Malt instead of sugar - Cider

antodeco

Hi All,
I am getting all my batches ready for the summer, and Ive decided to make a
On The Rocks Cider Raspberry and Lime cider. It states that you need 1.3Kg of brewing sugar. For the beers, I normally use a malt, but I was wondering would be a malt be fine for cider? The current abv is 5.9%, so I am assuming if I use 1.5kg of spray malt (not sure which one, Im assuming a light?) would give it roughly the same amount?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

BeerNut

Cider has a lower finishing gravity and a thinner body than beer. I think I'd just go with the sugar. Kit ciders tend to be quite sweet and the extra unfermented sugar from the malt, without any hops to balance it, would concern me.

"Brewing sugar", incidentally, is just dextrose/glucose. You can buy it in the baking section of the supermarket for cheaper than from a homebrew supplier.

antodeco

Thanks for that. I wasnt sure with ciders. I know the sugars do generally give a more "cidery" taste, but Ive always used malts and just prefer them to sugar. I might pop up to Musgraves and buy a 50Kg tin of sugar, or at least price it!

Im going to do another year of the kits and learn everything that I can before I start from pure ingredients. WIll have to decide what plants/trees to put down for next year!

rubadub

BeerNut wrote: »

You can buy it in the baking section of the supermarket for cheaper than from a homebrew supplier.

Some of the homebrew places are cheaper now, unless you are paying postage solely on the sugar, I found the homebrew places got cheaper and the supermarkets went up over the years.. It can also be in the baby food section in supermarkets.

antodeco wrote: »

I might pop up to Musgraves and buy a 50Kg tin of sugar, or at least price it!

I checked years ago and the 25kg sacks were more expensive than own brand sugar in supermarkets. Loads of stuff is more expensive in cash & carries. Maybe a bakery supplier would be cheaper.

gazahayes

Try deals if your near one think that had sugar cheaper than anywhere else also own brand caster sugar is cheaper than granulated in most supermarkets.

rubadub

gazahayes wrote: »

own brand caster sugar is cheaper than granulated in most supermarkets.

I have never seen caster cheaper before, but checking tesco online it is at the moment. Caster is often in 500g packs and can be nearly the same price as 1kg of granulated. I often nearly fell for this a few times, as the 500g bags tend to be more bulky and at a glance could be mistaken for 1kg.

tesco "value" 1kg granulated is 1.19
tesco "normal" caster 1kg is 1.09 (seems unusually cheap)
tesco "normal" caster 500g is 95cent

Gem 1kg caster 2.59
Gem 1kg granulated 1.55

Khannie

rubadub wrote: »

I have never seen caster cheaper before

It's definitely cheaper in Lidl. I checked the per KG prices. They have fairtrade caster sugar cheaper than their own brand granulated (1.15 v's 1.09 if memory serves). Made no sense to me, but that's how it was. Caster dissolves easier too, so bonus there.