Strawberry TC

[stevie1556]

Started my strawberry TC yesterday, lifted the lid of the fermenting bucket to have a look today, and the yeast has taken no time at all to get working! result!

I used:
8 litres Tesco apple juice
2 bottles of that strawberry polish syrup
Young's cider yeast
Young's yeast nutrient

Fingers crossed it will be great to drink soon!

 

[ScottWort]

where did you get the syrup?

 

[stevie1556]

From my local polish shop. If you have a big Tescos near you they do it as well. The syrup is made by a company called towicz. It doesn't have any preservative in it so it can just be added in. They also do blueberry (got that for a blueberry cider as well), cherry, raspberry, and a couple of others I think.

Here is a pic of the bottle:

 

[andylanc1975]

Hi Steve,

How did this turn out? A good friend of mine has come back from a trip to see her folks in Poland and very kindly brought me back a load of the strawberry and raspberry ones.

:thumb:

 

[ScottM]

2 of those concentrated bottles in 8L of apple juice is going to be far too much.... or did you add water too?

I made a 25L batch of raspberry TC using 3 bottles of the lowicz and it was a bit too much IMO.

 

[andylanc1975]

Hi ScottM

With my absolutely rubbish maths, that would work out at roughly 1/2 a bottle per 5 litres (each bottle is 440ml)?

When you say too much, did it go too strong or was the flavour overpowering?

 

[ScottM]

Hi ScottM

With my absolutely rubbish maths, that would work out at roughly 1/2 a bottle per 5 litres (each bottle is 440ml)?

When you say too much, did it go too strong or was the flavour overpowering?

I was going for a hint of raspberry, like a twist, but it's just a little bit too much and very strong. Next time I'll be going with 2 bottles per batch, that will give me approx the flavour that I'm after.

They are concentrated so on their own with water they are meant to be diluted approx 4:1. I just chucked them straight in to make up 25L with apple juice. If they were diluted 4:1 with water and THEN added to make up 25L the flavour would be much closer to what I was after. Having said that I would rather have more juice than more water, so cutting back to 2 bottles should see me having exactly what I was after.

Based on that I would suggest approx 1 bottle per 12L of AJ.

 

[stevie1556]

Hi Steve,

How did this turn out? A good friend of mine has come back from a trip to see her folks in Poland and very kindly brought me back a load of the strawberry and raspberry ones.

:thumb:

No idea how it turned out as it's currently being kept cold for 2 weeks warm 2 weeks cold thing. I read that someone made a TC with raspberry syrup and used 1 bottle for 4 litres of apple so I'm hoping it turns out ok.

2 of those concentrated bottles in 8L of apple juice is going to be far too much.... or did you add water too?

I made a 25L batch of raspberry TC using 3 bottles of the lowicz and it was a bit too much IMO.

I didn't add any water, but followed another recipe that I found on here. Fingers crossed its not too sweet, but I do like sweet ciders.

 

[ScottM]

Hi Steve,

How did this turn out? A good friend of mine has come back from a trip to see her folks in Poland and very kindly brought me back a load of the strawberry and raspberry ones.

:thumb:

No idea how it turned out as it's currently being kept cold for 2 weeks warm 2 weeks cold thing. I read that someone made a TC with raspberry syrup and used 1 bottle for 4 litres of apple so I'm hoping it turns out ok.

2 of those concentrated bottles in 8L of apple juice is going to be far too much.... or did you add water too?

I made a 25L batch of raspberry TC using 3 bottles of the lowicz and it was a bit too much IMO.

I didn't add any water, but followed another recipe that I found on here. Fingers crossed its not too sweet, but I do like sweet ciders.

It won't be sweet unfortunately, as all the sugar will have fermented. It just leaves an overpowering sickly taste if too strong. At 3 bottles to 23L it was just a little too strong for my taste, at 1 bottle to 4l I reckon it may be a step too far. Fingers crossed for you though.

Oh, just to say. 8L of AJ and 880ml of lowicz gives approx 1400g of sugar. That's the equivalent of around 8.5% depending what yeast you use. If it's a cider yeast you will be pushing past 9%.

That's a spicee-meat-a-ball-a.

 

[andylanc1975]

I was going for a hint of raspberry, like a twist, but it's just a little bit too much and very strong. Next time I'll be going with 2 bottles per batch, that will give me approx the flavour that I'm after.

They are concentrated so on their own with water they are meant to be diluted approx 4:1. I just chucked them straight in to make up 25L with apple juice. If they were diluted 4:1 with water and THEN added to make up 25L the flavour would be much closer to what I was after. Having said that I would rather have more juice than more water, so cutting back to 2 bottles should see me having exactly what I was after.

Based on that I would suggest approx 1 bottle per 12L of AJ.

Nice one, so if I use one bottle to do 3 dj's at 4 cartons per dj, I'm not going to be far wrong. Cheers for the help :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

I was going for a hint of raspberry, like a twist, but it's just a little bit too much and very strong. Next time I'll be going with 2 bottles per batch, that will give me approx the flavour that I'm after.

They are concentrated so on their own with water they are meant to be diluted approx 4:1. I just chucked them straight in to make up 25L with apple juice. If they were diluted 4:1 with water and THEN added to make up 25L the flavour would be much closer to what I was after. Having said that I would rather have more juice than more water, so cutting back to 2 bottles should see me having exactly what I was after.

Based on that I would suggest approx 1 bottle per 12L of AJ.

Nice one, so if I use one bottle to do 3 dj's at 4 cartons per dj, I'm not going to be far wrong. Cheers for the help :thumb:

Yeah I think that would be lovely :)

 

[stevie1556]

It won't be sweet unfortunately, as all the sugar will have fermented. It just leaves an overpowering sickly taste if too strong. At 3 bottles to 23L it was just a little too strong for my taste, at 1 bottle to 4l I reckon it may be a step too far. Fingers crossed for you though.

Oh, just to say. 8L of AJ and 880ml of lowicz gives approx 1400g of sugar. That's the equivalent of around 8.5% depending what yeast you use. If it's a cider yeast you will be pushing past 9%.

That's a spicee-meat-a-ball-a.

I've used a young's cider yeast. So I should expect rocket fuel? I know it won't be sweet, but very strawberry, so I sweetened it up with some Canderel sweetener tablets.

I'm now worried it's going to be far too sickly.

 

[ScottM]

It won't be sweet unfortunately, as all the sugar will have fermented. It just leaves an overpowering sickly taste if too strong. At 3 bottles to 23L it was just a little too strong for my taste, at 1 bottle to 4l I reckon it may be a step too far. Fingers crossed for you though.

Oh, just to say. 8L of AJ and 880ml of lowicz gives approx 1400g of sugar. That's the equivalent of around 8.5% depending what yeast you use. If it's a cider yeast you will be pushing past 9%.

That's a spicee-meat-a-ball-a.

I've used a young's cider yeast. So I should expect rocket fuel? I know it won't be sweet, but very strawberry, so I sweetened it up with some Canderel sweetener tablets.

I'm now worried it's going to be far too sickly.

If my assumptions are accurate then yeah, it'll definitely be strong. Each bottle of lowicz contains 300g of sugar, so by the time you add both of them together and the 115g or so from each carton of apple juice, it's a LOT of sugar for a cider. That's assuming it's lowicz strawberry syrup and that the apple juice you are using is fresh or from concentrate (they generally have 115g of sugar per litre).

I wouldn't worry about it too much, you can thin it out with apple juice or something else. That will dilute the syrup flavour and it will also tone down the alcohol content. All is never lost

 

[stevie1556]

Worst case scenario then is 2 ciders and I'll be on the floor!

I may have to water down with apple juice! Worse thing is I've just made another batch exactly the same but with the blueberry syrup.

Cheers for the insight though. I've only been brewing a few months and this was my first cider from scratch. I'm still learning :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

Worst case scenario then is 2 ciders and I'll be on the floor!

I may have to water down with apple juice! Worse thing is I've just made another batch exactly the same but with the blueberry syrup.

Cheers for the insight though. I've only been brewing a few months and this was my first cider from scratch. I'm still learning :thumb:

No worries at all, it's all part of the fun. The best of it is that you can't go REALLY wrong, as long as everything is sterilised and clean you will end up with something that is drinkable at the end of it all... even if you need to fudge it a little

 

[stevie1556]

Thankfully all my wines so far have been very drinkable. So much so that I seem to have 2 empty Ribena wine bottles in my kitchen this morning!

They have been in the bottle just over 2 months now and almost all the harshness has gone.

Having said that, in December I made a On The Rocks raspberry & lime cider kit. Tried a bottle a couple of nights ago and it's undrinkable. But from a review I've seen on here, hopefully it will be ok in another month or 2.

I must admit that I didn't expect experimenting with different flavours would be this fun!

 

[Steve]

I've got the same going in my FV at the moment but with the raspberry syrup and 9 litres of apple juice. I made it more for the GF who likes her fruity drinks and can't drink much volume (1 pint max usually) so it will be to her taste. I already did a cherry version with the cherry syrup and 4 litres of cherry juice which she loved.

If it's not to your taste then mixing with lemonade should bring it back a bit but you just won't get the cider taste. Don't worry about it and try the finished product and only then you will know :thumb:

 

[GeorgeSalt]

I use one Lowicz bottle per demijohn for raspberry/cherry/blackcurrant variations (haven't tried strawberry yet) and whilst it is classified as "falling down water" on my scale, it's very pleasent and not at all sweet. That's not far off the same concentration you've used. I wouldn't worry about it - and wouldn't try back sweetening in bulk, I'd dilute with lemonade or apple juice to taste on serving.

 

[stevie1556]

I've already backsweetened my strawberry one. Hopefully it turns out ok as it's my first TC. I'm glad you have said you used 1 bottle per DJ and it turned out ok.

I'll let you all know how they turn out, probably on my days off next week.

 

[Kinleycat]

Started my strawberry TC yesterday, lifted the lid of the fermenting bucket to have a look today, and the yeast has taken no time at all to get working! result!

I used:
8 litres Tesco apple juice
2 bottles of that strawberry polish syrup
Young's cider yeast
Young's yeast nutrient

Fingers crossed it will be great to drink soon!

Made a hint of raspberry variant today.
12 litres apple juice
1 bottle raspberry syrup (smells absolutely gorgeous)
4 litres water
Packet of cider yeast
Fingers crossed etc!!! :pray: