Black rock cider - higher alc content

[mkerr]

Hi.
Just a quick question about the black rock cider kit.
I've tried searching but couldn't find anything about this.

I've picked up the kit, some dextgrose, white sugar, and 2L of pure apple juice, and some champagne yeast.

The guy at the homebrew shop recommended white sugar, but i had a kilo of dextrose lying around anyway.

What i'm trying to make is a somewhat sweet cider that's relatively strong. Uni holidays

From my understanding, the champaigne yeast will be able to ferment the sugars to a higher %. I'll need to ad more sugar to make the extra alcohol.

Is this correct?

I was planning on making it around the 8-9% mark. I used this: http://www.liquorcraft.com.au/wa.asp?id ... etails=107
with 18L fermenter, 1L can of Black rock, 2kg of sugar / dextrose, and 500g of lactose (from reading this board it seems the BR stuff is pretty damn dry), it came out to 8.7%.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Chris]

I have posted a recipe somewhere in this forum before, but I'll do it again.

1 blackrock kit
3 cored, peeled granny smiths, cut up and in a stocking
1kg dextrose
125g lactose

To boost alco%, just add more sugar/dextrose
To increase sweetness, add 700g+ of lactose

Mine came out at 8.5% without adding more sugar anyway.

[yardglass]

chris,

sounds ok, what yeast was used for this ?

thanks
yardy

[Oliver]

I have posted a recipe somewhere in this forum before, but I'll do it again.

1 blackrock kit
3 cored, peeled granny smiths, cut up and in a stocking
1kg dextrose
125g lactose

I, too, have made this and it's superb. I only made up to 18 litres though, which resulted in a more concentrated flavour and only 25-odd bottles, but a great cider.

Undercover1 will tell you to forget about all this and just made a cider from apple juice. Do a search and you should turn up some of his suggestions.

I just used the yeast as supplied. I'm not sure what the yeast is, but if you're going for a higher alcohol you might want to invest a couple of bucks in a champagne yeast to make sure it can handle the higher alcohol. (Unless, of course, someone can tell us what the yeast supplied is.)

Cheers,

Oliver

[mkerr]

yep.
I've already gotten champaigne yeast.
i'll have to head on back to the store to pick up some lactose. the guy didn't mention it was excessively dry.

do i throw in the lactose with everything else?
or do i wait till later on?

thanks for the replies.

[mkerr]

one more quick question.
what alc content do should i expect with the following:

blackrock kit
500g dextrose
1kg white sugar
2L apple juice
125g lactose

am i right in guessing that the sugars in the apple juice will also be fermented?

[gregb]

am i right in guessing that the sugars in the apple juice will also be fermented?

Absolutley.

[Chris]

I did the same Oliver. 18L is essential, otherwise it is too watery- or so I've heard from multiple sources.

[mkerr]

did it this morning.
BR kit
1kg white sugar
1kg dextrose
2L apple juice
ec-1118 champagne yeast
made up to 18L

will have to wait and see how it goes.
got 500g of lactose for bottling to make it sweeter.

[Oliver]

Dissolve the lactose in boiling water and chuck it in now, or when you rack, if you're racking.

Oliver