My first Turbo Cider - A little how to.

[ibby33]

Cheers for that I'd rather flavour than more alcohol.

 

[ibby33]

Just having a read through and cannot see that you add any clearing agent or stabiliser.
Do I need to add this or not?

 

[graysalchemy]

No you don't. If you stabilize it you won't be able to carbonate it in the bottle. With regards to clearing you can do but to be honest cider is best left to mature in bulk for a month or so before bottling, by which time it will have cleared naturally.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[JonnyD]

Malic Acid 1tsp
Tannin 0.5tsp
Yeast Nutrient 1tsp

I cant wait to try this tomorrow. Just a few questions, i have read the full 6 pages but just didnt really understand.

Do i need to add malic acid? some say yes some say no. What does it do?
Am i trying to Create MFL?
Do i have to add tannin? What does it do?
what does yeast nutrient do? did i read right that this can be replaced by tomato puree? if so why?

Sorry for all the questions. im new and trying to get to grips
Regards
John

 

[oldbloke]

Malic - if you want MLF (malolactic fermentation, a bacterial secondary process that gives that farmyard scrumpy flavour) you'll need it as the malic acid is what it works on, and there ain't much in commercial AJ. If you're not bothered about MLF there may be enough acid already, but a bit more won't hurt. If you're not doing MLF, the AJ may be a bit thin tasting on its own, add a bit of something else.

Tannin - Adds "bite". Your brew will be very boring without some. 1 tsp/gallon powdered or mug of stupidly strong tea per gallon.

Nutrient - The yeast needs feeding. AJ doesn't have everything it needs, so give it some of the commercial stuff. Yeh, you can use tom puree, maybe some crushed vitamin B1 tablets, but it's not as good as proper di-ammonium phosphate.

 

[JonnyD]

Add a bit if something else-eg. Pomegranate?

 

[oldbloke]

I've used pomegranite, worked OK, but currently I like cherry. Cranberry and blueberry also work.
At about 10% of total volume they don't really taste of what they are, they just fill out the overall flavour.

 

[graysalchemy]

Personally I would add malic regardless of if you are going to allow MLF or not.

Apples used to make apple juice that we drink are not the same as apples used for cider. Cider apples have a far greater amount of malic acid and tannin than dessert apples or cooking apples for that matter. So to think you can make cider without it you are kidding yourself, it was bred into them for a reason. So I would go for 1 TSP of malic and 1 TSP of tannin per gallon.

The most important thing you need is time and plenty of it. Even if you don't do the MLF cider benefits from a couple of months maturing in bulk and a couple of months in the bottle.

Good luck. :thumb: :thumb:

 

[flyan]

First off, thanks to Scott and everyone in this thread who has added to it with tips and advice. Thanks to you buggers I'm cooking up two batches of TC

The one is pretty standard and will be transfers to another DJ to mature for a few months. The second one is a Strawberry TC. I used about 1.2L of ribena strawberry juice, boiling it for 5 minutes just in case. That reduced to about 1L. Topped with 3L of crappy AJ, some tea and so on.

Just need to be patient now