John Bull Cider Home Brew Kit

John Bull Cider Making Kit

Produces 32 pints of a full flavoured, or 40 pints medium-dry, traditional country cider.

INGREDIENTS Apple juice concentrate, Glucose-fructose syrup, Glucose syrup, Apple aroma, Acidity regulators (citric acid, trisodium citrate), Diammonium phosphate, Apple flavouring, Preservative (Sulphur dioxide), Dried cider yeast, Yeast nutrient. See all allergies in BOLD

Makes 40 pints or 32 Pints

1kg Fermenting sugar required

To Make John Bull Cider Kit

you will need the following Equipment

1. A food grade plastic or polythene container with a loose fitting lid large enough to hold 40 pints (23 litres). A 25 litre fermenting vessel is ideal
2. A length of plastic tubing to syphon the fermented beer into bottles or a barrel.
3. A pressure barrel or bottles sufficient for40 pints (23 litres) PET (Plastic) fizzy drink bottles are suitable or brown beer bottles with crown caps are ideal. Note – Do not use glass bottles with cracks or chips in them or non-returnable glass bottles.
4. 1kg of Brewing Sugar Or Enhancer
5. A proprietary cleaning agent such as Youngs Cleaner/Steriliser to clean your equipment.

Optional Items for John Bull

1. A hydrometer & trial jar are useful to check the progress of fermentation and final gravity.
2. A thermometer & heater tray or brew belt (for optimum temperature control)

CLEANLINESS

All equipment, bottles etc. must be cleaned and sterilised. Rinse with clean cold water after sterilising Do not use household detergents and cleaners. See your own steriliser/cleanerforfull usage details.

BREWING

1. Empty the contents of the can into your sterilised container and add 1kg of sugar. Boil 2.25 litres (4 pints) of water, use a little to rinse the can, allow to cool slightly, then stir into the mix until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the balance of cold water to make up the total to 23 litres (40 pints) or Stout 18 litres (32 pints). Stir thoroughly. The final temperature of the mixture should be 18/24c
3. Sprinkle the contents of the sachet of yeast onto the brew, stir and replace the lid. If making cider sprinkle in nutrient sachet.
4. Stand the container in a warm place in a temperature of 18/24c (We recommend the use of a heater tray or brew belt for optimum temperature control) and leave to ferment for between 4 to 8 days.

5. Check that fermentation has completely finished before proceeding. This can be confirmed when no bubbles are rising to the surface and the brew begins to clear. A hydrometer reading of below 1006 on two consecutive days will confirm that fermentation is complete, for low carbohydrate beers .996 to .998. It is important to make sure that fermentation is complete before bottling, othemise there is a danger of the bottles bursting.

BOTTLING THE BEER

This “priming’ process will carbonate your beer which adds the life and sparkle to the beer.

1. Put a maximum of 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into each of your (sterilised) bottles. Do not exceed this amount or the beer will be too lively to serve. Syphon the beer from the container into the bottles (taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom) leaving a head space of 5cm (2inches) between the top ofthe liquid and bottle rim.
2. Seal or cap your bottles with crown caps and transfer to a warm place at room temperature (about 20c) and leave for about 4 days to allow secondary fermentation to take place. Do not store in direct sunlight.
3. Now move the bottles to a cool place to allow the beerto clear. Clearing will take about one week. Once the beer is perfectly dear it is ready to drink, but will improve if left to mature for at least a further two weeks.

USING A PRESSURE BARREL

1. Follow the brewing instructions given earlier until fermentation is complete.
2. Now refer to the detailed instructions supplied with your barrel. As a guided, the steps will be:
3. Syphon the beer from the container into your sterilised barrel leaving the sediment behind.
4. Dissolve 100 grams of “priming’ sugar in a cupful of hot water, add this solution to the barrel and stir well.
5. Cap the barrel tightly and move to a warm place (20c) for 4 days, then leave to clear in a cool place. Note that beer takes longer to clear in a barrel then in bottles and should be left for 3 to 4 weeks to clarify’ and mature. Beer finings may be added to reduce clearing time.
6. If the cap of your barrel is fitted with a c02 valve, you can inject fufther gas when the natural c02 produced has been used up.

John Bull Instructions (PDF file) Click to download