hTTi

Just back from the holiday in Ireland where we drank some really nice ciders. A while ago I noticed there seemed to be many more brews available now in the UK other than the ubiquitous Bulmers.
Any sightings in supermarkets here? (Berlin/B'burg)
Cheers!

To get a feel for what is available, you might look here: https://www.ciderandmore.de/unser-Cider-Sortiment/

It is rather hard to come by cider in German supermarkets, apart from Bulmers.

Try looking in your local supermarkets for

Apfelwein

Forget the supermarkets, cider is a perfect entry drink into homebrew, as it's hard to get completely wrong.
The coward's way would be to buy some apple juice you like, put it in a clean bucket and some yeast (and sugar to taste). Then just leave it for a few weeks before bottling (about a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle to give it secondary fermentation).
More interesting is when you start making your own apple juice, but the process is basically the same.
Lots uk websites have more detailed recipes.

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't thought of Apfelwein. That website is informative.
It just occurred to me that a little trip on my Deutschland Ticket out to Werder (where they have the annual Apfelblütenfest) might be fruitful!

Feierabend wrote: ↑Tue Aug 20, 2024 10:27 am Thanks for the tips. I hadn't thought of Apfelwein. That website is informative.
It just occurred to me that a little trip on my Deutschland Ticket out to Werder (where they have the annual Apfelblütenfest) might be fruitful!

Try the Hessian version: Äppelwoi.

https://deutsche-delikatessen.de/appelwoi_apfelwein/

dstanners wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 10:28 pm cider is a perfect entry drink into homebrew, as it's hard to get completely wrong.

Ok, this I am very interested in. Have you had a go yourself and would you recommend a website/recipe?

Cider is lovely jubbly.

Yes, in the UK I used to make it every year, but we have so many prolific soft fruit trees here that I've been more focussed on wine over the last few years.

Here's how I typically make cider:

50/50 split of cooking and eating apples (although I have used 100% fallen cooking apples and added more honey, which worked perfectly well).

How I make the apple juice:
I own a 5 gallon/20 litre boiler which I fill up half way with roughly chopped apples wrapped in muslin cloths, and fill to 2/3 with water. I then boil it for a few hours until the apples turn to mush and then squeeze/crush the juice out of the muslin sacks (I used the square cloths we had loads of from when the kids were babies - no idea anymore what they were originally used for - and just tie knots in the corners).

Bought apple juice is an easy alternative.

If you have an apple press, it is obviously better (more genuine) to use that. It also means that you wouldn't kill the natural yeast (which my boiling does), so if you are happy that everything is sterile AND you used clean apples from the tree rather than rough fallen apples off the ground which could have all sorts of yeast in it, you could use those. Otherwise, crush two campden tablets in the juice over night, and add brewers yeast later as below.

Around here there are mobile apple presses, so you just look out for an advert for when one is in a nearby village and take all your apples there.

Turning juice to cider:
All the juice goes into a 5 gallon fermentation bucket. I use a sieve to get rid of the big lumps.
As it is usually still hot at this stage, I add sugar and honey to taste (typically one or two bags of caster sugar and a pot of honey)...it tastes pretty sweet. If you used cold juice, you can put the sugar and honey in a small jug of warm water to dilute before adding to the bucket. If I can be bothered, I use the hydrometer to check the gravity, so that the final product should come out at around 5%, but it isn't crucial if you don't have one.
I then add a sachet (a couple of grams) of brewers yeast (cider yeast if you have it, wine or even beer yeast has worked in the past). Obviously, this isn't necessary if you didn't boil the hell out of the apples and are happy that your apple juice and containers are "clean" of foreign yeasts.

Then put a lid with an airlock over the bucket (again a muslin cloth can be used tightly over the bucket if you don't have a proper fermentation container) and let it bubble away at room temperature for at least three weeks.

Once the bubbling has calmed down, you can bottle it. Make sure you don't syphon from the bottom of the bucket as that'll be full of sediment.
I syphon via another muslin cloth to get rid of the sediment, and add a small amount of sugar (say, a level tea spoon per 1 litre coke bottle, a little more if it tastes sour).
Leave the bottles for at least two weeks (ideally much longer), as the bit of sugar and the syphoning of the juice will kick off secondary fermentation - which is what you want for the fizz.

Drink.
If it's a bit too sour, serve cold or (if worse) even with lemonade.
If it's REALLY bad, keep until December, pour it into a pot and warm it up with extra honey and ginger and serve as sweet mulled cider.
Keep a note of what you did, and use different apples, different amounts of sweeteners or yeast next year.

Oh, mate, thanks so much for typing all that out.

It looks actually do-able and I'm going to pick up my windfalls and give it a go. We've loads this year.

I tracked down a couple of bottles in Marktkauf (Edeka group) which I don't often go into as it's a really big supermarket on the other side of town and I hate spending more than 20 mins on grocery shopping.
The storeroom lady brought me to the furthest corner of the place, bottom shelf. They just have La Cidraie, which is a Normandy cider, in Mild and Herb. Opened the Mild yesterday and it was fine.

Feierabend wrote: ↑Sun Aug 25, 2024 11:01 am ...
They just have La Cidraie, which is a Normandy cider, in Mild and Herb. Opened the Mild yesterday and it was fine.

I use the "Herb" for making "Pork Chops in Cider". Lecker!

I came across Cooper's Cider and Bio Cidre Trocken from Kelterei Heil in Rewe, just a small stock of bottles.

@ dstanners - where to you purchase brewers yeast?
I tried making wine once upon a time, and with very little success, but it sound like cider is a bit easier, so I might give it a try
I still have a bunch of demijohns and blubbers here....

Brewers yeast = Bierehefe you can usually buy it in health-food shops and pharmacies.
You can also buy online from Amazon (you decide if that's a good option) or from dedicated home-brewing sites like this one https://www.braupartner.de/en/artikel/866 (Not a recommendation, just the first one I found).

Pharmacies are indeed your friend for yeasts. Being German, you can usually be very specific with what you're after. Otherwise, you can always get someone from the UK to send over small packs/sachets of dried cider or beer yeast from loads of places (Wilkinsons - if that still exists, or even Asda often have a homebrew section).

I've stuck with wine again this year, and I've even chanced my arm with grapes again. I syphoned the "wine" from the fermentation barrel into demijohns this morning, and so far, it's looking, tasting and smelling like it might actually be 5th time lucky.

If it does go to plan, and end up being drinkable, I'll post the recipe.