First cider tips

[Whitevanman]

Hi all

Going to attempt and make a cider at home, done some reading on the forum but I suppose I'm just asking for any further information before I start..

Briefly, I'm aiming to make a blackcurrant and apple cider, similar to a famous sweedish brand (adventurous/stupid), with an abv of 6-8%.

To achieve this, I will be adding 1k sugar (white or brown I'm unsure?) to a mix of 4l blackcurrant squash (boiled to remove nasties) and 28l of 100% apple juice.

I will be adding pectolase, yeast, nutrient, maltic acid and tannin.

If anyone has any tips or advice (especially if they've done it before) I'd be grateful for any input.

Thanks

 

[Nicks90]

Don't use blackcurrant squash that's sugar free.
The artificial sweeteners will overpower your cider. Go for a full fat cordial / squash

After brewing, taste it before bottling. If it's too dry, back sweeten with sweetex etc.
Also I would hold off on the 1kg of sugar. Do all the ingredients and then check the gravity. For a 6-7% cider, I would shoot for about 1065 OG
What yeast are you intending to use? As that could dictate your final gravity and alcohol %
A cider yeast will smash it right up to 8%, a generic bland flavour beer yeast like S05 or gervin will probably finish around 6-7%

 

[Whitevanman]

Don't use blackcurrant squash that's sugar free.
The artificial sweeteners will overpower your cider. Go for a full fat cordial / squash

After brewing, taste it before bottling. If it's too dry, back sweeten with sweetex etc.
Also I would hold off on the 1kg of sugar. Do all the ingredients and then check the gravity. For a 6-7% cider, I would shoot for about 1065 OG
What yeast are you intending to use? As that could dictate your final gravity and alcohol %
A cider yeast will smash it right up to 8%, a generic bland flavour beer yeast like S05 or gervin will probably finish around 6-7%

Thanks Nick

I'm going to use Harris cider yeast.

This may sound like a stupid question but regading backsweetening.. I'm intending to use white sugar to carbonate the bottles, will this also act as a backsweetener?

Thanks in advance

 

[Nicks90]

No it won't. The remaining yeast will eat that small amount of sugar and produce CO2 making it fizzy.

 

[Frogbrew]

Replace the squash with polish lowitz blackcurrant syrup, no preservatives to remove and full of sugar.
I have a blackcurrant one on the go at the moment.
6ltr 100% aj
1 x 400ml lowitz blackcurrant
3 tbag tannin in 500ml water with 16 swseetener tabs (so one per 500ml bottle)
tsp citric
tsp pectolase
tsp yeast nutrient
pack cml cider yeast
topped up to 8ltr totals with water.

Just up the above amounts for a bigger batch like yours. This recipe makes a 5-6% ish cider which is fine for me, add sugar to the above for a higher abv.
Any questions about this just ask as i've done loads of ciders from juices.

 

[Whitevanman]

No it won't. The remaining yeast will eat that small amount of sugar and produce CO2 making it fizzy.

Okay thanks

Should I add a stabilizer before backsweetening?

Thanks

Replace the squash with polish lowitz blackcurrant syrup, no preservatives to remove and full of sugar.
I have a blackcurrant one on the go at the moment.
6ltr 100% aj
1 x 400ml lowitz blackcurrant
3 tbag tannin in 500ml water with 16 swseetener tabs (so one per 500ml bottle)
tsp citric
tsp pectolase
tsp yeast nutrient
pack cml cider yeast
topped up to 8ltr totals with water.

Just up the above amounts for a bigger batch like yours. This recipe makes a 5-6% ish cider which is fine for me, add sugar to the above for a higher abv.
Any questions about this just ask as i've done loads of ciders from juices.

Thank you for the tips!

Re the sweeteners, why would I add these to the FV as opposed to the bottles to backsweeten?

And would I scrap the maltic acid?

I'm not very clued up re backsweetening so I apologise if those are daft questions..

Do you find using brown or white sugar better (for taste) when adding it to initial FV?

Thanks

 

[Frogbrew]

Replace the squash with polish lowitz blackcurrant syrup, no preservatives to remove and full of sugar.
I have a blackcurrant one on the go at the moment.
6ltr 100% aj
1 x 400ml lowitz blackcurrant
3 tbag tannin in 500ml water with 16 swseetener tabs (so one per 500ml bottle)
tsp citric
tsp pectolase
tsp yeast nutrient
pack cml cider yeast
topped up to 8ltr totals with water.

Just up the above amounts for a bigger batch like yours. This recipe makes a 5-6% ish cider which is fine for me, add sugar to the above for a higher abv.
Any questions about this just ask as i've done loads of ciders from juices.

I'm just having a cheeky one of these after just 5 days carbonating and I must say its my best yet at this early stage. Get yourself some blackcurrant lowitz and give it a go.