Cider ruined before its even got going?

[Rayzer88]

Hi everybody! I've been watching the forums for a few weeks now and there is such a wealth of information here! Despite that I'm worried that I may have already ruined a Turbo Cider haha!

I'm new to homebrewing (tried a kit cider 2 years ago that tasted like Mr Muscle) but have watched my old man do it since I was in nappies. Unfortunately he's never made cider so couldn't advise me

Problem I had is I was looking at 2 or three recipes and kind of made one out of parts of all 3...silly I know! I'm now worried that I've put my sugar in far too early

I used:
20L Asda Apple juice (normal not smart price)
5 teaspoons Pectolase (dissolved in warm water)
1 litre strong tea (15 bags)
6 grated Granny Smiths
5g Yeast
400g sugar

I'd seen a recipe that said to put all in one go and after I had done it I looked back another recipe that said to put it in when moving to second FV. I dissolved the sugar in one of the cartons of juice (warmed slightly and it all went in together...now I'm worried I've ruined it!

Only did it last night so thought I would post now so that if it is ruined I'll bin it now and start again.

Also I'm going to be using one of the big plastic type kegs and was wondering do I still go into a second FV or straight from the current one to the keg?

Many MANY thanks in advance!!

 

[Clint]

Looks ok...that amount of sugar looks like a contribution to abv as it's far too much for carbonation...
For your keg I'd use 90g of sugar...when it's all finished fermentation.

 

[Cwrw666]

You can make perfectly nice turbo cider just with apple juice plus cider yeast. That's all you need. Only tip I'd give is check on the boxes for sugar/100ml and buy the highest. I use Tescos pure apple juice - it's less tart than the budget version and has more sugar in it - gives about 6.5% ABV when fermented.
Think about it - when making real cider you just squash the apples and ferment it. You don't start chucking in cups of tea or anything, do you?

 

[Tony C]

Yeast plus sugar = fermentation.

 

[Rayzer88]

At least it's not ruined haha. Do I still go to a second FV before the keg?

Thanks for all the responses so far :)

 

[Clint]

Na just keg it!

 

[BassoonBrew]

The tea adds a tannic edge missing from the apple juice which probably came from dessert or cooking apples which don't have much tannin. I had a chance to taste two ciders close together recently, one made from desserts and cookers, the other from "real" cider apples which have the bitter tannin content. One was alcoholic apple juice (nice enough), the other was CIDER. Just my opinion, of course :-)

 

[Cwrw666]

The tea adds a tannic edge missing from the apple juice which probably came from dessert or cooking apples which don't have much tannin. I had a chance to taste two ciders close together recently, one made from desserts and cookers, the other from "real" cider apples which have the bitter tannin content. One was alcoholic apple juice (nice enough), the other was CIDER. Just my opinion, of course :-)

Mine too, but I appreciate both.

 

[Tony C]

Made quite a good tasting TC with 20l of Asda own apple juice, 5l of some raspberry and cranberry juice, most ish of a bag of sugar and some wilko wine yeast.
Just let it ferment and bottle/keg it.

Cheers TC

 

[Rayzer88]

Hopefully going to be kegging it this evening! Had a sneaky taste on a spoon yesterday and it was REAL nice haha.

How do I go about this now? Syphon into a keg, with the sugar (for CO2) and sweetener? And 90g of sugar is good?

If im wrong on any of that im really sorry!

 

[bootneck]

The tea adds a tannic edge missing from the apple juice which probably came from dessert or cooking apples which don't have much tannin. I had a chance to taste two ciders close together recently, one made from desserts and cookers, the other from "real" cider apples which have the bitter tannin content. One was alcoholic apple juice (nice enough), the other was CIDER. Just my opinion, of course :-)

hi very interesting so you would advocate adding tanning to apple juice, are you able to explain the taste difference please. i have never use tanning but happy to experiment.

 

[Tony C]

Syphon into the keg yes.
90g of sugar, I ain't sure. I put a teaspoon per pint bottle, so I guess 40 teaspoons, but I would get advice off someone who uses barrels first.
Sweetener, never tried it, be interested to know how it turns out.

 

[bootneck]

hi , when I keg I put 120gr of sugar dissolve in 500ml of warm pre boiled water . I use plastic pressure barrels , 4 days at room temp then put to cool.
doing this I get a good carbonation on 20lt and only need to use one small co2 bulb after about 10- 12 lt drank.
I found a barrel tucked away this week that had about 4lt of festival razor back in that I brewed 4 years ago , couldn't resist a taste test, and while it was flat , it hadn't gone off , so the layer of C02 in the barrel had done its job.
just remember vaseline on the threads and seal , and you will enjoy your keged brew,
hope this helps .

 

[johncrobinson]

Relax rayzer your doing fine

 

[BassoonBrew]

hi very interesting so you would advocate adding tanning to apple juice, are you able to explain the taste difference please. i have never use tanning but happy to experiment.

It depends entirely on your taste. If you like your cider with the astringency of unsweetened black tea at some level, then go ahead, otherwise no need.

 

[johncrobinson]

You can add the tannin at any stage you like but its a real pig to disolve properly it really clumps.

The way I get round this is to grind the tannin and some sugar in a pestle and mortar untill the whole lot looks rusty it then seems to disolve no bother.

It will give your apple juice wine more bite.The juice from cartons can make your wine taste a bit "soft" tannin solves this.