Some turbo cider questions (lactose, hopping)

[-Bezza-]

I'm about to jump on the turbo cider bandwagon, opting for a fairly simple base recipe of:

16l of apple juice
1tsp pectic enzyme
1tsp yeast nutrient
4-bag brew of tea
crossmyloof cider yeast.

Aim is to get this into a corny keg and force carb at the end.

I have a kilo of lactose knocking about which I was planning to use to sweeten the cider, given it shouldn't ferment. I have no way of killing the yeast otherwise and don't want to use artificial sweetners nor rely on sweetening at the point of serving. Hoping for something that's a tad drier than a medium dry cider.

So question are:

- Anything missing from the recipe?
- Is using lactose ok? I've seen a few threads on here where the question is asked but no conclusion as to whether it's a no-go, more that there are better options.
- How much should I use and at what stage?

Finally, I have some citra hops sitting in the freezer and have heard about hopped cider. What are people's thoughts on using some of these as a dry hop? I'm making this for other people to drink as much as anything so don't want to go too controversial on the flavour but similarly interested in giving it a go if it's a winner.

Cheers

 

[-Bezza-]

Did anyone have any thoughts on the lactose here? Thanks.

 

[DavieC]

Hi Bezza, I prefer mine dry and a bit sharp so unfortunately Im no help whatsoever but thought Id just pop a reply on for you,hopefully someone will help you out

 

[LED_ZEP]

I use artificial sweetener and that works fine for me. As you're force carbonating, if you know the alcohol tolerance of your yeast you can always add additional sugar to the ferment so there's residual sweetness left when the yeast give up. This method works quite well but yeast don't always stop at the same point every time.

Not used lactose to sweeten so can't help there.

 

[uDicko]

@-Bezza- I was wondering the same thing when I did my last turbo but was too chicken to use the lactose.

I've done a bit of reading but not found an awful lot in the way of flavour description aside from some references to 'cream' not something I want in my cider. Also recognised this is only one or two sources.

I'd be interested to see what your thoughts are on it.

Failing that I have some on the go now but don't know if it will need back sweetening yet. If it does I'll grow a pair and report back.

I don't think there is anything missing from recipe. I did the last one with Juice from concentrate, demerara sugar, one strong tea bag and some youngs cider yeast. People were happy with it.

 

[fury_tea]

I'd avoid lactose or sweetener myself, especially if you are force carbing. They both have an odd taste to me.

I make a cider or ginger ale every few weeks, and I put it in a 10 litre corny keg and force carb. For me the best option is to put It in the keg, add a crushed campden tablet, wait a couple of hours, add potassium sorbate, wait 24 hours, then add 20 teaspoons of sugar (melted in hot water). That's around 1 teaspoon per pint and it leaves the cider semi-sweet, i.e. takes the dry edge off. You can add more or less sugar if you like or syrups like fruit juice concentrates too as long as they are sugar based not sweetener based - I just worked out the sugar content to see how much to add.

 

[-Bezza-]

Thanks for the comments.

I don't have any potassium sorbate that I'm aware of. Is there anything else I can use to kill the yeast? Campden perhaps?

 

[LED_ZEP]

You would normally use pot sorbate and pot metabisulfite (campden tabs) together.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Potassiu...303274218960?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

 

[-Bezza-]

Thanks - I've ordered some and will just add sugar to sweeten.

 

[Scottyburto]

The last time I went to Aldi they sold a hopped cider u could try to get idea of the flavour. That way u won't have 20l of cider u don't like.

 

[-Bezza-]

You would normally use pot sorbate and pot metabisulfite (campden tabs) together.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Potassiu...303274218960?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

Just to check my dosage, for around 15l of cider, I'm thinking 4 x campden tablets and 2 tsp of potassium sorbate to kill off the yeast?

I'm probably going to back-sweeten with more apple juice rather than sugar.

 

[-Bezza-]

As a follow up question, would I cold crash and then add the gubbins in the keg or would it be best to go via a secondary fv to really clean the yeast out?

 

[LED_ZEP]

I use a PB and just siphon straight to that from the primary FV, I add the priming sugar and finnings at this point. If you're using force carbonation you would be adding stabilisers and no priming sugar. Never had the need to cold crash as I want carbonation and it's always cleared fine.