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I need a recommendation about an apple juice that I can buy in order to make hard cider. I have read that it requires an apple juice without preservatives, but is there anything else I need to look out for?

I live in the UK so If anyone can suggest a suitable apple juice that I can use to make hard cider that is purchasable in the UK?

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if you guys have organic stuff, i'd start there... they usually leave out the preservatives. Just read the label. Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is ok. Pasturised is ok. – Dale Mar 24 '12 at 4:37
@Dale you should make that an answer as it is more correct that the current two answers. No preservatives, but Ascorbic acid is OK is all you really need to know about picking a juice. – Graham Apr 12 '12 at 12:59

3 Answers

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If you can find organic juice over ther in the UK, I'd start there... they usually leave out the preservatives. Just read the label. Ascorbic acid (vitamin c) is ok. Pasturised is ok.

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You can just use cheap apple juice from the supermarket, see this blog post by Sean Ayling.

Cheers,

Bob

P.S. In the UK we don't call it "Hard Cider", it's just called Cider...

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In Canada the difference is that "Cider" that is non-alcoholic is usually unfiltered apple juice and has no preservatives, compared to "Apple Juice" which is filtered and has preservatives. "Hard" is only used in contexts where there could be both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cider at the same time. – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Mar 19 '12 at 18:07
@boab I was using hard to distinguish between cider made using a press and cider made using this method. We don't call it a "supermarket" in the UK either. Thanks for your help though, nice link – Danger Fourpence Mar 19 '12 at 18:11
Same in Norway - Cider is carbed apple juice, no hooch. What do you mean it's not called "supermarket" in the UK? Sure, people have recently started calling them superstores, but supermarket and superstore are synonymous. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… – mdma♦ Mar 19 '12 at 19:11
@mdma store? God, no. I was thinking more alon the lines of shop. But let's not start a discussion about lexis on the home brew site :) – Danger Fourpence Mar 20 '12 at 9:52
up vote 1 down vote

I have used both no-name generic Apple Juice as well as no-preservative organic apple juice. I did not notice any change in the taste really, but with the generic Apple Juice I did have to re-pitch the yeast.

This could be completely environmental, but I have my suspicions that something in the Juice caused the issue.

Just my experience,

tgunn.

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