Real Cider Forum Forum: Cider Recipes

Real Cider Forum Forum: Cider Recipes - Recent Posts http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/forum/cider-recipes chat about cider and perry making online en-US Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:07:21 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.1 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/search.php Ian on "'Cider' Without Apples?" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-without-apples#post-282 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:42:11 +0000 Ian 282@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ At the risk of stating the obvious - cider is (or should be) made from apple juice and nothing else and perry from pear juice. It follows therefore that you need a lot of fruit - and that's your problem. You could try making "cider" from other fruits that are more plentiful locally (it would be interesting at least). I live in Warwickshire which is home to a drink called Plum Jerkum. It's a sort of plum cider. I've made it with varying degress of success, but it demostrates that there is a precedent for making "cider" without apples. My advise to you would be to have a crack at home made wines. Unlike cider and perry (pure juice) the fruit in wine is used to flavour water - with sugar and a robust yeast leading to a more alcoholic drink than cider. I could suggest some recipes but it's probably easier if you just look on line Ian on "STOPPING FERMENTATION?" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-281 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:19:04 +0000 Ian 281@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ First Post - I've been making cider and perry for quite a few years now with decent results. I've always gone for the traditional, "natural" approach i.e. put the juice in a shed, leave the natural yeats to do their work, rack it in February and drink it "when the first cuckoo sings". The result is a strong but very dry drink. This year I wondered whether to stop the fermentation at a certain point in order (I assume)to get a slightly sweeter drink. This years juice, which is slowly fermenting away at present, started with an OG of 1060. I'd be grateful for any advice based on others experience. 1. Should I stop the fermentation, if so with what? (Campden Tablet?) 2. When should I stop it? presumebably when the SG reaches some figure, if so what is it? 3. Any downsides or pitfalls? Cheers jonewer on "'Cider' Without Apples?" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-without-apples#post-278 Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:08:07 +0000 jonewer 278@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ You can make cheap and nasty cider using apple juice from the supermarket. Google "turbo cider" for recipes. jonewer on "No activity" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/no-activity#post-277 Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:05:52 +0000 jonewer 277@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Airlock activity is a very poor indicator of fermentation activity. If the bucket isnt airtight (many arent) then the CO2 will just escape out of wherever it can rather than out of the airlock. Best thing to do would be to buy yourself a hydrometer. You can get these from any homebrew shop for about £2.50 a go. These things show you approximately how much sugar you have in your cider. Take a reading before you pitch the yeast (probably read about 1.045), then when you think its finished take another reading (probably about 1.000). The difference between the two will tell you how much alcohol you have in your cider. eggbanjo on "No activity" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/no-activity#post-255 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:16:14 +0000 eggbanjo 255@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ How did you add the champagne yeast? Did you just drop a tablet in each bucket or did you make up enough yeast starter to test the yeast was fermenting and pitch the jollop with a viable yeast colony? You see it could a yeast failure in the four slow buckets. The bulging lids suggests something is goiong on to produce gas, & if their is a gas over-pressure inside the bins trying to get out it is unlikely any nasties will get in against the stream. Vinegar is not the worst case scenario. A good cider vinegar is a lot more use around the place than an insipid cider made from dessert apples. Is it possible that you are not using much or any "real cider" apples in your crush? A lot of the books say that juice lacking any cider apple input lacks the nutrients to support vigorous yeast cell growth. Try chucking in a dead rat (so long as it was not poisened), a dollop of pig's blood, or the head and kneck of a cockerel after some ritual sacrifice, depending upon your religious background - it might just provide the stimulus needed. Homebrew shops also sell packets of yeast nutrient which always seem based on the chemistry of urea. The thing is you have to have a steady heart and not panic. The alternative is drinking water, and you know what fish do in that (doesn't bear thinking about!). apple bob on "No activity" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/no-activity#post-253 Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:02:58 +0000 apple bob 253@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hello, This is my first year at cider making and I've got problems. Fermentation seems to have ceased after two weeks. I've got siz fermentation buckets with airlocks stuck in the top, through gromets in plastic lids. In each, I've got apples juice with champagne yeast added. Two of the six were fermenting steadily - not the vigorous frothing that I've read about but there was certainly activity - a bubble a minute or so. But the others - nothing. The lids of these have bulged out but the air must be getting out (and mabe in) somewhere. I think it's around the gromets and have tried sealing with silicone without any luck. I've got a few ideas of other things I can do. I was thinking about punching a larger hold through and dropping a rubber stopper through. But, as I said the big problem seems to be that the two that were doing something have stopped in the last day or so (the house is no colder). I've lifted the lids for a peek at these two (the buckets are opaque) and there's definitely bubbles on the surface and I can't see signs of an acidy clear film. When I tested the SG it worked out to be a potential alcohol of 6% (I can look up the exact figure) and one book I've read says I need to add sugar to get it up to 9% but I'm not sure why. Anyway, my big questions is am I on the slippery slide to vinegar, why has it slowed almost to a halt? And why hasn;t it frothed over like crazy? Any help or advice would be MUCK appreciated. Cheers, Adam eggbanjo on "'Cider' Without Apples?" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-without-apples#post-203 Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:34:42 +0000 eggbanjo 203@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Any juice containing fruit sugar should ferment and produce alcohol. The problem is finding fruits with the right balance of things like acids and tannins. I have actually made a "wine" by fermenting onions but I can't say I enjoyed drinking it. If you have sugar cane available you might make a sort of beer from that. When I was living in Singapore it was rumoured that Tiger beer was made with pineapples instead of or in addition to malt. Perhaps you could try mashing pineapples in water with with hops and pitching with a lager yeast? delancepants on "'Cider' Without Apples?" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-without-apples#post-182 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 06:47:32 +0000 delancepants 182@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hi everyone, I wonder if you can help? My husband and I have just moved to a very remote part of India where there is little alcohol available, just some awful whiskey and young wine that's barely drinkable! My husband is currently making a spirit from pineapple, but it's very strong, so.....we've been looking for a relatively simple and quick way to make something less strong. Cider would be perfect, and the process seems quite straight forward, however, most of the apples here are imported and so expensive! But there are local fruits available through the year, currently passion fruit and guava. What we want to know is...is it possible to use the cider process to make an alcoholic drink from fruits other than apples or pears? From our brief investigation online, it seems all mixed fruit ciders contain either apples or pears. Are we to conclude from this that it's impossible to successfully use the cider process without them? Thanks in advance for your help! Lia traffic76 on "Cider Newbie" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-newbie#post-172 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:26:32 +0000 traffic76 172@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hi folks, I'm hoping here is the place I can get some answers to a few questions I have about my first cider making experiment. I've just pressed 5 gallons of fresh apple juice into one drum but I'm uncertain of exactly how many Camden tablets I should throw in. I've read somewhere that you put in 1 tablet per gallon but is 5 too many? Also after this is solved I'm just wondering how much yeast I should put in. Again I've read somewhere about 1 teaspoon but gallon but I've also read one sachet per 5 gallon... big difference! Could anybody here help me before I ruin the lot. Thanks in advance, Nigel davemilner on "Problem with first cider making" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/problem-with-first-cider-making#post-134 Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:57:32 +0000 davemilner 134@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hi I had this in one of my 5 gallon containers, all natural yeast - I noticed blue mould on top of the initial froth after 2 days. I have taken a chance and scooped it off, sterilised with campden and added cider yeast. It is has been bubbling away fro a month now - hope for the best I guess. All the other containers are clear and bubbling and still cloudy after 4-6 weeks in a cool garage. dave Jim Callender on "Problem with first cider making" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/problem-with-first-cider-making#post-118 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:37:31 +0000 Jim Callender 118@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hi Cathy, did you make sure the equipment was sterilised with milton or similar? It has to be super clean. There are wild yeasts on and in the fruit that create the fermentation. However, there are some bacteria that can spoil cider. You can use campden tablets - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablets" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campden_tablets</a> that reduces spoilage.. Whether you use them or not is your choice I have not ever. From my knowledge if the mould is on the top of the cider it cant be rescued, however, if the mould is on the neck of the container, you could transfer the cider to a new container. Hope some other members on the real cider community can share their experiences! Cathy on "Problem with first cider making" http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/topic/problem-with-first-cider-making#post-117 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:38:58 +0000 Cathy 117@http://www.real-cider.co.uk/forum/ Hi we are making our first batch of cider. We wanted to do it naturally but after 10 days of fermentation we can see some mould growing on the froth. Does anyone know if we can rescue it? Thanks