Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

hi guys,

I know we all make liqur here but I have a couple of spare 25ltr fermenters and my wife loves that rekorderlig cider and I enjoy it for a change also. so I thought I might give making a batch of somthing a go... I've heard reasonable results from just using the standard apple cider brew you buy from bigw etc but that will just give me a straight apple... do I just throw in some extra fruits and hope...? anyone have tried and proven recipes they care to share? I was thinking of fruits like mango passionfruit strawberries and kiwi fruit, not all together just they are the types of fruits I've had in mind to use but up for suggestions and proven recipes for sure!

I dare say those flavours are added after the cider is made. Juiced apples and cider yeast fermented at a cool temperature will make nice cider. Eating apples aren't as good as cider apples. Granny smiths are ok for cider, cox's too. Find an orchard and ask if you can pick them off the floor or from the trees once the pickers have been through. Have you got any specific questions?

Lol nope not really haven't a clue what to ask.... Do the caned ones you buy from bigw etc make a nice enough drink? not exactly close to fruit orchids

My house cider is 18-20L of Aldi apple juice, 2kg of mixed berries and 250g of lactose sugar
I ferment with us05 and taste after a couple of days, once it's down to a point where it's not too sweet and not too dry I strain it off into a keg and force carb
I try to keep it around 3°C so the fermentation slows right down to almost nothing, when the keg has 4 litres or so gone I dump in another couple of bottles of aldi apple juice and a syrup made from mashed berries and a little lactose sugar that I've boiled then strained off
It will ferment VERY slowly so you'll notice it begin to dry out over a few weeks
Usually I make this up around the start of summer and it keeps the mrs happy for a good 2 or 3 months until I finally just let the keg empty

I will admit this year I did get a bit lazy and got to the point where I was just chucking more juice in (no berry syrup) and topping the glass up with a little Diet Right mixed berry cordial to back sweeten once poured

Oh, I forgot to add, I added some tea for tannins, which actually was very nice

sp0rk wrote:My house cider is 18-20L of Aldi apple juice, 2kg of mixed berries and 250g of lactose sugar
I ferment with us05 and taste after a couple of days, once it's down to a point where it's not too sweet and not too dry I strain it off into a keg and force carb
I try to keep it around 3°C so the fermentation slows right down to almost nothing, when the keg has 4 litres or so gone I dump in another couple of bottles of aldi apple juice and a syrup made from mashed berries and a little lactose sugar that I've boiled then strained off
It will ferment VERY slowly so you'll notice it begin to dry out over a few weeks
Usually I make this up around the start of summer and it keeps the mrs happy for a good 2 or 3 months until I finally just let the keg empty

I will admit this year I did get a bit lazy and got to the point where I was just chucking more juice in (no berry syrup) and topping the glass up with a little Diet Right mixed berry cordial to back sweeten once poured

Might stick to making spirits :doh:

You don't need to add the berries and lactose sugar
Just apple juice (or mixed berry if you can get it cheap enough) and yeast then keg it when it's still sweet, get the temp right down
If you're bottling you can either use campden tablets or pasteurize the bottles while it's still a little sweet, but I don't really trust this method to ensure there are no bottle bombs

seems more complicated than i expected haha as with everything.... i dont have a keg for it was going to bottle it. bottle bomb sounds like a mad party trick. is that just a dud bottle or a bottle that has too much gas and thus causing apple poo-plosions.

my biggest problem would be temperature I'd say. looks like fermenting temp is a bigger deal than with a wash, seeing as the weather is always warm especially in my shed might have to wait till winter time. I might give it a crack, im fairly sure 3ltrs of coles best buy juice is $3. now to see if our 1 hbs has a cider suitable yeast... don't hold out for results this may just bottle bomb out the back door lol

If you let it ferment fully out, it will be dry
To remedy this, I'd take a litre of your juice and bung it in a pot, throw 250-500g of lactose sugar and 3 or 4 tea bags in and boil for 5 minutes
This should add some sweetness and tannins to offset the dryness

Great advice spork. I stumbled across some cheap apples and a mulberry tree fruiting so we juiced them and added a cider yeast.
About 20kg apples and 2kg mulberry. I'll follow your advice and add some tea before bottling.
We usually like dry ciders but if it's too dry we can add some fresh apple juice or sugar syrup at the time of drinking.
Fingers crossed it's half decent

coffe addict wrote:Great advice spork. I stumbled across some cheap apples and a mulberry tree fruiting so we juiced them and added a cider yeast.
About 20kg apples and 2kg mulberry. I'll follow your advice and add some tea before bottling.
We usually like dry ciders but if it's too dry we can add some fresh apple juice or sugar syrup at the time of drinking.
Fingers crossed it's half decent

I throw the tea bags in the fermenter, works just as well, possibly boil in a little of the juice if you're worried about sanitation
Mrs made some Mangrove Jacks cider from a pouch in the middle of winter, not too bad but quite sulphury even after CO2 scrubbing a few times
She also only likes to drink 1 glass every fortnight or so, so it's tying up kegs (I've downsized my keezer since I wrote my last cider post) :angry-banghead:

I've told her she's only allowed to do cheap juice ciders if it's going to sit there that long in future :laughing-rolling:

Nothing like a Lil peer pressure :laughing-rolling:

I just wish I had the same problem I struggle to keep production rates suitably high

this is my cider recipe, 3rd one down

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