Mixed berry cider

[chub1]

Just started this one off-
4 litres tesco value apple juice (3 to start)
3/4 litre water ( 1/2 to start)
1/2 bottle approx ,of blueberry syrup
1/2 bottle approx, of raspberry syrup
1/4 bottle approx, chokeberry syrup
3 tea bags and 8 grms cascade hops steeped 10 mins
Ritchies sparkling wine yeast.
Will add 1 litre apple juice and 1/4 litre water in 5 days. Added water might bring down the ABV a tad !!! Toatal liquid approx 5 1/2 litres

OG approx 1.066
Will post a report up if it turns out any good

[chub1]

Just started this one off-
4 litres tesco value apple juice (3 to start)
3/4 litre water ( 1/2 to start)
1/2 bottle approx ,of blueberry syrup
1/2 bottle approx, of raspberry syrup
1/4 bottle approx, chokeberry syrup
3 tea bags and 8 grms cascade hops steeped 10 mins
Ritchies sparkling wine yeast.
Will add 1 litre apple juice and 1/4 litre water in 5 days. Added water might bring down the ABV a tad !!! Toatal liquid approx 5 1/2 litres

OG approx 1.066
Will post a report up if it turns out any good

Just bottled this up at around 8.40%.
Had a taste at day 15 and although not nasty it was rather harsh. Decided to dry hop it with 10 grams of Bramling Cross.
Had a taste whilst bottling up and it has improved no end, even Mrs Chub liked it
If i do this one again i will add more water to drop the ABV down.

[chub1]

Cracked one open today.
Nice and clear and a nice red tinge to it, reasonably carbed. Pretty dry with a hint of fruit. Think even more syrup could be used for more flavour, however certainly drinkeable

[Chug]

I did two different fruity TC's recently, 1 with a bottle of lowicz raspberry syrup added and one with a bottle of no added sugar summer fruits squash, I bottled them yesterday and primed the lowicz one with more lowicz and half tsp sugar per 500ml, it is drier than the squash version but has a reasonable flavour, the squash one is just right, nice and fruity and not too dry and was primed with 1 tsp sugar per 500ml. I'll give them a few weeks and test again.

[chub1]

I did two different fruity TC's recently, 1 with a bottle of lowicz raspberry syrup added and one with a bottle of no added sugar summer fruits squash, I bottled them yesterday and primed the lowicz one with more lowicz and half tsp sugar per 500ml, it is drier than the squash version but has a reasonable flavour, the squash one is just right, nice and fruity and not too dry and was primed with 1 tsp sugar per 500ml. I'll give them a few weeks and test again.

What make of squash was that?
I will do some more but will use ale yeast this time rather than sparkling wine yeast and try and finish up not so dry.

[Chug]

It was from Aldi, the brand is Lindhouse and its fruit and barley summer fruits no added sugar, it has sodium metabisulphate and potasssium sorbate in so I boiled it for 10-15 mins.

And thank you for reminding me about trying an Ale yeast too, I grabbed a packet of gervin from wilko to do just that, but cannot remember where I put it now though

[Chug]

These two I did, one with a bottle of raspberry lowicz and one with a bottle of summer fruits squash.came out really quite well, so my daughter and her friend bought more ingredients to do them again, a squash one for my daughter and a Lowicz one for her friend

Squash one isn't as nice a colour but it's sweeter, Lowicz one looks nicer colour but is drier and stronger as it has the same sugar from apple juice plus the sugar in the lowicz.

I prefer the plain TC's but I think if I did a two DJ size batch and used a bottle of squash and a bottle of Lowicz it would be a nice colour and taste sweet enough.

[Grim Ruby]

you can always back sweeten the dryer ones from lowicz. If you go to a Polish shop in your area they have many different types not just Lowicz brand and you can get mixed fruit also. I find that using 1and a half bottles of syrup to 3 apple juice and topping up if needed with a diluted solution does the trick. So if yours is dry to the mouth feel then just sweeten it with splenda till it tastes good for you. Ritchie's yeast will eat all sugars from my experience doing ciders and wines, maybe stop it earlier and have a 5-6 % cider rather than 8 + happy experimenting.

[sonicated]

I've also made a TC with Lowicz which has taken it to from my usual 4.5% to 8.7%. Has anyone tried using concentrated flavourings to keep the ABV down?