Apple Juice Experiment

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MikeyDee

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I was in Asda at the weekend and saw a bargain that I couldn’t resist. 8 litre cartons of apple juice for just less than a fiver. So, I took them home And split them into two batches. Batch one was 4 litres of juice and some yeast. Batch two was the same only I added 500g of glucose and a cinnamon stick for a bit of flavour. Now looking forward to a taste test. The weird thing is that the one without glucose is bubbling away at about twice the rate of the sugared one. This is the opposite of what I thought would happen. Does anyone have any theories? Might the cinnamon be slowing things down? thanks in advance.
 
You tend to find that the initial stage of fermentation (when the yeast are building their colony) happens quicker in a lower S.G. If there's too much sugar it can inhibit fermentation altogether. I'm sure I've read somewhere that yeast don't like cinnamon and to add this at a later stage but in a small amount I'm sure it's fine, I've added it to TCs before without issue.
 
I did a similar experiment with 5 TCs years ago. I remember doing a plain one as a control and a honey one, spiced one (cinnamon and a clove) and a couple of others that won’t come to mind. The spiced one took ages! And I don’t think it ever hit the same FG as the plain one.
 
Hi. The results were quite impressive actually. I ended up with two really nice ciders, which was far better than I expected. I’m not a cider drinker to be fair, but I have friends who are, and they really enjoyed them. The pure Apple juice one was very light. Almost like a white wine whereas the cinnamon one was very slightly spiced, which was a surprise to me as the stick was floating in the fermenter for weeks. I’ve had a couple of glasses of this and thought it a nice change from the beers I usually do. However the cider drinkers happily finished it off a a even asked for another batch to be made. Im quite chuffed that I got such drinkable results from such simple and basic steps.
 
Heading to Asda after school for apple juice to make a small demijohn batch. Onlye me in the house, 5 litres is enough. How long did it ferment for?
 
I was in Asda at the weekend and saw a bargain that I couldn’t resist. 8 litre cartons of apple juice for just less than a fiver. So, I took them home And split them into two batches. Batch one was 4 litres of juice and some yeast. Batch two was the same only I added 500g of glucose and a cinnamon stick for a bit of flavour. Now looking forward to a taste test. The weird thing is that the one without glucose is bubbling away at about twice the rate of the sugared one. This is the opposite of what I thought would happen. Does anyone have any theories? Might the cinnamon be slowing things down? thanks in advance.


How expensive is apple juice in asda ? Tesco and Lidl work out £4.40 for 8 ltrs.
 
Heading to Asda after school for apple juice to make a small demijohn batch. Onlye me in the house, 5 litres is enough. How long did it ferment for?
Just checked my notes. It took just over 3 weeks to finish fermentation and settle down. But that was in the summer and out in the shed. You might want to adjust based on temperature. I used a heating belt when doing a batch of wine recently and it took two weeks all in.
 
Before I was able to get demijohns I used water bottles.
 

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So either this at 69p a litre or the four pack carton at £2.15 ish. Neither mention preservatives.... Not sure I believe it
 

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Found it - (no preservative)

Storage
Keep refrigerated. Once opened, keep refrigerated and consume within 4 days. Do not exceed the Best Before date.
For Best Before: see top of carton
 
Perfect guys. 4 litres in a demijohn, a shuggle of brewing sugar , a mug of strong black tea and US-05 yeast (I know z I know it's for beer.... I need to get organised!)
 
think my current favourite is 2L of apple and 1L of pineapple. doesn't clear because of the pineapple but i like the flavour it adds.
 
slightly off topic, got a crab apple tree which is more ornamental than anything else. It was loaded with small red apples that tasted ****. Anyway during lockdown took 5lb of fruit and made a gallon of wine, using a general purpose Gervin wine yeast ( with added red grape juice -its all I had) Tried it today it tastes glorious after only a couple of months storage. I freeze the fruit to help release the juice. Just hope it will fully clear now on its own.
 
I have a lot of old books on making apple wines and ciders they ALL recommend the inclusion of at least a few crab apples in the mix.
A bit of pectolase should sort out any clearing problems.
Best added at the start of fermentation as its slow acting at room temp,But if needs be can be added anytime.
 

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