Your input is fantastic !!

[Sozzled Sab]

Hi and welcome.
Another vote for cheap and cheerful. When I started ag I made up all my kit such as picnic box mash tun, homemade boiler and chiller and I sparged with a watering can. This served me well for many,many years and I only bought a brewzilla last year. Fittings etc are now easily sourced from ebay/screwfix and there are loads of how to guides on the forum/Google/YouTube. Get yourself a simple ag kit and off you go.
The forum will help you every step of the way, any doubts,just ask.

 

[.Matt.]

Hi all, I know its late but this just dawned on me.... I'm not a cider drinker however, I do them for my daughter & friends (only in the summer)... Commercial ciders tend to be very sweet nowadays and feedback that I've received referring to my ciders are that they are not sweet enough!!.. .. Kids eh!!... So, I have the Dark Fruit cider in f/v. How can I sweeten it a little before bottling??

 

[.Matt.]

Hi all, I know its late but this just dawned on me.... I'm not a cider drinker however, I do them for my daughter & friends (only in the summer)... Commercial ciders tend to be very sweet nowadays and feedback that I've received referring to my ciders are that they are not sweet enough!!.. .. Kids eh!!... So, I have the Dark Fruit cider in f/v. How can I sweeten it a little before bottling??

Oh... My daughter is 24.
I just read my post... I don't make alcopops for kids during their summer holidays!!

 

[An Ankoù]

.. Commercial ciders tend to be very sweet nowadays and feedback that I've received referring to my ciders are that they are not sweet enough!!.

You're buying the wrong commercial ciders, then. Go for the West Country offerings, all offer a dry cider. Thatchers, Sandford, Taunton Cider, Sheppys, Gwynt y Ddraig to name but a few. Most sell on-line with offers on postage.
Sweetening your own cider is not straightforward. Apple juice produces simple highly-fermentable sugars and the classic way of making sweeter ciders is by removing the nutrients in a process called keeving.
If you try some of the ones I've mentioned, you might even be converted!

 

[MashBag]

Really.

 

[MashBag]

Sweetening your own cider is not straightforward. Apple juice produces simple highly-fermentable sugars and the classic way of making sweeter ciders is by removing the nutrients in a process called keeving.

Is dead easy.... use unfermentable sweeteners. Plenty to choose from now. You can try a few, and see which best suits you.

Everything is getting sweeter, you only have to look around to see we eat too much sugar.

 

[An Ankoù]

Is dead easy.... use unfermentable sweeteners. Plenty to choose from now. You can try a few, and see which best suits you.

Aarggh, no. Not chemical sweeteners. And surely not lactose in cider.
Horror of horrors.
I suspect that the industrial cider makers sweeten with sugar, pasteurise and force carb.

 

[.Matt.]

You're buying the wrong commercial ciders, then. Go for the West Country offerings, all offer a dry cider. Thatchers, Sandford, Taunton Cider, Sheppys, Gwynt y Ddraig to name but a few. Most sell on-line with offers on postage.
Sweetening your own cider is not straightforward. Apple juice produces simple highly-fermentable sugars and the classic way of making sweeter ciders is by removing the nutrients in a process called keeving.
If you try some of the ones I've mentioned, you might even be converted!

I think you missed my point.

 

[An Ankoù]

I think you missed my point.

Easily done.

 

[Nucbrewer]

Apparently Erithritol is one of the better non fermentable sweeteners it’s available from supermarkets.