Boozy punch - quick, easy, and cheap

[Drzava]

Hat tip for this to a poster on thehomebrewforum.co.uk. Super easy, super cheap punch, just right for summer! For a 5 litre batch, all you'll need is:
1 x 1 litre of 'Fruit & Barley, no added sugar' juice drink concentrate. Robinsons make this, but Aldi and Lidl do them as well in a variety of flavours for €1.
400g sugar.
1 tsp yeast nutrient.
Sachet cider yeast.
Water.

1. Dissolve 400g sugar and 1 tsp yeast nutrient in simmering water and add to contents of Fruit & Barley bottle in a 5L water container (NB: don't add the hot water/sugar first, as it may melt the bottle). You do NOT need to boil the concentrate, no matter what others say!
2. Top with fresh water to ~4.5L.
3. Add half the sachet of cider yeast (wine yeast will probably be fine too).
4. That's it! Go and do something else.

After a few days, when any Krausen has subsided, top up with water to ~5L. Leave for about two weeks in total; longer certainly won't hurt. Rack to a new 5L water bottle with 50g sugar dissolved in ~100ml hot water (let cool for a bit first). Siphon to bottles.

Leave for two weeks to carbonate, and then drink away! No conditioning needed.

OG adjusted for later water addition is about 1.029; FG ~0.994. Final ABV c. 5% in the bottle.

Taste is basically an alcopop - would be very nice over ice I'm sure. It's sweet as the juice drink contains artificial sweeteners; it has body from the barley. Found the Summer Fruits only OK, but I think I just don't like that flavour anyway. Peach is lovely; I currently have a Tropical one ready to bottle.

For added cheapness / laziness, I just poured out the 'extra' water from a new 5L water bottle and topped up with juice/sugar/etc. At the end of fermentation, I just whacked a new batch of juice straight onto the trub of the previous batch and shook up.

[bachus]

(...)
Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate 10% (Apple, Strawberry, Plum, Blackcurrant, Cherry), Acids (Citric Acid, Malic Acid), Refined Barley Flour (1%), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Natural Colours (Anthocyanins), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Saccharin), Natural Flavouring, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Metabisulphite), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid)
(https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Robinsons-Summer-Fruits-Fruit--Barley-No-Added-Sugar/16234011)

No problems during Fermentation?

[Drzava]

(...)
Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate 10% (Apple, Strawberry, Plum, Blackcurrant, Cherry), Acids (Citric Acid, Malic Acid), Refined Barley Flour (1%), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Natural Colours (Anthocyanins), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Saccharin), Natural Flavouring, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Metabisulphite), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid)
(https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Robinsons-Summer-Fruits-Fruit--Barley-No-Added-Sugar/16234011)

No problems during Fermentation?

None whatsoever! The poster on the UK forum who came up with the recipe says to boil it to get rid of the preservatives, but it's not necessary in my experience. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid!