On my 2nd time trying to buy it I eventually got this kit, have been told its close to Bulmers so I decided to give it a bash.
https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/finlandia-apple-pear-cider-40-pints-p-1235.html (https://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/finlandia-apple-pear-cider-40-pints-p-1235.html)
Filled the FV to 20ltrs and added 1250grms of Brewing Sugar, in the hope of giving it a bit more of a kick.
Before pitching the yeast my reading was 1.038 (pic to follow).
Will keep you all posted as to how this one turns out.
1.038 on Thur 30th January
I've heard great things about this cider kit. It's supposed to finish up with some good sweetness and gets drinkable quickly :)
yep, lookin forward to seeing how it turns out. Am learning to be more patient the more I brew - maybe this should have been my first kit then?
eventually you'll be patient enought to just set and forget, and forget, and forget ;D
this brew is defo one i cant forget about at the moment - bubblin away like mad up the hallway, hope it doesnt wake the little one!
Reckon she's good to bottle?
I brewed this to 20ltrs and added 1250grm Brewing Sugar on thur 30th Jan.
It started bubbling within hours and stopped over the weekend.
Thur 30th Jan 1.038
Tues 11th Feb 0.996
I tasted it tonite and I liked it! Much sweeter than the Brewmaker Cider Deluxe and could defo taste the "similarity" to Bulmers that I've heard mentioned.
I must work out the ABV too ...
Here's tonites reading :
Sweet at 996? ???
Yeah, even got herself to taste it too and she agreed. Sweet and tastes like it won't need much time until it's ready to drink either - woohoo!
I got 5.5% ABV
Should I be worried it's sweet at that reading?
I'm confused it shouldn't be sweet and that low gravity ?
When did you add sugar?
I added 1250grms at the beginning and haven't touched it since until I took a reading tonite.
It has a sweeter taste than the Brewmaker cider deluxe, which tastes drier.
Now I'm confused...
With a battery acid chaser?
Its the artificial sweetner.
It was standard issue brewing sugar I used.
Still confused ;)
ok all your natural sugars will convert, but saccharin or aspartame, the artificial sweeteners don't ferment, I forgot the kits do have them present.
Aha!
Now I'm not confused, thank you! :)
Bottled this evening.
Came up with this label to add to a few of the bottles . . . Will print a few off when i get back to work :D :D :D
Named "Oscars Cider" after my new born son, sure why not!!!!!
gratz on the newborn :)
and how is the taste? I made the finlandia pear cider only and it had a chemical smelling bag of pear something with the kit.. have it in secondary now for 1 week and will bottle when i can find some time :)
cheers lampie
its only bottled but I sampled it as I bottled it and it was good. I'm more into the sweet ciders so this one suited me. Will try a bottle in a few weeks when its fully carbed etc.
At what rate did you carb it at, I done 5g/l as per instructions in the summer and I thought it came out slightly flat.
I bottled it into 500ml bottles and 1 1/2 coopers carb drops per bottle.
Not too sure what that works out at
Sounds about right for cider.
1 is fine if you can wait 3-6 months
1.5 if you are in a hurry ;D
Quote from: fishjam45 on February 17, 2014, 08:39:56 PM
I bottled it into 500ml bottles and 1 1/2 coopers carb drops per bottle.
Not too sure what that works out at
8 grams per liter
Were there different size Carb drops?
They were just the standard Coopers Drops. I have a good scissors so I cut them in half.
Bit of a pain in the arse really - Drops are for 330ml or 750ml bottles, would make sense if they sold drops for 500ml bottles - bloody Aussies!!!!!
your next bucket puchase will allow you to batch prime and you will get a better more uniform result.
thats defo something i've considered! Will be asking you all about it when you are collecting your Brew ;)
I second on batch priming, get yourself a second bucket and batch prime it'll make you life a lot easier and it ensures that your brew is carbonated consistently
I'm sure theres a thread in here somewhere explaining it.
My first concern would be the extra vessel increases risk of infected brew . . . and more cleaning too!!
Maybe people are a bit, how shall we say politely, "anal" about hygiene.
I have heard about people who regard a tap in the bottom of a fermenter as a "Hades of potential infection" but are happy to use a syphon or turkey baster to take out a gravity sample. They may also use a bottling bucket to prime the batch and decant into bottles!
Yep, a second bucket increases the risk of infection - but not by much - as long as you clean and sanitise properly.
I'm a bit anal about cleaning and santising so thats fine. I've been looking into it and I'm concerned as to how do you clean the Siphon tube?
As an experienced tropical fishkeeper this question of cleaning siphons has crossed my mind before . . .
Personally, (thanks to Will D) I always give siphons a good soak in Lidl W5 Oxy for 10 minutes, and then spray with Star San before using. More soak in Oxy, VWP or the like should hopefully shift stubborn stains.
Any update fishjam, have you had a taste yet?
I had a taste last Sunday. I knew it was way too early but I tried it anyway.
It's not fully carved yet and it will need more time to develop too, it has bags of potential but it's still nowhere near drinkable. Will try it again in a week or so.
ok . . . i sampled a bottle tonite and it was flat as a pancake!!!
Can i re-carb the bottles?
I presume that i could open them, pop in a carb drop and then cap the bottle again?
HELP!!!
Try another bottle, sometimes but very rarely I get the odd flat bottle, probably due to a weak seal when capping
I did and sadly they were all flat . . . recarbed em all last night. Heres hoping that I havent created bottle bombs!!!!
Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.
1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing. Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .
2 - My effort at recarbing didnt work aswell as I'd have liked it to. I might have to try something else suggested to me using Cider Yeast to re-seed(?) the bottles along with more drops. The ABV has obviously gone up too after two attempts using carb drops to carb it.
Quote from: fishjam45 on May 22, 2014, 09:37:44 PM
Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.
1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing. Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .
2 - My effort at recarbing didnt work aswell as I'd have liked it to. I might have to try something else suggested to me using Cider Yeast to re-seed(?) the bottles along with more drops. The ABV has obviously gone up too after two attempts using carb drops to carb it.
How is the ABV increasing if it's not carbing? You can't have one without the other unless you have bad seals.....
True, an oversight on my behalf.
Quote from: fishjam45 on May 22, 2014, 09:37:44 PM
Cracked open a bottle tonight and theres two things I noticed.
1 - The taste has really improved with a bit of ageing. Its good to have something to show for being patient. Now, for more patience . . .
Yes that amazed me too when i tasted mine.. I managed to save some bottles so will leave them to see if the taste is getting better.
I was patient with this one and I've loads of it left. Just popped a litre bottle in the fridge that I'll hopefully enjoy tomorrow evening.
Started this last night as my second ever full sized homebrew. After the hassle of sanitising gear etc, and then bottling my 1st brew (stout), setting this cider up was a breeze! Still on a learning curve with homebrewing and last night's lesson was not to heat the kit can too much before opening. Put it in simmering water for 15 minutes and the bottom was bulged when I took it out. Opened it (ring pull) very carefully facing away from me and, sure enough, it gave a small explosion when pierced, complete with hot sugar solution flying into the air! Wouldn't have done much good to my face if it had been in the way!
Kit contents, plus 1kg dextrose.
Made to 20L.
OG 1.046 @ 23C, so looking at 6.5% in the bottle.
Checked it this morning (it went on about midnight) and I'm slightly worried as there's no airlock action (I know, I know - not a reliable indicator!), in contrast to my stout batch which was bubbling like mad the next morning. 13L of headspace though so I guess it has to produce a fair amount to raise the pressure.
Question on gravities - should they not be consistent between brewers? Looking at the OP of this thread, they got an OG of 1.038 with the kit plus 1.25kg dextrose, brewed to 20L. Yet, I got a higher OG with less sugar (1kg)? That shouldn't be possible no?
Airlock action had died off last night so decided to take a gravity reading, hoping it might be heading toward completion. Only down to 1.028 - disappointed with that. Sample was quite fizzy - would that have had a major effect on the hydrometer I wonder (I did pour it from one container to another a few times before reading, and spun the hydrometer)? Temp was down to 19.5. I stuck a few hot water bottles around it and it's back up to 22.5C this morning, and airlock back in business.
Down to 1.014 last night, but airlock action has died off since again. Temp has been 21 - 22C most of the time so hope it hasn't decided to give up yet! Taste is like sugary water with a slight touch of apple - hope it improves!
Give it plenty of time to condition, it'll get better with age
Do you think time would 'boost' the apple flavour? As I said above, it's only got the mereist hint of apple at the moment. I'll take a gravity reading in the coming days and see how the taste is going too.
This has been sitting at 1.003 / 1.004 for the last three or four days so I reckon it's time to bottle tonight. The taste has improved hugely in the last week - still a bit watery, but some time, fizz and ice cubes should have it pretty nice! Has cleared a lot too.
Nearly two weeks after bottling and I seem to be having problems with carbing. Batch primed at approx. 11g per litre (corrected for fermenter scale reading too high, which I didn't know at the time) but my PET tester has only 'sort of' firmed up, with minimal sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Not much sediment either in the glass bottles. For comparison, my Cerveza which I bottled only three days ago is as firm in the tester bottle, and has way more sediment. Bit worried TBH....
Couldn't wait any longer so I sampled my PET tester last night. Unfortunately, it was indeed only relatively poorly carbonated. Fine for a stout, but definitely not 'sparkling cider' levels. AT a loss as to why it hasn't carbonated well TBH. Clarity was very good - almost clear, and that's after I poured some sediment too. Taste was......ok. Kinda mixture of sugary water, with a bit of bite at the back of the mouth. Hopefully time will help it integrate better.
Well, time did help it get better! From about a month in the bottle, this has definitely improved and is very tasty now (6 weeks in bottle). Pours super clear (but watch that sediment) and with lots of fizz - although the 'lasting' fizz is only medium.