Rooibos Cider

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Hi guys,

So last night I had a dream (yeah yeah I know how it sounds, but it really was a fun dream) where I dreamed a friend of mine's homebrew equipment got stolen. His mother came to complain to wife and I about it, and during the complaining and her asking me where she can source new kit for him (yeah odd, I know) I showed her what I brew with. When I opened my fermentation chamber however, there was a bright red brew in there. When she asked what it was, I told her it's an Apple & Rooibos Cider. I remember opening one and the flavour was quite sweet, like fresh red apples, with the pleasant Rooibos scent we all know.

Now, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I want to replicate this brew I have in my mind. This is weird, it's odd and I have no idea where to start, but I don't want to lose the idea so I'm penning it down here. So far I have two ideas:

1. Apple & Rooibos, with the hope of getting the bright, deep red colour from the natural juices in the cider.
2. Apple & Cranberry & Rooibos, using the red cranberry juice to produce the bright, deep red cider I want. Come to think of it, Pomegranate might also work and won't be as tart as the cranberries...

Anyway, the colour I'm aiming for, getting a quick image from Google, is something like this:



So yeah. I'll do some research and all that. Does anyone know where one can find fresh pressed apple or other fruit juices, completely void of preservatives and so on? I don't really want to go the LiquiFruit route or use concentrates. There's usually all kinds of crap added. I'd really love to find a few litres of fresh pressed juice that's unpasteurized and untreated. In or around Pretoria?

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Man I'd like a tour around in your head! Sounds like a wonderful place!
I can never remember a dream in any real detail.
Anyway. Cant help with apple juice just thought the cider sounds nice! Think the pomegranate will also help reduce the rooibos tea flavor in how tropical punch kind of reduces the mango taste.

What I found with my last ginger beer that went completely dry, you might want to add some unfermentable sweetness. Completely dry is to dry

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[nOzwald Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nOzwald]

If you go the pomegranate juice route contact Driven Force 011 708 0381. Fresh no preservatives, just frozen to keep good.


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[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

My fok, how about dreaming about the next lotto numbers

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Man I'd like a tour around in your head! Sounds like a wonderful place!
I can never remember a dream in any real detail.
Anyway. Cant help with apple juice just thought the cider sounds nice! Think the pomegranate will also help reduce the rooibos tea flavor in how tropical punch kind of reduces the mango taste.

What I found with my last ginger beer that went completely dry, you might want to add some unfermentable sweetness. Completely dry is to dry

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My head's a crowded place. Can't have any more people in here, thank you... :P Joking, but I don't usually dream up (literally) good ideas. I hope this is one.

On the dryness - yeah, I'm not a fan of brut ciders either. It must have some sort of sweetness in there. I'm not sure what I want to add yet. Xylitol doesn't work well as a sweetener in drinks (tried that), and Stevia has a strange bitter taste that I'm not a fan of. On the other hand, aspartame and saccharin aren't the best sweeteners to use due to "health reasons", but to be honest the last cider I made was backsweetened with saccharin (like a teaspoon in a whole 23l batch), and it came out very very well (was a kit brew). You can buy saccharin for like R60 for 1,500 tablets that's supposedly equal to around 7kg of table sugar (holy crap). So maybe I'll just use that?

If you go the pomegranate juice route contact Driven Force 011 708 0381. Fresh no preservatives, just frozen to keep good.


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Sent them an email, thanks man!

My fok, how about dreaming about the next lotto numbers

Would be wonderful, but I'll probably dream that they are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and then I'll lose anyway IRL.

On the cider - I placed 2 teabags in 500ml cold water this weekend, in the fridge. Want to see how it brews in cold water as opposed to hot water. So far, the solution in the bottle (shaken frequently) isn't anywhere near as strong as hot-extracted Rooibos, so let's see. I want to avoid the dry/bitter side of the Rooibos, but if I can't, that'll be OK as well.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

On the cider - I placed 2 teabags in 500ml cold water this weekend, in the fridge. Want to see how it brews in cold water as opposed to hot water. So far, the solution in the bottle (shaken frequently) isn't anywhere near as strong as hot-extracted Rooibos, so let's see. I want to avoid the dry/bitter side of the Rooibos, but if I can't, that'll be OK as well.

It will be interesting to see if/ how the flavours differ with cold extracted versus hot extracted.

I actually came across a bit of a controversy a year or so ago about a local company that supposedly patented (or tried. I dont think its really patentable) using rooibos in beer (alcoholic beverages). Lots of disdain and outcry from local craft breweries. It was very interesting reading.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

If you go the pomegranate juice route contact Driven Force 011 708 0381. Fresh no preservatives, just frozen to keep good.


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OK so I got a quote - R80,50 per litre on the pomegranate juice. OUCH. R1,600 for a 23l batch if I use a bit of tea to dilute it. That's not going to happen. R50 a bottle on the juice alone, exluding everything else isn't worth it for me.

It will be interesting to see if/ how the flavours differ with cold extracted versus hot extracted.

I actually came across a bit of a controversy a year or so ago about a local company that supposedly patented (or tried. I dont think its really patentable) using rooibos in beer (alcoholic beverages). Lots of disdain and outcry from local craft breweries. It was very interesting reading.

Yeah I don't imagine it'll work to try and patent something like Rooibos in any and all alcohol. It's South Africa. Rooibos is indigenous, and everyone uses it. Would like to see the article though

On the flavours - I'm planning on making a hot brew with the same volume sometime this week, chill it and then I'll do a side-by-side comparison between the two and see how it differs. I also want to see what difference it makes between rooibos tea bags and those bags of powdered Red Espresso you can buy. It's finely ground and makes an incredibly strong cup of Rooibos. Small amount goes a long way. This stuff here: https://www.takealot.com/red-espress...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

How about the sticks the "old" people used to use ??

Screenshot_33.jpg

you could maybe even add that directly to the juice and have it actively in there during fermentation ??

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Yeah that Red Espresso is basically that - just ground more finely. It works REALLY well.

[Johan Stander Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johan Stander]

Dude, what are you smoking? I also want to dream up new recipes.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

OK so I got a quote - R80,50 per litre on the pomegranate juice. OUCH. R1,600 for a 23l batch if I use a bit of tea to dilute it. That's not going to happen. R50 a bottle on the juice alone, exluding everything else isn't worth it for me.

If you dont come right with freshly squeezed stuff, you can look at this option from BFA:

Capture5.PNG


https://www.brewforafrica.co.za/products.html?catID=11

Maybe Frank can make a plan to give you just the juice.

I was very happy with 2 batches of cider I made from these

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Yeah I'll probably buy a kit like that and just add some stuff like I want. Faithful to Nature has a pomegranate concentrate that's apparently pretty pure, but still knocks in at R300 for a bottle. I can just add that to the apple concentrate and add the Rooibos during the brew.

This is starting to sound like it's coming along well now. Had a bit of a setback today that might halt brewing for the forseeable future, but here's to hoping.

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Had a bit of a setback today that might halt brewing for the forseeable future, but here's to hoping.

That doesnt sound too great.

[nOzwald Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nOzwald]

Rooibos Cider

[QUOTE=Toxxyc;23238]OK so I got a quote - R80,50 per litre on the pomegranate juice. OUCH. R1,600 for a 23l batch if I use a bit of tea to dilute it. That's not going to happen. R50 a bottle on the juice alone, exluding everything else isn't worth it for me.

Maybe better as a combination option apple + pomegranate + rooibos. All sugar from pomegranate going to be an expensive exercise. Can try and measure sugar content for you. Happy to see if I have a liter or 2 lying in the deep freezer that won’t be missed if you want to do a small test brew.

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[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Haha I appreciate your effort man, yeah your father in law I take it did say that you contacted him, so thanks for that. I wasn't expecting all sugar from pomegranate, but I honestly wasn't expecting the price that high either. Even if I take just a quarter from the pomegranate it's already exceeding the price I'm paying per bottle for what I know is already a good cider, so I don't know. Maybe I should just scrap pomegranate from the idea altogether and find another source for sweet red?