Wow, am amazed

Jane

I know it's way too soon, but I had a sneaky taste of the cider we made from our own apples.
Fermentation started in a 5 gallon drum on 5/9/16.
Bottled on Friday 16/9/16 with a couple of carbonation drops per 500ml bottle.
Curiosity got the better of me 20/9/16
Am amazed, it was gorgeous. Top half of bottle crystal clear, got a bit cloudy towards end. Have never tasted cider like it. Appley and alcoholic (about 5.5% by my reckoning) and totally moreish. Almost wished I hadn't tasted it, because now I want to drink the rest, rather than let it mature. Although not fizzy as such, there was a very pleasant spritz to it.
Just pressed another 6 gallons today and still a lot more apples, so reckon it could be a very happy winter :-)
Cheers Jx

MikeyG

sounds awesome , ive got some fermenting now ...watched a video recently where the guy put 3 sugar drops per bottle ..came out really fizzy ....

Jane

Eeek, would be worried about cider bottle bombs.
Let me know how your cider turns out.
Never made cider before (drunk plenty!) and can't get over how much nicer than commercial cider this is.
Jx

BUDFORCE

Brewing your own (even from kits) generally produces much better stuff then you buy in shops.

Commercially brewed beer, well, most of it, will have all the tricks of the trade to speed up production and minimise costs etc, which comes through in the taste of the beer.

They also have to factoring in the beer will be stored longer, cant sell commercially made beer with sediment in the bottom (well some do, generally the better ones).

There are some good commercially available beer but want to try and steer away from anything mass produced, and the stuff from the smaller brewerys then tends to me more expensive and harder to come by.

Sierra Nevada is pretty good as a more widley available commercial beer which you can get in most supermarkets now.

Soem more niche ones but really good are beer made by the Four Pure brewery in Bermondsey in London, which are sold in M&S stores now.

Also if you can get hold of Beavertown beers, they do an ale called a Gamma Ray which is very good, but any of the Beavertown stuff is exceptional.

http://www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk/

It will cost a fortune though once you have ordered those online.

But something like Carlesberg for example, every single factory process and trick to brew it quickly, I wouldn't really even call it beer, its just a brown fizzy liquid that tastes horrible and probably not good for you.

I visited a small brewery in Devon ones, in The Big Sheep and the guy was telling me how many non-listed ingredients goes in to mass produced lager, something like 120, that by law do not need to be listed on the can.

Best solution: Brew your own!

lilyalvin

Cider re-fermentation happens a lot often now. I think it's a decisive approach than you think.