Cider with boozy

My fermenter has been empty for a few weeks, and worse still so have my demijohns. There's been nothing brewing at Chez Dykes (as it were) and that's not good. A combination of end of Financial Year work stress and busy weekends have meant that I haven't had the chance to get another partial mash brew on and whilst my extract brew was fairly quick and easy, it's a bit unsatisfying.

One of the rides I've been on was a preliminary Southside pub-crawl (watch this space) and at one of the pubs we sampled a very tasty whiskey-aged cider. It got me thinking - cider is quick and easy to brew from juice, I have a half-bottle of Dewars that I'm never going to drink along with some wood chips left over from previous brews and there's an Aldi down the road from the office that sells cheap & plentiful preservative-free apple juice.

So here are the ingredients - 22 litres of apple juice, 1.3kg honey, 1 kg brown sugar, 3 limes, 3 big-arse lemons and a hand of ginger

Oh and a half-bottle of Dewars mixed with a combination of oak chips from the homebrew shop and hickory chips from the barbecue box (I ran out of oak chips)

Heat one bottle of juice and mix in the sugar & honey. I juiced most of the citrus and poured it in but also sectioned one of the lemons and sliced up the ginger. Leave to simmer for 40 minutes or so.

Whilst that is bubbling mix the whiskey and wood chips in another pan and bring to the boil. Smells great!

After that it's a question of straining the apple juice into the fermenter, mixing in the other 20-odd litres of apple juice, adding the yeast (I used Safale S-05 American ale yeast) and waiting for a month or so. I've also tipped the whiskey soaked wood in a jar and am leaving it to soak for a week or so, then I'll add it to the brew in a hop sock for the remainder of the initial fermentation. Here's hoping it works out OK - expect tasters in around 6 weeks...