Let me see your best how to guide for a good TC

[Pete H]

Hi

Im starting to venture into Turbo cider and im in the middle of gathering all the lotions and potions to get me going.

I have trawled through numerous posts for hours on end but there are so many and wildly spread apart, so i thought it a good idea to get everyones input in one post to help future members when searching.

Im wanting to make a 25ltr batch so this is what im thinking for a starting point.
25ltr of 100% apple juice from concentrate
5 tsp pectolase
5 tsp maic acid
5 tsp yeast nutrient
1 very strong tea with what i think we have in at the moment yorkshire tea

I havnt bought the apple juice yet so im unsure of the levels of sugar i may need to add. If required i will keep 1ltr of apple juice aside and boil the sugar in this.

Right now for the tricky part, let me know your thoughts and your experience

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[calumscott]

Sounds right to me but I'd go with 5tsp wine tannin rather than the tea. Far more controllable and so repeatable.

Also, the malic acid should be added (in that kind of quantity at least) if you intend to encourage Malolactic Fermentation. If you don't get it going your cider will be really quite sour and will take the best part of a year to mellow out!

 

[graysalchemy]

My young Padawaan has said it all. :lol: :lol:

 

[oldbloke]

You didn't mention yeast.
If you're going for MLF, you want the malic and a yeast that harbours the lactobacillus (see GraysAlchemy's guide on recovering it from a bottle of Old Rosie) or you need to buy the lacto stuff separately.
If you're /not/ going for MLF, straight AJ is unlikely to give a great result (unless maybe you backsweeten just a bit) so it's a good idea to replace about 1/9th to 1/8th of the AJ with something that'll help the flavour without taking over - cranberry or blueberry or something.

Don't add any sugar

 

[graysalchemy]

Yes yeast is crucial to a good cider. If you don't want the MLF thing then go for champagne yeast. If you want MLF then go with my how to [urlhttp://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=27372]here[/url], very straight forward.

The other most important thing with cider is to age it.

And finally as Oldbloke says no sugar :nono: :nono: . You may end up with some very strong 'cider' but it will taste like P*sh or diamond white :lol: :lol:

 

[Pete H]

Sorry lads missed the yeast out of my post. I have a sachet of youngs wine and cider yeast to add.

So it would be best to sweeten this up by adding say a couple of ltrs of cranberry or by adding splenda before i bottle? If i go for the splenda option would i just prime with the same amount of sugar when bottling or will this need reducing?

No sugar it is then, i dont want to hinder any flavour.

 

[oldbloke]

Cranberry won't sweeten it, any sugar in it will get fermented. It just rounds out the flavour a bit and helps with mouthfeel, something you'll want if you're not doing MLF.

Prime as usual, and I /think/ half to 1 tsp Splenda, depending how sweet you want it. I like it dry myself, but occasionally it can be mouth-puckering dry, especially when young while it's still a bit sharp.

 

[Pete H]

oldbloke

Is that half to 1 tsp of splenda per bottle?

And sorry for being a bit dumb but what is MLF?

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[oldbloke]

Yes, but check other threads, as personally I like it dry so can't vouch for the amount of sweetener myself.

MLF is the much sought-after malolactic fermentation which comes after the yeast fermentation, when a bacillus converts malic acid to lactic acid (less sharp) and other products which give that good old west country flavour. You need a source of that bacillus - some yeasts are known to harbour it, eg the stuff used in Old Rosie, or you can buy cultures of it. And it takes a /lot/ of time.

 

[Pete H]

Cheers for that oldbloke

Think i may keep it simple for my first and ditch the malic acid, add a couple of ltrs of cranberry and il have a little skip through the forum for back sweetning with splenda.

Thanks for taking the time to reply

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