New to cider brewing

[Angus MacDonald]

Hey folks.

I'm fairly new to home brewing, in fact I'm supping on my first homebrew of ale as I type this. I'm interested in making some cider next and I'm wondering, how much apple juice would you recommend for a 25L capacity fermenting tub?

Obviously filling the tub with 25L of apple juice would get expensive so I figured mixing water with the apple juice, hence the question.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Do not add water to the apple juice.

Generally there's not much foaming with cider in my experience, so you don't need much room at the top (headspace).

 

[Angus MacDonald]

Hmm ok. Thankfully there's a Lidl's just down the road so getting enough apple juice should be ok. About 89p per 2L carton. It's just a pain to carry all 330 feet back up the hill. Pain when you don't drive really. Thanks for the answer.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hiya Angus MacDonald from Inverness - and welcome.

Yeah - You don't dilute apple juice for cider. In fact - in my opinion, you don't dilute any juice for wine making. Fruit ain't grain and wine ain't beer. Water is a key ingredient in brewing but fruit is the key ingredient in wine making. There is an exception and that is when making mead: you need to dilute the honey with water but that is only because there is so little moisture in honey that it cannot spontaneously ferment and in fact it would suck out any moisture from yeast cells (and other microbes) which is what makes honey a good bactericide.
Good luck with your cider making. Oh - and one possible solution to your problem of carting so much apple juice is to make the cider in smaller batches. There is in fact no law in Britain (or the US) that says wines and beers MUST be made in 26 L (5 or 6 gallon) batches. One gallon batches are OK too - and if the apple juice comes in a 1 gallon (4 L) bottle then you have the carboy as a free gift (though better if the carboy is glass rather than plastic - as the plastic may not be designed to be stable when filled with alcohol and liquids with a pH of about 3.5)...

 

[madscientist451]

If you are just starting out, get a glass jug and make a 4L batch.
Cider almost makes itself. Dump the juice in, toss in a pack of yeast, fit an airlock and put it in a cool spot till its done. I like Ciderhouse select yeast, but there are many different types that work fine, see what your local homebrew shop has to offer.
While its fermenting, check around your local area and see if you can get any local juice when the season comes along in about 4 months. With a little hunting around, you'll be able to get way better juice than what you can get at the supermarket.

 

[ebbelwoi]

How often do you go to Lidl? You could start fermentation with, say, 8 liters, then add more juice the next day or so, while it's still in primary fermentation.

 

[Angus MacDonald]

I could pop along every day to Lidl but usually I just go once or twice a month. I wasn't joking about the hill Thanks for all the advice, though unfortunately I don't know of any local orchards and there isn't a local home brew shop. Will have to see if anyone has any crab apple trees in their garden that they don't use the apples for or something at work.