Turbo Cider first timer!

[xozzx]

Hi all. Im new to brewing and planning a small batch of turbo cider (incase all goes wrong and I end up with 20L of vinegar!!). I have read through a wealth of information on here and have a basic plan... and also a few questions. Any advice greatly appreciated.

I am living in Bucharest at the moment and there is only 1 homebrew supplier (that I can find) and they dont have a huge stock so I have been searching for alternatives to some ingredients I saw in other recipes.

So, I have a 5L and 3L demijohn, I plan to combine these after fermentation, here is my plan:

8L Apple juice (NO preservatives )
250mL strong black tea (3 tea bags - for tannin)
1 pack bakers yeast (substitute for yeast nutrient)
0.5 pack (4.5g) cider yeast
500mL fruit juice syrup (no preservatives, 65% sugar) Will try either fruits of the forest or strawberry.
250mL lime squash


Method:
1- Sanitise equipment
2- Boil 250mL lime squash with the bakers yeast to kill it (this will be the yeast nutrient)
3- Pour this into large pot and add 6L apple juice
4- Add the black tea
5- Add the fruit syrup
6- Mix and take OG
7- Add yeast and pour into demijohns, stopper with CO2 bubbler.
8- After fermentation complete sanitise equipment and pour both demijohns into bottling bucket. Take FG
9- Add another 2L apple juice (to sweeten and for carbonation)
10- Bottle. Include 1 plastic bottle to check carbonation.
11- Once plastic bottle is solid pasteurise glass bottles by placing in 85C water for 10 mins.
12 - Leave for 2 months to condition.


Any advice on the above?

Is there a specific SG or FG I should aim for? I am hoping for around 7% ABV. I maybe need to add a little extra sugar?

Should I add anything else before bottling? Will the apple juice be enough for carbonation and sweetening? I could also add some lactose or artificial sweetener.

Any advice appreciated. Im going to try a few batches and see which turns out best, but the above is the basic recipe I will use.

 

[Personal91]

Hi all. Im new to brewing and planning a small batch of turbo cider (incase all goes wrong and I end up with 20L of vinegar!!). I have read through a wealth of information on here and have a basic plan... and also a few questions. Any advice greatly appreciated.

I am living in Bucharest at the moment and there is only 1 homebrew supplier (that I can find) and they dont have a huge stock so I have been searching for alternatives to some ingredients I saw in other recipes.

So, I have a 5L and 3L demijohn, I plan to combine these after fermentation, here is my plan:

8L Apple juice (NO preservatives )
250mL strong black tea (3 tea bags - for tannin)
1 pack bakers yeast (substitute for yeast nutrient)
0.5 pack (4.5g) cider yeast
500mL fruit juice syrup (no preservatives, 65% sugar) Will try either fruits of the forest or strawberry.
250mL lime squash


Method:
1- Sanitise equipment
2- Boil 250mL lime squash with the bakers yeast to kill it (this will be the yeast nutrient)
3- Pour this into large pot and add 6L apple juice
4- Add the black tea
5- Add the fruit syrup
6- Mix and take OG
7- Add yeast and pour into demijohns, stopper with CO2 bubbler.
8- After fermentation complete sanitise equipment and pour both demijohns into bottling bucket. Take FG
9- Add another 2L apple juice (to sweeten and for carbonation)
10- Bottle. Include 1 plastic bottle to check carbonation.
11- Once plastic bottle is solid pasteurise glass bottles by placing in 85C water for 10 mins.
12 - Leave for 2 months to condition.


Any advice on the above?

Is there a specific SG or FG I should aim for? I am hoping for around 7% ABV. I maybe need to add a little extra sugar?

Should I add anything else before bottling? Will the apple juice be enough for carbonation and sweetening? I could also add some lactose or artificial sweetener.

Any advice appreciated. Im going to try a few batches and see which turns out best, but the above is the basic recipe I will use.

I would use EC-1118 champagne yeast as it will power through all the sugars - no need for yeast nutrient aswell - ( I wouldn't have used baker yeast as nutrient just thought I would mention aswell )

 

[Bernaaard]

I wouldn't bother with the yeast nutrient because I have never needed it with TC. The rest sounds pretty much ok. TC can have a vigorous fermentation though so I always put my DJ in a washing up bowl. Other than that, just decant into a second vessel for a while to clarify for a few days. Then once it is bottled leave it alone. My mistake was drinking it too soon and whilst it was extremely drinkable, time would have made it much better.

 

[xozzx]

Great, thanks for the advice. Ill keep the thread updated so anyone interested can follow. I also decided I would do the demijohns separately so I can try some small differences in the recipe and compare. Ill probably do a few more batches all with a slight change so that I can find the best recipe for me and make a 20L brew.

 

[Bernaaard]

I used to do 2 DJ at a time. Each had a different apple juice in it with light or dark sugar in it. Just little variations to see what came out best so I reckon you are bang on the mark. Good luck with it but remember it can be pretty powerful stuff. I think I got one of them up to about 11% using wine yeast once but someone lost the power to stand after 2 x 500ml bottles, accused me of stealing the boot of his car and had to be carried home so I didn't do that one again

 

[xozzx]

Ive now made quite a few variations and experiments and had some fairly successful ciders. My next few brewing now I have high hopes for...

I made a couple of basic ones, just apple juice and strong tea. I used different yeasts (champagne, cider, beer) and tried with and without yeast nutrient (boiled bread yeast) which does seem to make a slightly better cider. I havent enough brews yet with other yeasts to properly compare them.

For flavouring I found strawberry syrup leaves very little taste (if any) and elderflower syrup left a very good and strong elderflower flavour. I bottled the latest batch using fruits of the forest syrup as the priming sugar, I added 700mL (525g sugar) to 10L and will pasteurise when the plastic tester bottle is solid. I had a taste recently and is very good, a little flat as it hadnt been left long enough to prime but the taste is really good. My girlfriend likes the cider very sweet so next time I might add a little more priming sugars, maybe around 650g per 10L. I have used the stovetop pasteurisation method from these forums a few times now without any issues, occasionally the grolsch fliptop bottles will release a little pressure from the seal but no bottle bombs yet.

I also have an apple and pear cider ready to bottle, an apple, ginger and honey one brewing and an apple and blackcurrent brewing. This is along with another 23L beer and 15L ginger beer, think Ive caught the brewing bug!!