Store bought juice for cider?

mnoltimier · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: Store bought juice for cider?

I live in Houston where we have no apple orchards. There are lots of juices and cider in the store to choose from... what do you use?

kellzey · Joined: 04 Aug 2011 Posts: 580 Location: Orlando, FL

Organic apple juice from Costco. All natural, not from concentrate, and no preservatives.

I have 6 gallons of apple wine aging right now.

Go to Home Brew Talk and search for Ed Wort's Apfelwein thread!

ranger4834 · Joined: 04 Nov 2012 Posts: 7 Location: Austin, MN

If you like a dry cider, try this:

I use Great Value 100% Apple Juice from Walmart and it works great! I aerate it and pitch White Labs WLP775 English Cider Yeast. I let it sit in primary for two weeks and a secondary for two weeks. I force carbonate with my kegging system so it tastes like a green apple champagne or a very dry hard cider you would get from the store.

wubears71 · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:51 pm Post subject:

My Grandpa ferments with Juicy Juice. The end result is somewhere near prison hooch!

chutracheese · Joined: 06 Oct 2011 Posts: 97

Use any juice that doesn't have any preservatives in it other than ascorbic acid (Vitamin C).
I use Motts.

perogi · Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 1:19 am Post subject:

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I just tasted EdWort's Apfelwein that I "brewed" almost a year ago - it's incredible.

I used apple cider from a farm down the road and brown sugar instead of dextrose. I don't think the brown sugar did anything as it is extremely dry cider.

Fejj · Joined: 10 Jun 2013 Posts: 213 Location: North Shore, MA

Brown sugar is 100% fermentable so all the sugars will be eaten by the yeast. The only way to make a non-dry cider is to remove all the yeast via filtering or chemicals and keg carb after sweetening, or to backsweeten with something non-fermentable like lactose(ew) or splenda etc.

bondra76 · Joined: 15 Nov 2014 Posts: 2 Location: Centennial

Treetop has a new 3 apple blend juice that I used for a cider - it's great

James Edmonton · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:00 am Post subject:

If you want to sweeten it, add potassium sorbate before adding additional sugar or apple juice to sweeten. Potassium sorbate prevents the yeast from budding and thereby prevents further fermentation. It is readily available from any wine-making store.

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Potassium Metabisulfite will deactivate the yeast as well... AKA campden tablets.

bondra76 · Joined: 15 Nov 2014 Posts: 2 Location: Centennial

I've always used campden tablets and potassium sorbate. I was told in a seminar that the campden tablets kill off the existing yeast and the potassium sorbate prevents reproduction of yeast.