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G'day everyone.

Just purchased a Blackrock Cider kit to put down for the Department of War to drink over Xmas. Both her and myself prefer Dry cider to sweet cidewr so wondering if anyone has brewed this kit and what it was like?

I am thinking of putting it down with 500g of dextrose and 500g of LDME. What do you think? Also, is the yeast supplied ok or should I get a dry white wine yeat to ferment it with??

Thanks for your help[ guys.

If you want it dry, don't add anything but fully fermentable dextrose.
I do not know what the yeast supplied is, but wine yeast will probably do a better job of getting it dry for you.
But remember dry cider doesn't keep too well, after 3-4 months in the bottle you may find it hard going.

I did a Blackrock Cider kit with 1kg of Dextrose only.

Brewed out nicely dry.
Cheers,

Greg.

I brewed a Black Rock Cider with a kilo of white suger and the supplied yeast about 18 months ago. Came out pretty dry, so much so that my wife, who likes a sweet cider, refused to drink it.

As for the short shelf life, I still have half a dozen or so left and reckon they still taste great after 18 months.

Cheers

The two ciders that I've made have contained lactose and both have been quite dry. Without the lactose (and in one case malt) they would have been too dry.

Some malt extract on its own might do the trick, too.

Cheers,

Oliver

I've made the blackrock kit a few times, and it's always come out dry.

I usually use:

1 Blackrock Mix
2L of apple juice (as in home made, juiced apples)
1kg of dextrose
500g honey

It's always come out quite dry. The one thing I am starting to notice though, is that when primed with a normal amount of dextrose (one scoop, from my measuring thingy) they have a tendancy to become over-carbonated if left for a couple of months. I actually had my first bottle explode the other day, and the rest of that batch are all quite fizzy. Next time I might try and use a little less sugar I think!

The Blackrock cider is amazing! It is VERY dry. I added 125g lactose, and it was still very dry. I did a combination of Oliver and Geoff's Leni and Happiness is in Cider.

I did the kit up to 18L, added 125g Lactose, and put 3 peeled, cored and cut up Grannie Smith apples in a stocking. It is one hell of a cider (even if I do say so myself). btw, thanks to Oliver and Geoff for the inspiration.

If Oliver is out there somewhere, do you recommend the Blackrock Colonial Lager?

Chris wrote:If Oliver is out there somewhere, do you recommend the Blackrock Colonial Lager?

Chris,

I'm here! I haven't tried the Black Rock Colonial Lager, so I can't comment. Sorry.

Oliver

I've got a Black Rock Colonial aging at the moment, should be about two weeks away, if I remember I'll let you know then how it goes!

I'll wait for the results with eager anticipation...