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British Bittersweet Apple Cider Concentrate

British Bittersweet Apple Cider Concentrate

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Description

Made from traditional UK Cider Apples. High in tannins and acidity. Blend or backsweeten with standard apple juice to balance. Dilute in 6 parts water to 1 part concentrate to reconstitute original juice; Approx 1.040 SG, 5.2% ABV.

  • 0.5 Liter good for ~1 gallon
  • 3 Liter good for ~6 gallons
  • 5 Gallon good for ~35 gallons

 

Community Q&A

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Why did you choose this?
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Based on reviews
Joseph M on Mar 2, 2023
This was te out and out favorite at a family thanksgiving party. The brew was a straightforward concentrate and water recipe with no fancy work involved. Came out at 9% but did not taste like that. Nice amount of dryness but not mouth puckering.
Michael Johnson on Nov 28, 2022
Based on reviews
Joseph M on Mar 2, 2023
Heritage apples!
Steve G on Feb 2, 2023
This was te out and out favorite at a family thanksgiving party. The brew was a straightforward concentrate and water recipe with no fancy work involved. Came out at 9% but did not taste like that. Nice amount of dryness but not mouth puckering.
Michael Johnson on Nov 28, 2022
to get some depth and tannin in my ciders
brian r on Nov 1, 2022
recipe development
Carmen B on Oct 3, 2022
I'm taking a cidermaking class and would like to incorporate British bittersweet apples into my batch.
Rebekah D on Sep 22, 2022
wanted an english style cider
Michael Johnson on Sep 16, 2022
Great for mizing with other apple juice to brew cider at home
Steven G on Jul 31, 2022
To add tannic volume to my cider
Kurt B on Jul 13, 2022
It’s so hard to find bittersweet apples in the US so this is crucial for cider making.
Justin D on Apr 27, 2022
Second time first batch was excellent
Gregory K on Apr 13, 2022
Hard cider
Melissa E on Apr 8, 2022
Looking for a unique cider
Gregory K on Jan 26, 2022
Only "cider apple" kit available.
Jamie D on Nov 23, 2021
stop asking your customers do market research for you
David T B on Nov 23, 2021
I want to make cider and I was able to find this.
Nathan H on Nov 16, 2021
High tannin content to produce balanced cider
Rob Rhodes on Nov 11, 2021
Want to make the classic british cider
Malachy C on Oct 21, 2021
Curious.
To make cider
Gary A. W on Aug 16, 2021
I love real cider with proper English apples
Ian R on Nov 6, 2020
To compare with American apple cider
Barry P on Nov 6, 2020
I hope it works
Peter B on Oct 30, 2020
Playing around.
Jim Lomax on Oct 28, 2020
Heritage apples!
Steve G on Feb 2, 2023
to get some depth and tannin in my ciders
brian r on Nov 1, 2022
Any idea what varietal(s) are in this concentrate?
Timothy Elder on Jul 26, 2021
BEST ANSWER: From the manufacturer's web sight:

Dabinett Apples

This apple variety dates from around the early 1900’s. It was found by William Dabinett and grown as a natural seedling in a hedge in South Petherton, Somerset. Classed as a “Bittersweet Cider Apple,” Dabinett has a small, yellow green fruit – flecked with red and usually harvested in November in the UK. The flesh is green and aromatic. The apple tree itself has a relatively small and spreading habit and it also has a high resistance to apple scab.

The juice is characterised as having high tannin and low acid.
does this need to boil in the mashing process before fermenting or can I just reconstitute and ferment?
Michael Johnson on Sep 20, 2022
BEST ANSWER: I just rconstute with purified water & ferment was quite good maybe a bit on the dry side
Would you recommend using this straight (diluted, of course) for making cider, or blended with regular sweet apple juice / cider? If blended, what ratio would you recommend? Many thanks in advance!
Adam F McAnaney on Mar 10, 2024
BEST ANSWER: I would not recommend using this straight (diluted) for making cider. I have been using one gal (diluted) of this bittersweet apple juice with 5 gals of regular sweet apple juice (Fresh pressed or bought from store). I brew 6 gallons at a time. It really depends on much much tannins you want in the final cider. I tend to make cider in the french style: carbonated with tannins. The british (none carbonated with tannins) and french styles tend to have 10-30% bittersweet apple juice depending on desired tastes.

I use this bittersweet apple juice when I run out of the fresh pressed wild apples. I tend to put 1.5 gals wild apples (tannins) with 4.5 gallons of fresh pressed or store bought for my cider.
Reviews

4.7 / 5.0
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Rated 4 out of 5
I added some to my cider to add flavor and bring up the abv a bit. It's a thick concentrate. Very sweet and strong. It added a sharpness that was interesting and a bit of complexity.
March 10, 2024
Purchased
1 year ago
Rated 5 out of 5
The Best Available Tannins Match for British Style Cider
Based on two batches made. First experimental batch: Three liters concentrate and filtered water to make 5 gallons. Second batch: 3 gallons filtered water + 3 liters concentrate blended with 6 gallons of fresh pressed (non-sulfited) honey crisp apple cider and 2 lbs orange blossom honey per 5 gallon carboy. I rack to secondary after two weeks onto 2 oz medium toast American oak cubes per 5 gallon carboy. Keep in secondary for one to two months just because I like a very clear finish (almost no haze, but golden in color).

I back-sweeten with 12 oz orange blossom honey in each 5 gallon keg. The fermented concentrate has a perfect level of tannins for a crisp, refreshing cider - solo or on ice. There is a very, very slight concentrate taste before medium carbonation, but to cover that I suspend and steep a mesh bag in each keg of 4 lbs (originally) of the most tangy and aromatic apples I can find - peeled, cored, and dried in a food dehydrator. This brings up a delightful fresh apple aroma. The dried fruit also back-sweetens slightly without diluting the end product.

I have not taken a gravity reading on this recipe. Best estimate is about 4.5% ABV. Ten gallons will disappear more quickly than you might expect.
May 7, 2023
Purchased
1 year ago
Rated 5 out of 5
Best cider extract I've ever used!
Oh man. This is some amazing stuff. I didn't expect such a dry and flavorful cider would come from extract. Excellent and complex flavor with black tea - like tannins.
November 6, 2022
Purchased
1 year ago
Rated 5 out of 5
Smells and tastes incredible!
I ordered this mostly out of curiosity, and I was actually pretty impressed. I feel like this is just what you need to take a boring cider to the next level. I was a little hesitant because of how industrial this product looks, but it's fantastic and everything I hoped it would be.

I fermented a gallon of Sprouts apple cider with SafCider S-04, and then used a jar of this concentrate to backsweeten. My first impression was how good the concentrate smells and tastes; it's reminiscent of those fruit leather squares you buy individually wrapped at the grocery store. I was really happy with the flavor, it's not artificial or harsh at all! It has real rich apple flavor, but you can actually taste the apple peel and tannins, which are completely absent in regular apple juice/cider. I would describe the flavor as a "complete" apple flavor that you get when eating the unpeeled fruit. It's very nice, I dumped the whole jar in without hesitation after tasting the concentrate. I was worried it might be excessively bitter, but it's not at all. I found that it definitely needed a bit of malic acid to balance out all the flavors and give it that fresh crisp apple flavor, so keep that in mind if you feel like it's missing something.

The only downside is that this concentrate seems to contain a lot of fine apple pulp/sediment. I didn't notice it at first, but after bottling and while the bottles were carbonating I noticed a decent amount of sediment at the bottom of the bottles that isn't normally present in my ciders. It's not the end of the world, but definitely something to be aware of. Because of this, it might be better to use this concentrate in primary with either water or fresh juice, and racking should leave behind all the sediment while keeping the dark color and tannins.

Even with the sediment, I think this is a fantastic product. If you're wanting your beverage to really taste like fresh-pressed apple cider, give it a try!
July 8, 2022
Purchased
1 year ago
Rated 5 out of 5
British Bittersweet Apple Cider
First attempt at Hard Cider, made it last weekend. Always wanted to try a cider and the Concentrate made it easier.
June 8, 2022
Purchased
1 year ago
Rated 5 out of 5
The best concentrate for cider
There is no substitute for real cider apples and this concentrate makes a cider with perfect balance and a lot of body. I added 1 gallon of locally pressed juice to add aroma lost during the evaporation process. Adding more fresh juice would be even better. I diluted to just over 5 gallons so the abv was a more traditional 7.2%
Much better than adding tannin and acid blend to dessert apple juice.
June 4, 2021
Purchased
over 3 years ago
Rated 4 out of 5
Son loves it!
My son has to eat gluten-free and has come to enjoy ciders. Last time at my house, he polished-off my stash! He is not a fan of the sweet ciders and this definitely is not that way. It makes good solid stuff. Just make sure you use a yeast made for cider.
April 17, 2021
Purchased
over 3 years ago