HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Although not technically beer, thought I’d make a mention of my newest favourite cider.

All four of the ciders brought out by this Swedish mob are fantastic! They'd have to be given that they’re exported all the way from Sweden. The selection is:
Apple Cider
Pear Cider
Strawberry and Lime Cider
Wild Berries Cider

If you consider yourself a cider drinker, you must try this Swedish treasure! The Pear Cider has got to be the best, but all are worth trying. Get to Dan’s or First Choice to pick some up.

(The only bad part is the cost, at $7-$8 for each 500ml bottle!)

I second that notion....

The pear one is very tasty

Just tried the strawberry & lime - very nice indeed.

Goomba

They are bringing out a Winter Cider soon.
Apple, Vanilla and Cinnamon.
Apparently it can be served cold or warm.

I make a cider with vanilla and cinnamon. Goes down very well! Don't know why it'd be specifically for winter, though; mine gets brewed year round.

Are you willing to share your recipe?

I think its only marketed as a 'winter cider' because cider sales drop drastically in the colder months. The name will make it more likely for people to keep purchasing if it says 'Winter' on the bottle.

I find it a tad sweet, however my girlfriend adores it. I am, however, quite keen on reusing the bottles for homebrew...

+1 On bullfrog sharing that recipe.

My father goes through the entire range of these ciders weekly, for some reason i never considered asking him to save me the bottles... do they go alright Lachy?

Lachy wrote:+1 On bullfrog sharing that recipe.

Oh, sorry guys, just saw this.

It really is as basic as basic gets. Steep one or two vanilla beans (split down the middle) and one or two cinnamon sticks in hot water straight from the kettle (just enough to cover them) for ten to twenty minutes. Toss all that in the fermenter with some yeast nutrient, top up with 22L of Aldi apple juice (good because not only is it cheap but it also has no preservatives) then pitch a pack of US05.

I've recently been playing around with adding tannic acid, too, to get that Normandy style of cider. I've found that around 10-15g works well. Just add that to the steep.

The bottles are good, Rum.

btw - If you're on 4square (look it up), First Choice are doing a 30% off any 6 bottles of cider special this month with every check-in. Although I am biased because I work at Coles....

bullfrog wrote:

Lachy wrote:+1 On bullfrog sharing that recipe.

Oh, sorry guys, just saw this.

It really is as basic as basic gets. Steep one or two vanilla beans (split down the middle) and one or two cinnamon sticks in hot water straight from the kettle (just enough to cover them) for ten to twenty minutes. Toss all that in the fermenter with some yeast nutrient, top up with 22L of Aldi apple juice (good because not only is it cheap but it also has no preservatives) then pitch a pack of US05.

I've recently been playing around with adding tannic acid, too, to get that Normandy style of cider. I've found that around 10-15g works well. Just add that to the steep.

Looks good bullfrog. We tried some of the Rekorderlig winter cider on the weekend so my wife is keen for me to try this. Is boiled up coopers yeast ok as nutrient in this one or would proper yeast nutrient be better?

Yeah, mate, any old nutrient will do the job. I'd keep the tannic acid out if your missus is going to be drinking it, too. I've found that the finer gender don't care for it that much.

Excellent, definitely going to put a batch on soon. As suggested will skip the tannic acid for now. Cheers

+1 for making one of these.

How prominent is the cinnamon flavour?

Two cinnamon sticks gives a pretty noticeable flavour. I find that cinnamon can be quite an overpowering flavour but two sticks is enough for it to be noticeable but not overpowering.

Got one of these brewing at the moment. Just juice was on special for less than $1 per litre so I got a mix of apple and apple/pear. Boiled two cinnamon sticks, two packs of morgans yeast for nutrient in a litre of water. Added some vanilla extract at flame out. Tipped the whole lot in the fermenter, added the juice and a pack of US05. Sitting int he fridge at 18C. As I watched the cinnamon sticks floating in the top of the fermenter (through the glad wrap) I wondered whether I should have strained them out but it was too late by then, I'm fairly confident that they were boiled enough to kill any nasties. Its quite interesting watching a cider ferment through the glad wrap as there is no krausen, so instead of seeing the slow blup blup of gas through krausen you just see the constant production of tiny bubbles fizzing to the top.

No need to have strained the cinnamon out. I don't even boil them, just steep, and haven't had a problem yet.

+1 for not worrying about boiling the cinnamon, although I don't think it would do any harm either.

I remember reading about it when I was growing chillies and it's meant to have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. The book was called "The Pepper Garden" by Dave De Witt (I wonder if he's Belgian) and Paul W. Bosland. I gave the book away when I got gastritis from eating too many chillies so can't tell you the page number. I used to make up a cinnamon and chammomile tea spray for my seedlings. I never lost one to damping off or wilt, which are fungal diseases.

Cheers
Paul

emnpaul wrote:I used to make up a cinnamon and chammomile tea...

Forgive me for being a pedant, but if it didn't have actual tea in it then it's an infusion, not a tea. It's a pet peeve of mine at the moment; every company under the sun marketing their herbal products as 'teas' when they're nothing of the sort.

That being said, interesting to know about cinnamon's properties. I'll still be steeping it but interesting nonetheless.

EDIT: Fixed quote html.

Pedant.

I did say "meant to" have anti-fungal and bacterial properties. My "research" is anecdotal only. Since I didn't purposeley innoculate my seedlings with verticillum and have a control batch that I didn't spray, I can't be 100% that it works. But it did seem to work.

Come to think of it yeast is a fungus and it's still fermenting your cider...