So I made a Cider / Cider and Raspberry brew today..... Just a few questions

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

PapaM

New Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
6
Reaction score
3
Location
Belfast
So I went to the local supermarket and bought 5 litres of Organic Sainsburys Apple juice..... 3x (1.35l) bottle of Innocent Apple Juice and 3x (1.35l) bottles of Apple and Raspberry Juice.

I went ahead with everything and decided to ask questions later.... (I was too keen to get it started!!! and I have made Cider from juice in the past with success)

A few questions I am hoping some people can answer for me

The innocent Juice had no added preservatives or additives and is 100% fruit so I was confident and just added yeast to it gave it a shake after 15 minutes and let it be.

I was originally planning on making one batch of just the Apple Juice and then another batch of Apple& Raspberry but changed my mind last minute and put 2 bottles of Apple Juice and 2 bottles of Apple & Raspberry Juice into a demijon and put in about half a packet of Youngs Cider Yeast

So some questions....

Yeast
Is it okay to put more yeast in than normal? I had 5 grams of Cider yeast and put about half the packet (if not more) into the demijon because I had no scales.... Will this affect the taste (or anything else) putting more than the normal amount of yeast in?

I have never used it before but I did see some people use Yeast Nutrient in thier brews.... Is this essential / a preference on taste or reliability of the brew? I didnt have any and never used it in past brews and they turned out okay.


Adding Sugar to the Brew
So I know alot of people just use regular sugar but I only had brown Caster Sugar for the Sainsburys Organic apple batch so threw in a cup just to make a cider with more of a kick. Apart from taste has anyone had any experiences or preferences to the sugar they use for Cider?


Not seeing much activity on any of the brews apart from the Apple & Raspeberry brew so stuck on a heat belt that will hopefully give it a kick start

(Sainsburys Organic Demijon not pictured.... I had some juice left over so just made some separate brews in the chance they turn out tastier...

20151019_150538.jpg


20151019_154950.jpg
 
hello mate

My tuppenceworth on your questions.... :-P

Yeast
don't think it should be much of an issue putting in more than required. when I'm making (25L) wine, I have used a 5g Gervin sachet, and also 5 heaped teaspoons of Youngs super wine compound. Both have turned out fine (the same) so far

Nutrient
I bought it once and used it a few times with WOW's, but never with cider. I don't tend to bother with it now. Won't do any harm if you have it I suppose

Sugar
I have tried the proper brewing sugar as well as whatever granulated sugar is cheapest at the shops and not noticed any difference in taste/outcome, so always just use white granulated now.

when I've made cider from just apple juice cartons (sugar content on pack, 11g per 100ml), gives a SG reading of 1.045 (or about 5.9% ABV when it ferments donw to 1.000). See what the sugar content is on your juices plus the sugar you added for a ball park ABV, should have a nice kick indeed !

Let us know how it goes !

ps. nice George Clooney mug hehe
 
Thanks for that. My issue is now is that I have went to work away on a project in England and I have left the brew in a cupboard doing nothing!! By the time I am back it will have been in the cupboard for two weeks!!

Will this have a negative impact on the brew?

Cheers
 

Latest posts

Back
Top