Wanted. Basic cider recipe similiar to 5 seeds cloudy apple.

[mattdenge]

Hi there,
Thanks for your time.

I am very new to the brewing game and would appreciate some advice/direction. I look with envy at the talent on this forum.

I am interested in making a batch of cider that has a similar sweetness to 5 seeds cloudy apple. Seems to have the right balance for my palate.

I am looking to use the aldi apple juice with a splash of pear..

Could someone post a recipe that tastes great and is nice and sweet. I currently have some sn09 yeast, but believe this may produce a cider to dry for my taste. Would 1056 or an ale yeast be preferred. I would prefer not to back sweeten if possible.

I have made one batch before and used a kit with the addition of fresh apples and lactose. Everyone thought it was great but was to dry for my taste.

your help is certainly appreciated.

Matt

[drsmurto]

Sweet cider at home requires artificial sweetener, pasteurisation or back sweetening in the glass.

The sugar in apple juice is fully fermentable so yeast selection should not have an impact on the residual sugar level (FG).

[Oliver]

Hi and welcome, Matt.

I am sure you have already done a search for recipes on the site

A lot of people have great success brewing with Aldi and other preservative-free juices.

I haven't had 5 Seeds cider, but imagine it is a little on the sweet side.

Don't be afraid to add quite a bit of pear juice if you like (but again, it must be preservative free). Maybe try 25 per cent and adjust next time depending on how it is.

In my experience you need some lactose otherwise you'll end up with a very dry cider. Lactose is not a particularly sweet sugar so you will need a bit of it.

If you were happy with your last batch apart from the sweetness, try upping the amount of lactose this time.

How much did you add last time?

I am not familiar with SN09 but have used US-05 in the past, as have many others to brew a cider.

Cheers,

Oliver

[mattdenge]

Thanks guys.. drsmunto, I had the feeling backsweetening would be required..

Oliver, my first recipe was a "black rock cider tin" to which I added 1kg brewbooster mix, 600gm lactose and 4 pink last apples chopped up..I bottled at 1006 but it was dry..

ill try the fresh option with pear, apple and us-05.

thanks for the replies..

Matt

[Oliver]

I have brewed a few Black Rock ciders in my time and have always been pretty happy with the results.

Perhaps also try 1kg of lactose this time. The brew booster would have added a bit of residual sweetness last time so you'll need to offset that if you omit it this time.

Cheers,

Oliver

EDIT: And before anyone gets in first, it's DrSmurto, not Smunto

[earle]

I've had more success with the mangrove jacks cider kits than the black rock. The craft series one seems to need nothing much added to it, comes with a sachet of liquid to add after fermentation. Just got one of the standard series in a fermenter now to see how it goes.