider that can be backsweetened to your taste. i usualy backsweeten with the same fruit juice i added in the fv.

 

[Nash]

You can make good to great ciders using store bought apple juice which will be much cheaper than kits. Look here for recipe ideas: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/cider-recipes.81/
You can add teas, spices, other juices or purees to make a variety of ciders that appeal to your taste. Good luck!

Thank you.

 

[Chalkyt]

ditto what fluketamer said.

The lemon (or lime) juice will add some acidity to the usually somewhat bland storebought juice. The black tea will add tannin (dryness). You can use malic acid or tannin powder as alternatives. I suggest you use the search function at the top to search for Graham's English Cider (Freezeblade 6 March 2009) to get a good starting point for an easy cider that uses limes and tea. If you use this as your benchmark, then if you add flavours, spices etc you can gauge their effect.

 

[Knightshade]

I’ve got one that is carbonating right now made with juice. 4G of Treehouse AJ (I think that’s right, whatever is at Costco), 1G of Mango Nectar, 5 cups brown sugar, pectin enzyme and US-05. Pitched that into another…80’ish ounces of Mango nectar.

Initial results from a couple tasters have been