Brigalow Apple Cider (again)

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Brigalow Apple Cider (again)

Postby scanman » Monday Aug 13, 2007 7:31 pm

G'day all.
The missus came home today with a Brigalow apple cider kit, saying she wants me to make her one soon ( after I just did a ginger beer for here ).
Now the most excellent members of this forum have pretty much the same opinion of this stuff, and I have been reading up much about this stuff. Basically, you don't follow the instructions on the kit, but add extras to improve the finished cider.
While there are many idea and opinions form forum members, there seems be be little comment on the results of some of these recipes that people do to improve Brigalow Cider.
So I thought maybe some of you might hopefully come up with some success stories on this stuff ( please no need to bag the stuff, i get the idea ). But I don't htink takign it back to the shop and getting a BR cider kit is an option at the moment, so hopefully someone has had some success with it.
The missus likes hers sweet, so I intend to add at least half a kilo of lactose to the batch.
Any other suggestions to improve this stuff. I have throught about adding fresh granny smith apples, pasturised apple juice, pear juice and so forth. Even cinemon seems a good idea to perk it up.

So in conclusion, is there any way anyoe has improved this poor cider kit at all???

Hope to hear some good ideas. Its not going down for a few weeks yet as I have a lager to cold condition first.
This forum is the best I have found around the net so far for Australia. well done to all of you who contribute.

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Postby rodman » Friday Aug 17, 2007 10:59 pm

Hi Scanman,
I'm enjoying one of these kits at the moment. Made as per instructions using Coopers Brewing Sugar & kit yeast. It took 8 days in primary to ferment out, then another 12 in the secondary, all at 20 degrees.

Bottled with caster sugar as primer. Conditioned for 3 months, it was quite drinkable with a dry finish and excellent carbonation, very champagne-like bubbles.

Taste is a bit on the thin side but commensurate with the cost of this kit. Black Rock does have a better taste, but cost is quite a bit more. Try a couple of litres of pear juice to boost the flavour and remember the recipe only calls for an 18 litre batch: any more water would really thin it out, IMO.

After doing two batches of cider, I've found the trick is to wait...wait for the primary ferm. to finish about (8-10 days), wait about an extra week on secondary (2 weeks total), then wait minimum 3 months to bottle condition: this not only gives it time to carbonate but helps the taste to mature heaps!

Try brewing this in winter (you'll need to keep it warm: 18-20 deg) and then cellar them for summer drinking. The misses will be well pleased (and will probably let you buy that top-quality kit you've had your eye on-worked for me!!).

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Rodman
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Postby scanman » Saturday Aug 18, 2007 5:50 am

Thanks for the hints Rodman.

I was thinkinng of adding some pear juice and also some fresh granny smih apples ( mashed ) to the batch as well, and maybe some lactose to sweeten it up, as the missus likes her cider a bit sweet. If she ever drinks the strongbow stuff, its always the sweet. Trying to reproduc that, though with this kit not sure if thats possible.

I wonder if there are any oher tricks to improving this.


cheers

Davo
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Postby KEG » Saturday Aug 18, 2007 7:52 am

pear juice is going the right way; strongbows are 10% pear if i recall correctly.

you'll need a kilo of lactose at least though, i reckon.
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Postby rodman » Saturday Aug 18, 2007 9:34 am

Forgot to mention, my HBS suggested some Apple Schnapps essence to really give it some apple flavour. I haven't tried this though. You may want to be careful as cider shouldn't taste like apple juice, but as I said I'm not really sure how the essence would taste. Time to put up another batch, methinks!! :wink:

Quote from Still Spirits site: Apple Schnapps- A crisp clean apple schnapps liqueur with the rich taste of Granny Smith apples.

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Postby drsmurto » Monday Aug 20, 2007 2:01 pm

Just bottled my cider. Not bad for a first attempt.

4.5L berri apple and pear juice (preservative free)
1/2 sachet S-04.

Started off on heat pad, no temp gauge so am guessing it was up and down like a yo-yo between 15 and 24. After a week the S-04 dropped out leaving a brilliantly clear apple juice coloured solution behind.

Bottled after 3 weeks.

Taste - very apple-y, but with a touch of sweetness, which is why i used the apple/pear combo.

Bulk primed with 40g dex.

Next time - no heat pad, its warm enough and 5L demi-john is allowed inside :lol: might add vanilla pod or cinnamon/cloves.

Cheers
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Postby scanman » Monday Aug 20, 2007 7:09 pm

Sounds great Dr. Might do something when I get around ot doing mine. Cinnamon in there sounds good. I chucked some cinnamon sticks in a draught I am doing at the moment, just to give it a bit of a different taste.
Which brand pear/ apple juice did you use? Was thinking of adding pear juice at leats to the cider. Going to have to sweeten it up as well for the missus.

At the moment got two beers going still, so she is going to have to wait another week or so.

Cheers

Davo
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Postby drsmurto » Tuesday Aug 21, 2007 10:20 am

Berri brand apple and pear juice. Its preservative free and comes in 2.4 and 3L containers. I poured it into the demi-john and halfway through added the yeast. Pouring the rest on top of the yeast meant that plenty of O2 in solution and yeast took off if less than an hour! But S-04 is a trooper and then drops out leaving a crystal clear beer, no filtering or finings needed!
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Postby scanman » Friday Aug 31, 2007 7:37 am

Ok I did my apple cider for the missus yesterday, heres how it went.

1 brigalow apple cider kit
5 granny smiths, peeled,cored and cut up then blended
2.4lt of Berri all natural apple juice
2 x 850ml cans of pear juice ( all natural, nothing added ) i forget the brand.
800gms of Dex
Few cloves for bit of spice
500gms of lactose (to be added when bulk priming after fermantation is done)

SafAle 04 yeast as suggested by DrSmurto as well as the kit yeast as nutrient that came with it.

Topped up to the 18ltr mark with water.

Basically chucked it all in together adding the yeasts last and stirred thoroughly. It was bubbling away about an hour later and is going well. I cut back on the usual 1kg of dex because i thought with all the other natural sugars it would push the alcohol content a bit high.
SG was 1.040

Opinions???? Suggestions for next time?
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Postby Kevnlis » Friday Aug 31, 2007 8:01 am

Not sure the 5 apples are going to do much more than cloud it up. I think if you wanted to add apples you would need quite a few more (I used 11 kilos once in a 21L batch, but only added lactose and priming sugar to that one, came out quite nice!). I always add cinnamon sticks, and some fresh ground nutmeg! This to me is essential! Never done pear juice but honey and lactose are common in my cider. Did you work out how much fermentable there was in the pear juice and apple juice? Along with 800g dex this could turn out to be quite a strong cider, and strong ciders are very apparent.
Prost and happy brewing!

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Postby scanman » Friday Aug 31, 2007 6:50 pm

No I didn't work out how much sugar in total, thats why I cut the dex back a bit. Will have to see. Seeing it had a SG of 1.040 I am guessing when its down to about 1.060 should be just under 5% somewhere, so not to bad.
If the apple is going to cloud the brew then I'll add finings to the batch before the fermentation ends. Hopefully the Safale-04 yeast will pull much of the stuff out of the brew.
Not worried if its a bit cloudy at all. I won't be drinking it to much, and I don't think the missus is going to worry.
I was going to rack it anyway, might even run it through a filter i can get. We have these bag filters at work which are .03 micron, so might rack through that into the secondary and see how it goes.
Of course I'll be taste testing it to see how sweet it is after its done, before adding the lactose. The kit has the artificial sweetener so it may be OK. Not sure. But the wife likes it sweet.
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Postby Kevnlis » Friday Aug 31, 2007 6:59 pm

I actually think the cloudyness makes it better, I like it a bit thick ;) Like watered down applesauce that has been slightly fermented, but you need to drink it rather quickly, and it doesn't taste anything much like apple sauce!

Next cider I make I will post the recipe and taste notes. I have been planning to make one for weeks but haven't found the time!
Prost and happy brewing!

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Postby scanman » Saturday Sep 01, 2007 5:46 am

Sounds good, i'll be looking forward to your ideas :wink:
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Postby Kevnlis » Saturday Sep 01, 2007 7:21 am

If you ever get to the states go to Door County in Wisconsin and get a jug of something called "Woodchuck" it is 100% apple juice and it is by far the best juice you have had. There is somethinf failry close at the markets here but it has other fruits mixed with it, can't get just straight fresh apple juice anywhere that I have found.

You only slightly ferment it, and drink it right away (within a week or so if kept in the fridge), so unless you are having a party a few litres is enough, I have never tried to carbonate it, though it might be interesting to do so.

To get the fermenting right I just tap a bit off and taste it every day until it gets to the point where it starts to dry but it is important not to be able to taste the alcohol, the alcohol produced ends up being very harsh and apparent in the drink and if you let it go too long it will be undrinkable IMHO.

The markets are tomorrow morning, and it is apple season, so maybe I will pick up a few kilos and have a go ;)
Prost and happy brewing!

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Postby KEG » Saturday Sep 01, 2007 8:07 am

scanman wrote:500gms of lactose (to be added when bulk priming after fermantation is done)


it's a good sounding recipe, but IMO, it would have been easier to just boil up the lactose to put in the primary. lactose takes a fair bit of boiling in some extra water to dissolve, so you'll need to be adding a fair bit of water to the bulk priming container when you add the lactose now.
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Postby scanman » Saturday Sep 01, 2007 7:52 pm

True. I don't think I'll end up putting the full 500gm of lactose in but. I think it will require a taste test once fermented to see how sweet it is. 500gms might end up a major over kill so the amount will probably less. 500gms is usually a good amount to sweeten up something that is not sweet at all. Unfortunately the Brigalow kits have the artificial sweetener in them. Not sure how sweet it will end up, but more then likely not sweet enough for the wifes sweet tooth.
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Postby Noodles » Thursday Sep 06, 2007 9:32 am

I put down a Brigalow Cider last night (courtesy of the Kmart 20% off sale). I flew by the seat of my pants a bit and i'm not sure how it will turn out, but here's what I did:

Ingredients:
Brigalow Kit
2.4l Berri Apple Juice
2.4l Berri Apple & Pear Juice
300g fresh ginger
4 cinamon sticks
1kg Coopers Brewing Sugar

Method: Grated ginger (did not peel). Boiled 3 litres water, added brewing sugar, cinamon sticks & grated ginger. Rolling boil for 30 minutes. Strained into carboy.Tipped in Brigalow kit, all juice and topped to 20 litres with cold tap water, gave a good stir. Pitched yeast nutrient & yeast at 24c. OG: 1056.

Any experienced cider brewers out there who can tell me why this will or won't be any good?
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Postby KEG » Thursday Sep 06, 2007 11:25 am

i reckon that's going to be quite rich and tasty :D
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Postby Noodles » Thursday Sep 06, 2007 1:39 pm

KEG wrote:i reckon that's going to be quite rich and tasty :D


I hope so, I didn't bother with any fresh apples. I thought nearly 5 litres of juice was plenty of apples. I read another cider recipe on here somewhere which included ginger, so I threw that in, and the cinnamon went in because I loved the cinnamon in my mum's apple pies. OG was fairly high so it may be a one or two glass cider, but the better half will probably drink it with lemonade anyway.
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Postby scanman » Friday Sep 07, 2007 8:39 am

I bottled my cider yesterday, and added in the lactose with no problems and bottled into coopers PET bottles.
The FG was 1.000 which was a bit of a suprise. Brewed rather fast and well. Thanks to DrSmurto for the tip on the yeast.
Did a taste test and to me it tasted more pear flavoured then apple. Had a bit of a dry after taste before I added the lactose to sweeten it up. After the lactose was added didn't taste sweet enough for my wife, but will wait and see after a few weeks in the bottles.
I was not quite expecting the taste I got, and i was slightly dissapointed. Didn't taste appley enough for me.
I suspect it will get better with some aging but.
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