This may not look much.......

[Bill W]

....but it signals my return to the brewing hobby after many years absence. A gallon of turbo cider is on and already bubbling away like a good un after 15 minutes.

Morrison's 100% juice from concentrate
1/3 pint of ultra strong tea
Youngs cider yeast
yeast nutrient.

 

[Bill W]

Just an update on my debut turbo cider.
At two days it had formed a massive yeasty head, some of which made its way out of the airlock.

I had to clean up and change the airlock 5 or 6 times that day. Day 3 (today) the fermentation slowed a little and the foamy part of the head subsided, leaving the thick yeasty stuff stuck round the neck and shoulders of the demijohn. I removed the airlock and put a sterilised plain bung in loosely and swirled the demijohn to dissolve and wash the yeast deposit off the top parts of the DJ, burping the gas every few seconds. This worked well and left the neck free of gunge. I then topped up to the neck with more apple juice.
After about 10 minutes rest, the fermentation has resumed at a fast rate, about 2 burps a second. No frothing or yeast head though, which is good.

 

[jof]

Hmm. Maybe should have only filled to about 4/5 full to start with - to allow space for yeast to foam up at the start of fermentation.

It looks a bit risky to have filled it to the top of fermentation is still quite vigorous

Best put your demijohn on a tray, or on the draining board overnight just to be on the safe side

 

[Bill W]

Hmm. Maybe should have only filled to about 4/5 full to start with - to allow space for yeast to foam up at the start of fermentation.
Then top up with apple juice once the initial burst of fermentation dies down.

Best put your demijohn on a tray, or on the draining board overnight just to be on the safe side

Yes, live and learn, I'll keep the initial level lower next time. The DJ has been on a tray from day one, so should be okay.

 

[Stevieboy]

HE HE - we've all been there - I made some raspberry wine once, and it blocked the bottom of the lock up, and when I pulled the bung it exploded all over my face (and the kitchen walls!)....oh yeah, and the time my blackberry wine went into malolactic fermentation after bottling and blew the corks out...all over the kitchen walls and ceiling.....

 

[Tavi-brewer]

A rite of passage!
It'll make the result more precious......

 

[Stevieboy]

A rite of passage!
It'll make the result more precious......

It turns out that the BB wine was the best I ever made - I emptied the bottles that hadn't popped back into a DJ and let the malo finish - it was superb after that!

 

[Bill W]

My debut cider brew is now in bottles conditioning. I racked it off onto 500ml of applejuice in a sterilised demijohn, then filled the bottles from there. Another week or two and I'll be sampling. Purely on a quality control basis, you understand.
With best part of half a litre and all the trub left in the original demijohn, I added more apple juice, swooshed it all around and poured half into another demijohn. Both demijohns are a little over half full and, after a slow start, are now fermenting nicely, with quite a thick, yeasty head forming. I'll be topping one up with apple juice when the fermentation slows and the other with a mixture of apple juice and a non-added sugar fruit drink of some sort, to make a flavoured cider for my daughter. I've not yet decided the flavour, will have to see what's in the shops. We have a bottle of cordial at home but that has pot sorbate and sodium metabisulphite in it, so not suitable.

 

[Bill W]

Impatience got the better of me. After only a week in bottles and a day in the fridge, I had to have a taster. Good points: It was nice and clear, very dry and very well carbonated. Not so good point was that it was rather lacking in flavour. Short of apple-iness if you like. Maybe adding the mug of tea didn't help. The batch that is fermenting just now doesn't have any tea in it, so it will be interesting to compare.