[Steve Ruch]

What is the O G of plain apple juice?

[dmtaylor]

It varies from 1.040 to about 1.050, depending on the apple varieties and degree of ripeness, etc.  Some will claim it can be as high as 1.055 or even 1.060 but I have measured dozens of juices and NEVER measured it that high.  A good average if in doubt is 1.045.

With zero added sugars and 95% of yeasts, this will ferment down to approximately 0.997 (plus or minus a few points), for a beverage of about 6 to 6.5% ABV.

Cheers.  I love cider, I've made almost as much as Denny has. 

[Bob357]

Most that I've measured are ~ 1.046 to 1.051.

[denny]

Yeah, that's the range my own apple juice falls into

[HopDen]

I have never tasted a cider, ever! Is it a sour like beverage? Is it similar to applejack? Give me a few suggestions on a commercial brands so that I can try them.
Thanks!

[dmtaylor]

I have never tasted a cider, ever! Is it a sour like beverage? Is it similar to applejack? Give me a few suggestions on a commercial brands so that I can try them.
Thanks!

Applejack is a stronger version of a cider.  Otherwise, cider is really literally just fermented apple juice.  Tastes like apple, with a kick!  Cider can be sweet or dry, tart or tame.  Also there are tannins in many apples which can contribute additional dryness and body.  I prefer mine to be about in the center of all these parameters.  One of my favorite commercial ciders is Magner's, which is close to the center or a little more on the sweet side, and has a wee bit of unusual funk from the many varieties of old heritage cider apples that they use.  There are dozens of other brands you can try.  Angry Orchard is okay (it's made by Boston Beer / Sam Adams).  ACE is alright too and pretty widely available.  I'd lean away from Stella Artois Cidre, it's quite sweet.  Those are just a few that are very widely available.  Depending where you live, you should have several local options as well.

There's nothing easier to make than cider.  It's like nature's original naturally fermented beverage.  Literally, you can just leave a jug of juice sitting too long in your refrigerator, come back a few months later and you have a hard cider that you can enjoy -- I have done this many times and have some in my fridge right now as we speak, ready to drink.  Delicious.  When I make my cider at home, it tends to turn out pretty dry, so I add unfermentable xylitol to sweeten it.

I usually do add my own yeast.  I've experimented with several, and my favorite yeast is a white wine yeast called Cote des Blancs, you can pick it up at any brew shop or buy 10 packs for $10 on Amazon.  Cheap and effective.

Cheers!

[fredthecat]

I have never tasted a cider, ever! Is it a sour like beverage? Is it similar to applejack? Give me a few suggestions on a commercial brands so that I can try them.
Thanks!

Applejack is a stronger version of a cider.  Otherwise, cider is really literally just fermented apple juice.  Tastes like apple, with a kick!  Cider can be sweet or dry, tart or tame.  Also there are tannins in many apples which can contribute additional dryness and body.  I prefer mine to be about in the center of all these parameters.  One of my favorite commercial ciders is Magner's, which is close to the center or a little more on the sweet side, and has a wee bit of unusual funk from the many varieties of old heritage cider apples that they use.  There are dozens of other brands you can try.  Angry Orchard is okay (it's made by Boston Beer / Sam Adams).  ACE is alright too and pretty widely available.  I'd lean away from Stella Artois Cidre, it's quite sweet.  Those are just a few that are very widely available.  Depending where you live, you should have several local options as well.

There's nothing easier to make than cider.  It's like nature's original naturally fermented beverage.  Literally, you can just leave a jug of juice sitting too long in your refrigerator, come back a few months later and you have a hard cider that you can enjoy -- I have done this many times and have some in my fridge right now as we speak, ready to drink.  Delicious.  When I make my cider at home, it tends to turn out pretty dry, so I add unfermentable xylitol to sweeten it.

I usually do add my own yeast.  I've experimented with several, and my favorite yeast is a white wine yeast called Cote des Blancs, you can pick it up at any brew shop or buy 10 packs for $10 on Amazon.  Cheap and effective.

Cheers!

not sure if it was becasue of some bugs in the cider or what, but

i boughly a few litres of unpasteurized apple cider/juice, sanitized a small carboy, added some recent WLP500 to it, let it go for a month and bottled it still in wine bottles.


taste was good, but one night i had some whiskey, beers and last of all a wine bottle of the ~6% cider. the next day i had an incredible hangover and was pretty well sick to my stomach (which is very rare for my hangovers) hangover the day after. i felt actually sick and very hungover, couldnt really determine which issue it was. but i dont plan to use unpasteurized apple juice ever again.

[HopDen]

I have never tasted a cider, ever! Is it a sour like beverage? Is it similar to applejack? Give me a few suggestions on a commercial brands so that I can try them.
Thanks!

Applejack is a stronger version of a cider.  Otherwise, cider is really literally just fermented apple juice.  Tastes like apple, with a kick!  Cider can be sweet or dry, tart or tame.  Also there are tannins in many apples which can contribute additional dryness and body.  I prefer mine to be about in the center of all these parameters.  One of my favorite commercial ciders is Magner's, which is close to the center or a little more on the sweet side, and has a wee bit of unusual funk from the many varieties of old heritage cider apples that they use.  There are dozens of other brands you can try.  Angry Orchard is okay (it's made by Boston Beer / Sam Adams).  ACE is alright too and pretty widely available.  I'd lean away from Stella Artois Cidre, it's quite sweet.  Those are just a few that are very widely available.  Depending where you live, you should have several local options as well.

There's nothing easier to make than cider.  It's like nature's original naturally fermented beverage.  Literally, you can just leave a jug of juice sitting too long in your refrigerator, come back a few months later and you have a hard cider that you can enjoy -- I have done this many times and have some in my fridge right now as we speak, ready to drink.  Delicious.  When I make my cider at home, it tends to turn out pretty dry, so I add unfermentable xylitol to sweeten it.

I usually do add my own yeast.  I've experimented with several, and my favorite yeast is a white wine yeast called Cote des Blancs, you can pick it up at any brew shop or buy 10 packs for $10 on Amazon.  Cheap and effective.

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply! I am going to stop after work today and buy a few different brands. We have quite a few orchards near me so I may be brewing some this fall.