a bit skint but want to do a brew this weekend

[BrewStew]

24-28'c!!! :shock: that's way too high! beer and cider yeast can produce off flavours at those temps, higher than 28 and the yeast keels over and dies. 18-22'c is your magic number


ah.... show stopping word..... bottles!

the trouble is with TC is some people find it's too dry or "thin" if they let it ferment out fully (myself included)... so what we do is we try (try being the definitive word) to stop the ferment early with campden/sorbate. the problem with that is that the yeast eventually dies which means there's not enough viable yeast to eat the priming sugars and naturally carbonate the cider. so force carbonation with a cornelius keg seems to be the only viable option for chemically controlled TC that need to be sparkling. there is also the risk, because you're bottling so early in the attenuation level of the yeast, that if you dont completely stop the yeast, you could have explosive bottles :shock:

on the other hand, if you dont mind a dry/thin cider, you can let it ferment out fully and bottle and prime as usual as you do with kit beers.

this bottling thing is something that seems to be bemusing us. when someone makes a break through that'll be the best thing since sliced bread i reckon

 

[BrewStew]

I think going down the part juice part sugar and water route will make it drink very thin.... Even just using the juice is as thin as I would personally like it... when I say thin I mean thing on apple tastes

:wha: :wha: :wha:

i didn't understand that either.... Frisp? how much have you had to drink? :lol:

apple juice from concentrate is just that... AJ and water.

the reason i add sugar to TC is because i found that simply fermenting the apple juice straight from the carton and letting it go all the way was too dry for me. adding 1 kilo of sugar and letting it fully ferment out then too dry and too thin on flavour... so... by adding sugar and stopping the ferment short, it was both very nice and apple tasting, and medium to medium-dry... perfect for me!

and yes, i've tried letting it fully ferment and then adding non fermentable sweetner or more sugar (and drinking it fast!) but that didn't seem to be as good

 

[Frisp]

I think going down the part juice part sugar and water route will make it drink very thin.... Even just using the juice is as thin as I would personally like it... when I say thin I mean thing on apple tastes

:wha: :wha: :wha:

I only ever just use juice I never add extra sugar. , If you want something which tastes like cider I wouldn't recommend it with the cheap apple juice from
toscos.
The way I was reading Jans original post is part apple juicejuice, thinned with water and sugar added. Sounded thin to me

 

[jans1971]

I think going down the part juice part sugar and water route will make it drink very thin.... Even just using the juice is as thin as I would personally like it... when I say thin I mean thing on apple tastes

:wha: :wha: :wha:

i didn't understand that either.... Frisp? how much have you had to drink? :lol:

apple juice from concentrate is just that... AJ and water.

the reason i add sugar to TC is because i found that simply fermenting the apple juice straight from the carton and letting it go all the way was too dry for me. adding 1 kilo of sugar and letting it fully ferment out then too dry and too thin on flavour... so... by adding sugar and stopping the ferment short, it was both very nice and apple tasting, and medium to medium-dry... perfect for me!

and yes, i've tried letting it fully ferment and then adding non fermentable sweetner or more sugar (and drinking it fast!) but that didn't seem to be as good

thanks for everyones help, but i think i do a kit why im still a newbie :

 

[Frisp]

Dont listen to us fools. throw some juice and yeast into a fermenter and experiment.... that is how we came to form all of these opinions. Its all down to personal taste... go on.. do the TC ... turn to the dark side... you know it makes sense

 

[jans1971]

I think going down the part juice part sugar and water route will make it drink very thin.... Even just using the juice is as thin as I would personally like it... when I say thin I mean thing on apple tastes

:wha: :wha: :wha:

I only ever just use juice I never add extra sugar. , If you want something which tastes like cider I wouldn't recommend it with the cheap apple juice from
toscos.
The way I was reading Jans original post is part apple juicejuice, thinned with water and sugar added. Sounded thin to me

no sorry what i meant was the apple juice from tescos is 50% apple juice and then water and sugar . not ill add more water. but is was going to add more sugar

 

[arturobandini]

He's talking about the "Apple Nectar" I mentioned earlier. It's apple juice mixed with water and sugar and therefore it's cheaper than "Apple Juice" which is concentrated apple juice rehydrated with water or just pure apple juice not from concentrate. I've got a bottle of Cider in the fridge now for later on this evening and it was made with 100% "Apple Nectar" it was the first time I tried this method and it's fine but I would prefer another 100% apple juice over it in the future due to the reduced appleyness*.

A 5 litre batch of TC can be the cheapest damn brew you can do as a novice. It's easy to do as well and the risk factor is zero. It's great to experiment with as it takes no time at all to knock together and the results are excellent for the money and time you put in..ie..none!

 

[Frisp]

He's talking about the "Apple Nectar" I mentioned earlier

Ahhhhhh I see. Now I understand....
I will look for that next time im in toscos. Ta

 

[falafael]

why don't you pop into wilkos, get the brewmaster cider kit they have and make that instead of messing around with other stuff, its £9.99, makes either 40 pints at 5%, or 32 pints at 7%.
I've made this myself, and its bloody beautiful, a real cider taste to it, no malt extract in it, and at work i have dished out about 7 bottles of it, and they all want me to give them more cos they love it, bargain at £9.99!

Get ya sen down to wilkos for it! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :

 

[BrewStew]

that sounds like it's worth a go! :

 

[jans1971]

why don't you pop into wilkos, get the brewmaster cider kit they have and make that instead of messing around with other stuff, its £9.99, makes either 40 pints at 5%, or 32 pints at 7%.
I've made this myself, and its bloody beautiful, a real cider taste to it, no malt extract in it, and at work i have dished out about 7 bottles of it, and they all want me to give them more cos they love it, bargain at £9.99!

Get ya sen down to wilkos for it! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :

:thumb: yeah thanks think ill be going to wilkos 2morrow :party:

 

[jans1971]

why don't you pop into wilkos, get the brewmaster cider kit they have and make that instead of messing around with other stuff, its £9.99, makes either 40 pints at 5%, or 32 pints at 7%.
I've made this myself, and its bloody beautiful, a real cider taste to it, no malt extract in it, and at work i have dished out about 7 bottles of it, and they all want me to give them more cos they love it, bargain at £9.99!

Get ya sen down to wilkos for it! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :

:thumb: yeah thanks think ill be going to wilkos 2morrow :party:

iv now done the brewmaster cider kit , its been done for about 30 mins and its already started to bubble , i love that sound :party: , its now in my bedroom because the airing cupboard was to warm. so now i can hear when i fall asleep, not sure if the wife will like it :lol:

 

[petkula73]

There is an offer on in Tesco at the moment for 8 litres of pure apple juice from concentrate for £4. Anyway, I bought 24 litres and it is now burbling away like mad in the dining room.

Question - the OG was 1050 and I want to end up with medium dry - so I am guessing 1005? I've checked today and it's down to 1020 so when it gets to 1005 do I throw in some campden tablets? If so, how many on a 24 litre batch? Will this affect the taste? Will killing off the yeast stop any secondary fermentation?

I am planning to put this in a pressure barrel to mature for a few months. Will it drop bright or do I need to add some finings?

Ta

 

[BrewStew]

There is an offer on in Tesco at the moment for 8 litres of pure apple juice from concentrate for £4. Anyway, I bought 24 litres and it is now burbling away like mad in the dining room.

cool! i might grab me some of that!

Question - the OG was 1050 and I want to end up with medium dry - so I am guessing 1005?

Medium dry (which is how i like it) would be about 73% attentuation, so about 1.014-1.012 should be good... either that or keep sanitising a glass and grabbing a wee-schnufter daily and then stopping it when it reaches your desired tastes will do :thumb:

I've checked today and it's down to 1020 so when it gets to 1005 do I throw in some campden tablets?

when it gets to your desired gravity, rack it, add campden

If so, how many on a 24 litre batch?

1 tablet per gallon i think is the dose

Will this affect the taste?

no

Will killing off the yeast stop any secondary fermentation?

the yeast wont completely die with campden... potassium sorbate is a more reliable way as it stops them reproducing, but the remaining yeast will keep eating sugars until that generation eventually dies... probably not enough for natual carbonation though but you can certainly give it a go! we like experimenters on here

I am planning to put this in a pressure barrel to mature for a few months. Will it drop bright or do I need to add some finings?

you can add finings if you dont feel it's got that "polish" but mines generally been crystal on it's own within a week or two.

Ta

your welcome

 

[BrewStew]

oh and to add... TC i've found is way better when drunk young... i've noticed it starts to lose it's flavour after about 8 weeks

 

[jans1971]

just done a hydrometer reading on my brewbuddy cider and its fermenting nicely. i tried a bit from the hydrometer tube and its really nice, is it ok to drink this early into fermenting or will it make me :sick:

 

[petkula73]

Thanks BrewStew

I will go by taste as you say...

When you say rack it, do you mean in to my pressure barrel or in to a second FV?

The cider is giving off a faint eggy smell at the moment - is this normal or do I need to add some citric acid?

 

[BrewStew]

just done a hydrometer reading on my brewbuddy cider and its fermenting nicely. i tried a bit from the hydrometer tube and its really nice, is it ok to drink this early into fermenting or will it make me :sick:

it'll prolly give you the farts tomorrow, but nothing serious :thumb:

The cider is giving off a faint eggy smell at the moment - is this normal or do I need to add some citric acid?

sulphur smells from cider are normal

 

[jans1971]

just tried the cider kit 6 days after bottling and it tastes great and there is just the right sparkle in it, wow iv now done lager, stout and now cider and all so nice to drink and really how good they are. i love doing a brew but must admit im not to keen on bottling and iv only done it 3 times :lol: , im still not ready to go to the dark side. :whistle:

 

[llannige]

Great stuff

Keep up the good work :thumb: