Description

Festival Oaked Apple Cider

Festival Oaked Apple Cider is one of the highest quality cider kits currently available. Weighing in at 4.5kg, it contains 380g of real fruit to maximise the depth of flavour. Festival Oaked Apple Cider produces a stunning cider with fresh oaked apple aroma on the nose and a delicate oak finish on the palate. Blending high-quality apple juice and dried fruit achieves a deliciously crisp and refreshing taste. The kit includes everything (except water) to craft 40 pints of exceptional cider at approximately 7.2% ABV.

This kit provides stunning value and even comes with priming sugar for your barrel or bottles. Choose this kit to produce a delicious apple cider in only four weeks. In our opinion, this is a cracking buy if you are looking for a high strength cider, and feedback from our customers has been excellent.

What is Cider?

Cider is the fermented juice of apples. Blending different varieties of apples is common to create distinctive flavors and acidity levels in cider, and there may be some inclusion of pear juice. The juice of any variety of apple can be used to make cider, but cider apples are best. The addition of sugar or extra fruit before a second fermentation increases the alcohol content. Cider alcohol content varies from 1.2% to 8.5% ABV or more in traditional English ciders, and 3.5% to 12% in continental ciders. UK law decrees that cider must contain at least 35% apple juice (fresh or from concentrate), although CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) suggest that “real cider” should be at least 90% fresh apple juice. In the US, there is a 50% minimum. In France, cider must be exclusively made from apples.

Other Ciders

Perry is the fermented juice of pears and may include some apple juice. Perry is commonly called pear cider, although there is a subtle technical difference. The main difference between Perry and pear cider is that pear cider can use juice from edible pear varieties like Conference. “Proper” Perry, in contrast, is crafted exclusively from authentic perry pears. Pear cider may involve imported pear juice or concentrate and may even include some apple juice.

Cider can be presented in a number of forms. Scrumpy cider is usually flat and cloudy. It is frequently served from kegs. While some cider is served clear but flat, often from kegs or casks. Alternatively, cider can be served sparkling, whether clear or cloudy, typically from bottles or cans. Cider kits can be made to adapt to any of these styles. To achieve a sparkling clear cider, add finings, and store the cider in bottles primed with a small amount of sugar. Seal and leave in a warm place for a few days to build pressure before storing in a cool place for conditioning and clarity.

What’s included?

• 2kg Apple concentrate
• 2 x 1kg Brewing Sugar
• 380g Forest Dried Fruits
• 60g Lightly Toasted Oak Chips
• 140g Priming Sugar
• Yeast and Nutrient
• Cider Enzyme
• Sweetener
• Apple Flavouring

Specifications

• Kit weight: 4.5kg
• Makes: 40 pints / 5 gallons
• ABV Approx: 7.2%
• Target Finishing Gravity: 0.998 (approx)
• Fermentation time: 7 days (approx)
• Conditioning time: 4 weeks

What equipment do you need?

Basic cider making equipment (5g fermenter, airlock, syphon tube with sediment trap, hydrometer, Suresan sanitiser, bottles or barrel). These are available under the starter kit section on this website.

Food Pairing

Creamy dishes with cider (or apple) based sauces are an excellent pairing for cider. Chicken, pork or salmon also works well as a match. Any Normandy based dish will also be perfect, as will chicken casseroles or pies cooked with cider and sausages with cider.  Full-bodied ciders work well with rich dishes such as stews, curries, meat, pies and dishes with wintery spices such as sage and cinnamon. Lighter, delicately fruity, sweet ciders will compliment summery dishes like salads, quiches, tarts and fruits.

Tips

We strongly recommend using Pure Brew with this kit in order to achieve a commercial quality. Pure Brew is a professional cider enhancer. It feeds the yeast with essential nutrients, which supercharge the fermentation and support yeast development (even in limited oxygen conditions). Pure Brew also treats brewing water to eliminate problems caused by Chlorine and Chloramine (which can create a medicinal or as it is sometimes referred to, a “homebrew” taste) The condition of brewing water is critical to achieving optimum results but this important area is often overlooked. By using Pure Brew, you can effectively and easily condition brewing water, and maximise effective fermentation.

The addition of finings will improve the final quality of your cider. Finings such as Harris Cider Clear will help your cider to clear quickly and the sediment will be more likely to stay at the bottom of bottles or barrels. Cider Finings will promote a faster and more efficient fall out of sediment and haze particles prior to kegging. If you are vegan then Harris Starbrite is a highly effective vegan-friendly fining agent, which is rapidly becoming a firm favourite with home brewers.

If you prefer a dry cider then you may prefer to leave out the 2g sachet of cider sweetener. This is a non-fermentable sweetener, which will give a final residual sweetness to your drink.