Beer Forum

This might be a silly question, but I have a cider fermenting. I went to the store to buy the apple juice to put into the cider but what I grabbed said Apple Cider. There is no alcohol in it and it has no preservatives. I didn't notice until after I already added it to the wort. Is there really any difference between apple juice and apple cider taht you buy in the juice section at the grocery store? It will be fine with cider right?

I'm sure that stuff is pasteurized and probably isn't much different than juice.

I just when the BJ's Warehouse store yesterday and picked up 10 gallons of juice. I'm going to do 2 batches with different yeast to see how they come out. Probably use S-04 in one but haven't decided on the other. I usually use Nottingham.

In the States, cider & juice are the same thing. Most of the stuff labeled apple juice is just clarified juice & most of the stuff labeled cider is not, having particulates from the pressing still in solution. But that's not always the case - you can buy something labeled apple juice that has not been clarified, for example. It's all the same stuff. What's more important to the homebrewer are the presence of preservatives & if the juice has been pasteurized or not.

Outside of the States, juice is juice & cider contains alcohol.

Ozwald wrote:Outside of the States, juice is juice & cider contains alcohol.

Inside, it's hard cider that has the alcohol, and cider and juice are two regions on the same spectrum.

spiderwrangler wrote:

Ozwald wrote:Outside of the States, juice is juice & cider contains alcohol.

Inside, it's hard cider that has the alcohol, and cider and juice are two regions on the same spectrum.

It better be hard when it's in cider. Lol

spiderwrangler wrote:

Ozwald wrote:Outside of the States, juice is juice & cider contains alcohol.

Inside, it's hard cider that has the alcohol, and cider and juice are two regions on the same spectrum.

Covered that in the first part... except that inside the States they're not even 2 separate regions. Often you see the clear stuff labeled juice, but it can also be correctly labeled cider. Often you see the cloudy stuff labeled cider, but it can also be labeled juice. I think the only way that it can definitely be one and not the other is when there's a bunch of sugar added.

Ozwald wrote:Covered that in the first part... except that inside the States they're not even 2 separate regions.

Clarifying that 'hard' is used in reference to alcoholic cider in the states... if you said that, I missed it. I still seem them generally on two ends of the spectrum, though there is certainly overlap. Cider tends to be the unfiltered (though some is clearer) and tends to be more seasonal.. some may be more tart that juice. Juice typically will be clearer (again, there are exceptions), tends to be year round, etc. Not an important distinction, but it does exist, even if there are many shades in between.

Thanks for the all the replies. I figured there wouldn't be much difference just wanted to make sure. On a side note, I just upgraded to 10 gallon batches and next time I make a cider I am going to try to make applejack out of half of it.