John Bull Cider or TC

[mctoon]

I have made a few 1 Gallon TCs in the past and found it to be a nice but "rough" cider. I was thinking about a 40pint kit of John Bull,,, or 40 pints of TC to go into a spare barrel for the summer

how many litre cartons for 40 pints of TC,, 23?, or can you get away with less and top up with water,, any thoughts

Cheers Mal

[Bryggmester]

I wouldn't top up with water, you will end up with a thinner result. Apple juice is fine by itself IMHO. I would say TC beats cider kits hands down. Even better if you use a cider yeast and Dreadskin's magic formula, Bramleys and strong tea. I haven't been able to brew beer recently due to high temperatures, but I am sitting with a very pleasant pint of TC brewed about 3 weeks ago.

[pauljmuk]

I was always of the view that cider kit cans were just apple juice concentrate - as I make TC with sainsbury apple juice from concentrate, i'm not sure there is much of a difference (for the kit, you add the water, with TC, the water is already in the carton?)

[Bryggmester]

TC is just apple juice and yeast with whatever else you decide to put in it. The labels on kits generally show all sorts of extras: flavouring, glucose etc. The last time I tried a kit ( can't remember which one) it had a disgusting aroma of pear drops, no doubt due to the flavourings they put in. It is all down to personal taste but iMHO cider kits are inferior and not worth the money. I had a visit from my brother yesterday and gave him some TC made to Dreadskin's recipe. He thought it was great, " just like real scrumpy". You won't get that with a kit.