Apple mango cider???

by **BrewersApprentice** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 4:21 pm

i was maybe thinkin of doin a cider using

Brigalow apple cider kit
1lt mango nectar or 2lt mango juice
1 kg sugar

what are peoples thoughts or if you would change anything im just spit ballin here thinkin about a possible recipe
or
has anyone had a successful Apple & Mango Cider

by **bullfrog** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 5:46 pm

Whatever ingredients you use, make sure they're free of preservatives.

I personally am not much of a fan of most cider kits I've tried and prefer to use just apple juice. If buying the juice at the right price, it works out at about the same cost as a kit and a kilo of dex anyway.

by **BrewersApprentice** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 6:24 pm

so for the recipe above i should use dextrose instead of sugar?

by **bullfrog** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 9:00 pm

Well dextrose is sugar. However, you probably were referring to table sugar.

I don't make cider from kits nor do I add extra fermentables so can't really help with the recipe design if you have your heart set on the above.

by **BrewersApprentice** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 9:10 pm

oh i had just sorta pondered on the idea whilst at work so i sussed out very basic recipes for peary cider when i got home and i come up with this im not set on it i may try it just for the sake of doing it

by **rotten** » Tuesday May 22, 2012 10:46 pm

If it was me, buy 15 to 20 ltrs of preservative free juice of your choice, add 0.5 to 1 kg of dex or lactose, pitch a neautral yeast like us-05 for example (available at any Local Home Brew shop) and tweak your recipe to your taste after after that. Nearly all kit cider recipes I have heard about have the kit twang, or a undesireable flavour.
Juice FTW :wink:

by **Bum** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 5:49 am

rotten wrote:If it was me, buy 15 to 20 ltrs of preservative free juice of your choice, add 0.5 to 1 kg of dex or lactose, pitch a neautral yeast like us-05 for example (available at any Local Home Brew shop) and tweak your recipe to your taste after after that. Nearly all kit cider recipes I have heard about have the kit twang, or a undesireable flavour.
Juice FTW

I agree, juice is just too easy and the recipe formulation advice is good (although I wouldn't put more than 500g of lactose in for first use - but that's just me) - but I will say I made the Blackrock cider tin soon after starting brewing and there wasn't any twang to speak of. There was the artificial sweetener thing which many people respond negatively to and it is dear as poison so there's two more reasons to get some preservative-free juice instead.

by **BrewersApprentice** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 10:01 am

what would be the difference to the outcome if i use Dex or if i use Lactose?

by **bullfrog** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 12:10 pm

BrewersApprentice wrote:what would be the difference to the outcome if i use Dex or if i use Lactose?

Dextrose is an almost entirely fermentable sugar, so adds alcohol content to a brew. Because of this it also will make the end product drier than if it were left out.

Lactose, or milk sugar, is almost entirely unfermentable, so adds sweetness but no alcohol content to a brew. I find that lactose will also add a slight sourness if used in too high a quantity so it's best to start with a lower amount in any given recipe and then experiment with greater quantities in subsequent batches if you want more sweetness.

by **BrewersApprentice** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 5:52 pm

So if I want to make a non alco brew id use lactose?

by **Marty** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 6:11 pm

The lactose won't add any alcohol as the yeast can't consume it. The yeast will consume the natural sugars in the juice and convert that to alcohol.

by **Bum** » Wednesday May 23, 2012 7:33 pm

BrewersApprentice wrote:So if I want to make a non alco brew id use lactose?

Just to add to Matry's post - the answer is completely no. Non-alcoholic cider is apple juice. Some backwards parts of the world still refer to unprocessed juice as cider but they also still use feet and inches so who cares what they say about anything?