Rip off?

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It's a matter of personal taste. I have paid good money for rubbish cider and I have also paid good money for excellent cider but, I've always paid less money for bad cider.

Unlike beer kits, cider requires a little more knowledge to brew well, such as which yeast, which & how much artificial sweetener to use, whether to use Amylase and/or Pectinase with extra fruit, and whether to control acidity with precipitated chalk or additional acids etc? I have a garden full of soft fruit so adding additional fruit and chemicals to cider & beer has become quite regular for me.

Ultimately the final quality of cider depends upon the quality and sweetness of the apple concentrate used, I usually throw away the supplied yeast/nutrient/sweetener sachet and use my own; this way I can achieve the exact sweetness I crave. I also use Lalvin EC-1118 yeast to limit the bad egg emissions to keep the Mrs happy.

If I had to choose one range of cider kits that gets their concentrate right it would be the Youngs range of cider, it's probably the perfect balance of acidity & flavour for most people, however it is a little too sweet for my preferred acid palette.

No beer or cider is ever a waste, its just a learning experience.
 
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I'd say brewing decent beer,from scratch, does take a little time and effort...

Sorry, I was referring to beer kits. Brewing an AG brew for example will obviously be much more demanding, and to be honest way beyond my basic abilities or time/child constraints.

We have an autistic son who just loves opening taps and watching fluids flow, not good when there's 40 pints of sticky IPA or Cider behind the tap!
 
I've done 3 ciders in the last 2 years. First one a friend gave me a 23 ltr bucket filled with Apples. Juiced them etc and the cider was disappointing.
Next one was TC made from 5 ltrs Co op 100% Apple juice. Loved it and builders working on the house loved it too sitting having their lunch.
3 rd batch also TC Mango 12% Apple 88%. Threw loads of Lees and only ended up with about 4 ltrs. Loved it too and gave some to my fishing buddy who then wanted me to make him 20 gallons lol... making him 1 gallon this summer. TCs are the way to go and you can experiment. Sorry never done a Cider kit.
 
Hi all

I've recently bought a bulldog perfect cider kit for around £20, but after receiving bit disappointing as it's basically apple juice with a sachet of cider yeast and sweetener? Obviously I should have looked more into it appreciate its probably quality apple juice but still cant help feel robbed. I guess my question is if I was to have bought 5ltrs bog standard apple juice from the supermarket and cider yeast online for few £ could of saved myself best part of £15?

Cheers in advance if any replies?

I think you'll find that the cider kits contain actual flavourings too.

I brewed one of the bulldog flavoured cider kits a few months ago and it definitely contained synthetic flavourings. Tasted great though.

I now have a range of natural and concentrated flavourings that I add to my own ciders from juice. Usually 1-2ml of flavouring is enough for an entire 23l batch!

Making a batch of blackberry cider is now as simple as 10l apple juice. A little purple food colouring and 2ml of blackberry flavouring.
 
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