Where do ya'll buy your cider?

[peek]

New to the forum, I currently have one batch of beer fermenting right now and really want to try some cider out.

Now..where do ya'll buy your cider? I live in tallahassee, florida..Going to be asking our homebrew shop in town if they have any ideas. In the meantime can the cider from a grocery store be used?
As long as there are no preservatives in it, the cider can be used right? Thanks!

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Hey welcome to the forum...lots of good folks/info here

As far as juice...I got to sams...

Sure you can use real cider and it'd probubly rock but LOTS of folks have just use regular old apple juice and made a tasty cider...

Check out the 'Man, I Love Apfelwien' Thread for an idea on how many people...

Enjoy

 

[mgayer]

I just use juice as it is much easier to come by in spring and summer months. The big difference is that the "Cider" you get is pressed apples unfiltered, Apple juices or concentrate is filtered. The apple juice ciders clear very easy and don't have a ton of lees on the bottom.

Sam's Club, Walmart, Costco will usually have gallon jugs of the cider between now and Thanksgiving. Welcome to the forum!

 

[Adolphus79]

I get my apple JUICE from my local food mart. I talked with the owner, and get a really good deal for buying in bulk ($1.50/gallon for 10 gallons of Surefine 100% Apple Juice).

For my CIDER, I use my own apples. But you could try local school farms or FFA programs, or check the classified ads/phone book/internet for local orchards. Worst case scenario, wait til harvest time (right around now), and look in the grocery store in the fresh produce section.

 

[david_42]

I buy from local stands in season. I suspect Florida is too warm for most apple varieties. Out of season, I use store juice or even concentrate (usual warning about preservatives). Concentrate is also a good way to back-sweeten a dry batch.

[Some day, I'll get to my apples before the deer and elk.]

 

[kram]

just made my first batch of cider the other day. I'm a beer brewer by preference, but swmbo doesn't like beer and I'm trying to initiate her into the hobby with a batch of cider.

around here it's apple harvesting time, so we picked up a bunch of locally pressed cider (along with some local honey) and away we go.

In FL, i'd suggest just getting some juice and going for it (no preservatives, etc), cider might be difficult to come by.

 

[OdinOneEye]

If you have any orchards in the area, hit them up. If there are any natural food stores, Whole Foods should have some cider that doesn't have any preservatives in it.

 

[mrk305]

Kroger apple juice for me. Bottle primed with honey.

 

[jo7hs2]

If you use a live yeast cake from another fermentation you might be able to use cider with preservatives, I'm currently fermenting such a batch, and it has gone fine so far. Very active. It will be a few months before I have an idea how well it came out, but it DID ferment.

I've been able to find preservative-free cider in some stores here on occasion, but only in season. Whole Foods (which I see there isn't one near Tallahassee) had it recently, and I've seen occasional bottles in the fridge at Bruno's, I think.

You may be able to find a local orchard or farmstand that carries it. The only thing I can bring up right now is nearly 2 hours away in Lake City (Mary Perry, http://www.allaboutapples.com/orchard/fl.htm) which is probably too far.

Of course, normal apple juice works fine, although I PERSONALLY find it isn't drinkable (taste-wise) for a little longer than sweet cider based brews, probably because it has a softer taste that is easily masked by the fermentation byproducts. Both will produce an excellent cider.

 

[simplecj]

Real fresh cider is seasonal.. I just asked around the grocery stores and they said they expected to see some around Halloween. You can also find the phone number for your local apple orchard and ask them if and when they will be making some and get it directly from them...

I'm opting out for organic apple juice with only ascorbic acid added and maybe juicing some fresh apples to add to it....

 

[JavaBeans]

I've done one Apfelwein so far, and I will be getting 2 carboys of fresh cider from an orchard in October. I'll let you know which I liked better next year.

I will tell you that the Apfelwein sat for 2 months before I started drinking it. 4 gallons went REALLY quick (within 2 weeks, and I drank it all myself) and I am savint the final gallon for Thanksgiving.