Description

What is Festival Forest Fruits Cider?

Festival Forest Fruits Cider is one of the highest quality cider kits currently available. Weighing in at 3.6kg, it contains 512g of real forest fruits to maximise the depth of flavour. Festival Forest Fruits Cider produces a stunning cider with berry-like aromas on the nose and a woodland fruit finish on the palate. The blend of high-quality apple juice and dried forest fruits achieves a deliciously crisp and refreshing taste. The kit includes everything (except water) to make 40 pints of exceptional cider, at approximately 5.2% ABV..

This kit provides great value and even comes with priming sugar for your barrel or bottles. Choose this kit to produce a delicious fruit-infused cider in only four weeks. In our opinion, this is a cracking buy if you are looking for a fruit-infused 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 a common practice to impart distinctive flavours and acidity levels (and may involve adding some 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 made solely from apples.

Types of cider

Perry is the fermented juice of pears and may include some apple juice. People often refer to Perry as 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, on the other hand, is exclusively crafted from genuine perry pears. One can produce pear cider using imported pear juice or concentrate, and it may even incorporate some apple juice.

Cider can be presented in a number of forms. Scrumpy cider is usually flat and cloudy. It is often served from kegs. Some cider is served clear but flat (again often served from kegs or casks). Alternatively, cider can be served sparkling (clear or cloudy), usually from bottles or cans. Cider kits can be made to adapt to any of these styles. For a sparkling clear cider, finings should be added and cider stored in bottles primed with a small amount of sugar (then sealed and left in a warm place for a few days to build pressure, before storing in a cool place to condition and clear).

Cider consumption has steadily increased over recent years and is popular with younger drinkers. Fruit infusion ciders have transformed the UK market, and many cider makers are experimenting in the same way that craft brewers are with beer. There are no rules regarding which fruits work, so have fun and find your own favourite style.

What’s included?

• • 2kg Apple concentrate
  • 1kg Brewing Sugar
  • 512g Forest Dried Fruits
  • 140g Priming Sugar
  • Yeast and Nutrient
  • Cider Enzyme
  • Sweetener
  • Forest Fruits Flavouring

Specifications

• Kit weight: 3.6kg
• Makes: 40 pints / 5 gallons
• ABV Approx: 5.2%
• Target Finishing Gravity: 1.001 (approx)
• Fermentation time: 7 days (approx)
• Conditioning time: 4 weeks

What equipment is needed?

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 “Purebrew” with this kit in order to achieve a commercial quality. Purebrew feeds the yeast with essential nutrients, which supercharge the fermentation and support yeast development (even in limited oxygen conditions). Purebrew also treats brewing water to eliminate issues caused by Chlorine and Chloramine (which can produce 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 Purebrew, 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.