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Hello all,new member here from Slane/Meath,been lurking awhile,big fan of good beer (not the watery yellow stuff) and good cider (not the sugary orange stuff).

Have been making fresh juice cider for 4 seasons now with a mix of apples from a commercial orchard and crab apples for tannin content.

Currently have 15 tipperary water cooler kegs bubbling away or maturing,some demis and some bottled to keep me going,about 400 ltr's in total I think.Sounds alot but as it's seasonal, has to last till this time next year.

Each keg is tweaked a bit re commercial or wild yeasts and apple mix etc to try and make the different european styles of cider.

I use a small commercial apple pulper and a homemade welded steal apple press and can juice 40/50 ltr's of juice per pressing depending on the type of apples.

Got a gift of a couple of 3kg beer kits last year which turned out suprisingly drinkable and have been hooked ever since, on my 8th kit now. Made up 3 new ones on Thursday, woodfordes blond ale, muntons IPA and brupaks special lager.

This is my first lager and (predictably I think) am having trouble with it, will post a question on the kit section.

Thanks
Mark.

Welcome Jenky, good luck with the beer brewing. You seem to have a lot of brewing behind you already, ever think of moving over to extract brewing? It's not that big of a step and it gives you a lot more control of what you can brew.

Yes, would love to try extract and eventually all grain maybe,think I have all the kit you need except a chiller coil,I have a 27 ltr SS boiler for pasteurising apple juice.It's just that there is alot of work with the cider,seem to have spent most weekends the last few months tricking around with it including all day today.The beer kits are quick and easy no brainers compared to real cider,similar to all grain beer I'm guessing,lots of work,
calculations and ajustments to make a decent one and the cider fermentations can last for 3 or 4 months and need as many rackings and ajustments,and thats not to mention the pulping, pressing ,cleaning,SG monitoring,maturing,blending,bottling and moxy sterilising.So it's not an option at the moment unless I go fulltime. On a lighter note,hope to give extract and or all grain a go in the summer.