A couple if silly questions.

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

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

islaybrew

Active Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Messages
89
Reaction score
11
Location
NULL
so to start of I gave been looking at alot if the WOW recipes and they look good but my first question is does it need to be organic stuff? or can you use (just for example)the likes of ocean spray cranberry?

my second question is-my first DJ of cider has just finished fermenting at 1.005, I had a taste of the sample I took and boy is it harsh and very bitter, can i sweeten it before bottling? i'm assuming it mellows with time in secondary fermentation as well though.

and third and final how long can you leave it bottles for?

sorry for all the questions!
 
Am a novice but I could hazard a guess [emoji58]

1) no from what I've read and asked there's no need to be organic

2) you could put 1,2,or 3 spoonfuls of candarel in to sweeting it up as it can't be fermented

3) I can't answer but doubt your cider will last too long

[emoji23] am sure someone more knowledgable will follow up on mine [emoji111]🏼️
 
1. Yer doesn't need to be organic, but do make sure any juice you use doesn't contain preservatives, these will inhibit/kill the yeast and prevent fermentation. Also bear in mind the fruit juice content of the juice, eg some are 100% juice (eg Asda red grape juice) others like the ocean spray cranberry are only 24% cranberry juice, so mostly water

I find that TC's do taste pretty sharp before they're conditioned but do settle down a bit, a bit of artificial sweetener might help if you are up for using these

I've not stored any for longer than 6 months so can't vouch for how long it can be stored for
 
thanks guys, that settles it then I will have to try some WOW!

Very useful info from both of you, maybe next time I will add some shop bought desert apples and see if that helps too, I will probably add some sweetener when bottling.

no chance of them sitting for 6 months in the bottles, I doubt it they will make it pasted Christmas haha.
 
Another tip - don't worry about using from concentrate or not from concentrate juices, i have used both and cannot say i noticed any difference.
 
How do you know if the juice has preservatives?

I was looking to use some pure pressed apple and raspberry juice from tesco. It says it's pasteurised, but I can't see anything else?

1ltr also contains 100g of sugar, so should I reduce the sugar I add by this amount?
 
tucker1 said:
How do you know if the juice has preservatives?

I was looking to use some pure pressed apple and raspberry juice from tesco. It says it's pasteurised, but I can't see anything else?

1ltr also contains 100g of sugar, so should I reduce the sugar I add by this amount?
Click to expand...
just look at the ingredients 😃
 
and as for adding sugar i'm no expert but would you not just be going off your SG reading anyway?
 
tucker1 said:
How do you know if the juice has preservatives?
Click to expand...

This is Ribena -

Ingredients

Water , Sugar , Blackcurrant Juice from Concentrate (23%) , Acid (Citric Acid) , Vitamin C , Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Bisulphite) , Colour (Anthocyanins) .

I was looking to use some pure pressed apple and raspberry juice from tesco. It says it's pasteurised, but I can't see anything else?
Click to expand...

If it doesn't list preservative it'll be fine.

1ltr also contains 100g of sugar, so should I reduce the sugar I add by this amount?
Click to expand...

If you aim for a total sugar content (including the juice) of 1100g you'll end up with roughly 13%
 
If it is pasteurised then it won't keep for long, just like milk. I had a carton of orange juice which once opened, started fermenting in the fridge after 5 days.
 
tonyhibbett said:
If it is pasteurised then it won't keep for long, just like milk. I had a carton of orange juice which once opened, started fermenting in the fridge after 5 days.
Click to expand...

So would you not recommend putting this juice in at primary if at all?

I thought with it fermenting anyway it might be OK?
 
tonyhibbett said:
If it is pasteurised then it won't keep for long, just like milk. I had a carton of orange juice which once opened, started fermenting in the fridge after 5 days.
Click to expand...

I am slightly confused now by the safety of using pasteurised juice in the fermentation process.

I have been looking at most of the 100% juices and it seems that where preservatives are not used, it's because they have been pasteurised. This seems to be the case also for the Tesco Everyday 100% apple juice that many seem to use for brewing?

The Innocent pure juices are all marked lightly pasteurised.
 
Whether its 100% juice, or from concentrate, or pasteurised it is ok as long as there are no preservatives like potassium sorbate to stop the fermentation.
 

Similar threads

Victor Churchill
Dumb iSpindel Question(s)
Replies
8
Views
197
RoomWithABrew
RoomWithABrew
Froggie Simon
There is nothing like a silly question, or so they say!
Replies
15
Views
740
Froggie Simon
Froggie Simon
Keruso
Keg or bottle my 1st Stout
Replies
11
Views
371
The-Engineer-That-Brews
The-Engineer-That-Brews
evil.soup
Planning my first cider, have i got this right?
Replies
4
Views
1K
MattH1973
MattH1973
old dog new tricks
New Member
Replies
8
Views
286
old dog new tricks
old dog new tricks

Latest posts

Back
Top