Brigalow Apple Cider (again)

[Kevnlis]

I age all of my ciders and ginger beers (unless they are non-alcoholic or made to drink without being bottled) for at least 2 months before drinking them, and even then it is usually not enough. The apple will come through for you, but I don't think it is going to get sweeter.

[scanman]

Thats OK.
I made a ginger beer last month which is going ot be opened in October for the families birthdays ( we have a heap in that month ).
I might keep the apple cider till November then. I think it will be sweet enough with 500gm of lactose.

[Whroobushy]

I ONCE READ IN A GRASS ROOTS MAG HOW TO MAKE SCRUMPY.
JUST TO CUT A LONG STORY SHORT, I FOUND THE BEST APPLE JUICE TO USE IS P&N. THEY DON'T USE ANY PRESERVATIVES ETC, AND I THINK ITS ALL OZ.

WHROOBUSHY.

[Noodles]

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.

Bottled this one during the week after 4 weeks in the carboy. Tasted a sample and can't wait to drink it. Has a strong ginger bite with a hint of cinamon in the background. Only criticism I could make is the lack of mouthfeel, it's a bit thin. I brewed this one for my wife but I don't know how much she'll be getting, should be a refreshing drop in a couple of months.

[percy]

Hi guys,
I bought a brew kit a few days ago and not being much of a beer drinker myself also got a brigalow apple cider. Never having done any brewing before i just followed the instructions and away i went. Four days into brewing i still hadn't seen any bubbling action in the breather and was a little disappointed, i then jumped on the net and found this forum. After reading a lot of your posts i came to the conclusion that my brew was going to be very poor tasting and was considering on just throwing the brew out and starting over with apple juices, mashed apples, honey and other things. So instead i mixed honey, a half kilo of sugar and some cinnamon powder with a litre of water, stirred it all up and then just upended it in the barrel with what was already in there, and my goodness did it froth up like crazy, i only just got the lid back on before the froth hit the lid. The breather was instantly bubbling much to my delight. So does anyone have any ideas on how this is going to affect my brew in the end??? I'm a bit worried that opening the lid will have ruined the whole thing but its still bubbling like crazy and i'm hopeing for the best at this point
Cheers and thanks for any feedback on this, Percy.

[Bum]

All that is left to do, as you say, is hope for the best.

There is a risk of infection but hopefully you'll be fine. The cinnamon should add some interest to the cider as long as you didn't go overboard. The rest will just raise the alc and maybe give a slight honey taste depending on how much you used.

Just remember that a non-bubbling airlock doesn't mean a brew isn't fermenting. Your hydrometer is the best way to work that out.

Best of luck with it.

[shepherdaway]

I did the Bigalow kit as well and noticed after 6 days there was no fermentation. Should I do something else?? I did take an hydrometer reading and it is at 1.000. Should I bottle???

[Oliver]

Hi shep,

What were the other ingredients you added and what was the final volume that you topped up the fermenter to?

Both of these things will have a bearing on what final gravity would be reasonable (for instance adding malt rather than glucose/sugar or a lower-than-normal final volume will both mean a higher final gravity).

Have you taken SG readings over subsequent days and found them to be the same?

Cheers,

Oliver

[shepherdaway]

Oliver-
I added per the kit 1kg of dextrose and up to 17liters of water plus a liter of basic apple juice to sweeten the deal. I went out of town so didnt take daily readings but did take one before i pitched the yeast and it had changed to the 1.000 mark but didnt ferment like other batch of beer Ive made. I did notice it was at 24*C the last couple days so Ive warmed it up to about 28*C the past two days (day 7 of brewing) to see if that kicks anything in. This is the kit I used: http://www.sella.co.nz/general/home-liv ... er/7624m8/ Thoughts? Should I scrap it and do this a better way? This is my first cider brew. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Bum]

Never tip a batch unless it is infected.

Nothing about the gravity reading to suggest you should tip it. I wouldn't expect more than 1.000 from a kit yeast but make sure you have the standard 3 consecutive stable readings before bottling. Your temps are a worry though - 28 for a cider/24 too low?! Mate, slow and steady wins the race. With ciders it is best to ferment as cool as the yeast will let you. Those temps are also way over the top for beers too (unless you're using particular saison yeasts or something).

[shepherdaway]

Bum, thx. the kit states 25*, its ok to go a bit lower then?

[Bum]

Does the kit suggest 25C as a minimum temp? I would be extremely surprised if this really was the optimal ferment temp for the strain.

I've found it difficult to get any decent info about the yeast in the tin with my google-fu but I think it would be fair to say it was your average kit ale yeast and should be fine down to 17 no dramas at all.

Having said that it is the first part of fermentation where the temps have the most important effects on your brew's taste and you're well beyond that now. If it turns out less than perfect just give it more time in the bottle and it will improve over time. Also it is worth pointing out that ciders do take longer to condition in the bottle than beer. Best of luck with it.

[shepherdaway]

Awesome. Thanks for the great info!

[Oliver]

Having said that it is the first part of fermentation where the temps have the most important effects on your brew's taste and you're well beyond that now. If it turns out less than perfect just give it more time in the bottle and it will improve over time.

Hi Shep,

Just to be clear: Bum is by no means suggesting that conditioning your cider in the bottle for an extended period will "fix" any undesirable flavours caused by the high fermentation temperature, just that they may be diminished.

As a general rule aim to keep your brews below 20C during fermentation, and in the low teens at least if using genuine lager yeast.

Cheers,

Oliver

[queenslandhomebrew]

After reading the posts some great recipes I am going to try some. The only thing that I would recommend is using carbonation drops in the bottles and not castor sugar or lactose as these dont ferment as much as the carbonation drops
www.queenslandhomebrew.com.au

[Bum]

Caster sugar just as fermentable as carbonation drops and much easier to have controlled and repeatable amounts in your bottles for a consistent carb. I have used drops in the past and found them serviceable but to suggest they are the best solution for carbing beer makes it sound a bit like you sell the stuff...

[Oliver]

+1 to all of what Bum said

Oliver

[benmoore92]

Hey guys,
I'm another new comer to the home brewing game and have decided to do a cider for my first batch. From reading various posts on these forums and other sites I came up with a recipe in which I hope to be a good one. Basically, it's very similar to Noodles's post in this thread on the first page because I also originally bought the Brigalow Kit without realising that it was a bad mix, but altered it a bit for my liking so here it is:

Brigalow Kit
2.4l Berri Apple Juice (no preservative stuff)
2.4l Berri Apple & Pear Juice (no preservative stuff)
100g fresh ginger
3 cinnamon sticks
1.7kg Coopers Brewing Sugar
300g Lactose
Ale Yeast

Method: Grated ginger (did not peel). Boiled 3 litres water, add brewing sugar, lactose, cinamon sticks & grated ginger. Rolling boil for 30 minutes. Strained into carboy.Tipped in Brigalow kit, all juice and topped to 23 litres mark with cold tap water, gave a good stir. Pitch yeast.

Basically, I want something a little bit stronger than usual (say 6-7%) but also still nice and sweet hence why I've out lactose in there and quite liked the idea of adding the ginger and cinnamon. I prefer a sweeter cider instead of dry so hopefully this should make something i'd like (but nothing super sweet). I'm still waiting on the lactose and yeast in the mail so I thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any other suggestions in which I will be very open to!

Thanks guys
Ben

[benmoore92]

To give you an idea of what kind of taste I would like to achieve is something similar to Bulmers Original cider, or possibly a bit sweeter.

Cheers