Alphonso Mango Cider

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Beanhead

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I love my exotic fruits and its a shame you can only get quality fruit at certain periods of the year. Alphonso mangoes are the orange mangoes from the sub-continent, however, are very sweet, rich and extremely yummy, but need to be eaten quickly;

Alphonso is a seasonal mango cultivation that is considered as one of the best in terms of sweetness, richness and flavor.[3] It has considerable shelf life of a week after it is ripe making it exportable. It is also one of the most expensive kinds of mango and is grown mainly in western India. It is a seasonal fruit with each mango weighing between 150g and 300g each. This variety of mango has a very short season of about two months from the end of March till end May when the monsoon sets in the Konkan Region.

I've grown up eating these so for me it was only natural I decided to brew with it!

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My recipe is as follows;

4 Large Alphonso Mangoes
4 Ltr of Pressed (Not From Concentrate) Apple Juice
Strong Tea
Pectolase
Yeast Nutrient
2 Teaspoons of sugar for Yeast only
Good Quality Yeast (I used a half sachet Lalvin Champagne Yeast)

OK, firstly, the Mango itself is very high in natural sugar and adding the apple juice will only add more sugar, you should not need to add any additional sugar for this recipe.

Wash your mangoes and gently massage them with the skin on, this will make the sieving process easier and its also very therapeutic, lol. Don't massage too hard otherwise it WILL pop through the skin and squirt everywhere (when I was younger I found this out the hard way). Once massaged, slice open and sieve the pulp into a bowl. It might be worth mentioning that I sliced open on a rimmed flat plat as it meant any juice which escaped could be used later. Four large mangoes should be plenty and it may be advisable to use as much as necessary for your brew; here's how much my mangoes produced;

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Once you have your pulp ready, make your strong tea and leave the sugar, yeast nutrient and yeast in a sealed bowl or container to start. I'm assuming you have sterilised your DJ and equipment. I started to add the apple juice slowly to the pulp, as the pulp will be very viscous and just makes it easier to get it quickly through your funnel into your DJ. I also used the bowl to add my apple juice making sure I had every bit of mango into the DJ. Add the tea and the pectolase and give everything in the DJ a good shake. I took a reading prior to adding the yeast and here's what I got;

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And here's the finished article!

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It should be worth mentioning that brewing with mango leaves a very strong taste which follows through to the post ferment brew so again, if you don't like it strong, vary accordingly; it should also be worth mentioning that the mango is very high in natural sugars and can lead to a violent brew so leave enough head space according to how much you brew.

Will keep this updated and I hope this is helpful to anyone else brewing.
 
Looks good. I love Alphonso Mangos, they also make a damn good wine
 
Within 2 hours this had gone off like a rocket, looked like even pre-empting the head room wasn't enough.

I ended up taking a good few scoops out prior to going to sleep as I was worried it would come out the airlock.

Will up some pictures later.
 
Hahaha, I was about to say it looks like you didn't leave anywhere near enough headroom, especially for such a pulpy brew :lol:
 
Haha, I thought I did, but you live and your learn, luckily I made sure I removed a few hearty scoops last night which meant I didn't pay for it today.

How it looks today (can see the juice and pulp start to separate now);

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Lack of headroom!

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I've decided I am making this one this weekend!

Really excited to see how this keeps going

:cheers:
 
My local market, most traders won't have it but a few should. If not, try an Asian grocer, most places should have them stacked high as its the perfect time of the season.

IF, you still can't source it, most supermarkets in their international isles should have the tinned stuff (just be aware it contains citric acid). I know my Tesco defo has it, was close to buying it before I finally found a market trader who had some pukka quality ones.
 
I've found an Indian grocer who sells them in Middlesbrough (not far from me)

I'm going to start this recipe this weekend and the Alphonso Mango wine one also

:drunk:
 
Glad you found some, had a ganders this weekend and looks like the seasons at an end, last few remaining everywhere I've been.

Kesar mangoes still in abundance as an alternative.
 
Wow thats worrying, I can't get down there until Friday!

Hopefully I will get some and manage to start a wine and a cider this weekend
 
Eeeeeeek mine is on the go, having to stop myself from running upstairs to see if its kicked off yet its only been half an hour!!!
 
Nothing crazy has happened since last night.....just the odd bubble this afternoon

I wonder if I have done something wrong
 
If you were using Young's all purpose yeast, did you rehydrate it first? If not, it will simply take a little more time for the yeast to get going.
 
Thanks for replying! :thumb:

I think it is youngs I am using, I didn't realise I had to rehydrate it first eeeek! I just popped a teaspoon full in.

There was the odd bubble starting hopefully when I get home from work tonight there will be some more action going on
 
As Tim says might just take a while longer.

I'd advise for next time in a cup or conical flask you add 2/3 tsp of sugar, yeast nutrient and your yeast with tepid water. Seal with foil or cling film and this will hydrate and start your yeast.

Add to your brew and watch it go off!
 
It still hasn't taken off, it's in my old airing cupboard and am worrying its too cold or maybe unhappy in there? Shall I just remain patient?
 
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