What apple juice to use

[john2708]

I live in the uk what apple juice should I be buying to make a hard apple cider. Is it from concentrate or not and what's the best brand?

 

[LeBreton]

I'd look for some local cider producers and see if they'll sell you some of their raw juice. The best cider comes from cider specific apple varieties which are different from what you can buy in the supermarket.

 

[CRock303]

What LeBreton said. You in the UK you can probably find a proper cider apple juice much easier than we can here in the states. If you are set on using store bought juice get the not from concentrate juice that has the least ammount of preservatives in it, vitamin C is ok.

 

[sapsuckerfarms]

If you were here in Minnesota I would suggest our cider. We press specifically for hard cider brewers but have been too busy to brew our own. This year we will try our own.

 

[LeBreton]

If you were here in Minnesota I would suggest our cider. We press specifically for hard cider brewers but have been too busy to brew our own. This year we will try our own.

What do you mean by 'specifically for hard cider'? Is it a specific blend of quality cider varieties or is it just unpasteurized cider made from common apples?

 

[sapsuckerfarms]

What are the apple varieties? I agree, that's an important question. We blend with an assortment of varieties. Each batch we test blend and balance before it goes out the door. I won't tell you all the varieties but suffice it to say our fresh (unfermented) cider was used by the first place and third place hard cider winners at the MN State fair 2012. We are very proud of that.

 

[LeBreton]

What are the apple varieties? I agree, that's an important question. We blend with an assortment of varieties. Each batch we test blend and balance before it goes out the door. I won't tell you all the varieties but suffice it to say our fresh (unfermented) cider was used by the first place and third place hard cider winners at the MN State fair 2012. We are very proud of that.

I guess I'm asking whether it's common/dessert apples (McIntosh, Honeycrisp etc.) or traditional bitter and bittersharp cider apples (Dabbinett, Brown Snout etc.) or even a combination of sweet and sharp apples. I know orchard management is seriously hard work and am just curious since I know a few places around here market "hard cider' blends which is just an unpasteurized version of their regular brown juice . . . aka not a hard cider blend at all.

 

[RobertRGeorge]

I blend as follows, approximately this proportion of North American varieties if or when I can get them:

40-60% base (gala, delicious, honeycrisp, spartan)
20-30% tart (jonathan, granny smith, cox orange pippen)
20-30% aromatic (gravenstein, mcintosh, winter banana, winesap)
5-10% astringent (dolgo crab, red astrakhan, lindel)