First Brew - need help

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First Brew - need help

Postby thedazzla » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 8:44 am

Hi
I just tasted my first attempt at an apple cider ( I used a Black Rock kit) and it tastes very watery.
I bottled it when the SG was 1000 (maybe too low?) and its had 7 weeks in the bottle. Any suggestion on how to fix? or tips for next attempt?
Much appreciated
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby Oliver » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 10:22 am

Hello and welcome to the forum, thedazzla.

Can you start by telling us the ingredients and quantities you used in your cider, and how many litres you topped up the fermenter to.

That should give us a hint about what's going on.

When you say it's watery, does it taste watered down, or does it have flavour but tastes thin?

Cheers,

Oliver
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby thedazzla » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 1:09 pm

Hi
I used Black Rock Cider Kit plus 1kg sugar (not sure what type of sugar as it was given to me with the home brew kit) I added 23 litres of water and yeast
I then let it brew in keg for about 9 days until SG was 1000 ( it went a little longer than i wanted)
Then bottled it with 1 cube of sugar in each 330ml bottle (bottle date was 24th November)
It has a mild cider flavour but tastes watered down
hope that helps
cheers
thedazzla
 
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby thedazzla » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 1:13 pm

correction - bottle date was 24th October !
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby Oliver » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 2:18 pm

Hi TD,

I've have used Black Rock cider kits twice and have had good results, as have others.

The main difference between mine and yours was the final volume.

Both times I've only topped it up to 18 litres, which will result in a more concentrated flavour.

The recipes are below. You'll see that both times I added Granny Smith apples, which I peeled, cored and sliced and added to the fermenter, to give some extra apple taste. Not sure if it made a difference or not.

With just 1kg dextrose and the can yours would be very dry, as the dextrose is more or less fully fermentable and adds no residual sweetness. If you want to sweeten it up a bit replace some of the dextrose with malt extract (500g to start, maybe). This will leave some residual sweetness and add body. Another way of adding sweetness is to add lactose. Lactose is not a very sweet sugar, so start with about 500g and you can add more or less next time you make a cider.

Another thing popular with many people is fermenting with a beer yeast, such as Fermentis US-05. It's felt that this results in slightly more sweetness and body than otherwise would be the case.

I don't seen any issue with the time it was in the fermenter or the bottling.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Oliver

No.35 Black Rock Cider
1 can Black Rock Cider
1kg glucose
125g lactose
3 Granny Smith apples

OG 1049 FG 1013 ALC/VOL 5.1%

No.39 Leni Cider
1 can Black Rock cider
1 pack Brewcraft number 15 brew booster (malt, glucose, corn syrup)
3 granny smith apples

OG 1045 FG 1006 ALC/VOL 5.2%
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby thedazzla » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 2:27 pm

Great, I appreciate the feedback will give it a go with the next batch
Do you think my existing brew will taste better for longer in the bottle?
cheers
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby Oliver » Thursday Dec 15, 2011 2:57 pm

It's doubtful, sorry TD. Maybe add a shot of apple schnapps to each glass as a quick fix :-)

Oliver
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Re: First Brew - need help

Postby Shanus » Saturday Jan 07, 2012 10:13 am

or pour some apple juice in to give more flavour
i also use the black rock cider with good results but only do about a 18 or 19 litres
i did one with 6litres of apple juice was very nice but if you like sweetness you need to crash chill it and keg it rather then letting it ferment out
be careful with adding juices need ones that have no shit added and
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