Turbo Cider - Special Yeast Mix!

[periolus]

Hi!

Right! Had a superb shop at LIDL today. 12 bottles of Hobgoblin for £12 and then made it up to £30 with 1.5L cartons of apple juice for turbo cider. Had a voucher for £5 off when you spend £30 so well chuffed!

Anyway - one question. I am going to make two batches of about 11.5L each (10.5L apple juice plus 1L of sugar dissolved in water plus some tea). I will add tea for tannin content, but may only do that to one batch.

THE QUESTION IS: Would it be stupid to use half-and-half cider and champagne yeast to make this? I had heard that champagne yeast gives stupidly dry cider, but that it also gives a higher ABV. I'm not after super-strength brew, but would like it at about 6% if possible.

Does tannin reduce alcohol content? Should it be added for the primary fermentation or at the end?

Okay - that's several questions, but answers would be gratefully received!

Many tanks,

Periolus x

PS: I am syphoning my Wherry off into the barrel tonight! YAY! Primary fermentation is over!

 

[tubby_shaw]

The readily available Youngs cider yeast is re packaged champagne yeast so there isn't much point in mixing them
There is enough natural sugar in the apple juice to give you 6% abv and adding more sugar will result in thinner tasting apple wine that will give you a nasty hangover
Adding some tannin is a good idea though and I've had some good results with adding a tsp of glycerine per 5litres as well

 

TS is as always, spot on.
Although when I used Glycerin at 1 tsp per 5 ltrs it gave the Cider a slight "cloying" feel.

 

[periolus]

I am now ready to get my TC on. I managed to get 2 demijohns from Wilkinsons (5L each) so can make 2 batches. Here is the yeasty conundrum of the day - how much of the sachet of champagne yeast I have (Youngs sachets) should I use for roughly 5L volume. This will be 4.5L apple juice and then 1 mug of stewed tea, so about 4.75L in all probably.

Do I need a whole sachet per demijohn, or can I halve it using a sterile tea-spoon?

I am going to brew the batches tomorrow! I can't wait!

PS: Oh yes! How long should I leave this to condition after primary fermentation is finished?

 

[chiefstoker]

I am now ready to get my TC on. I managed to get 2 demijohns from Wilkinsons (5L each) so can make 2 batches. Here is the yeasty conundrum of the day - how much of the sachet of champagne yeast I have (Youngs sachets) should I use for roughly 5L volume. This will be 4.5L apple juice and then 1 mug of stewed tea, so about 4.75L in all probably.

Do I need a whole sachet per demijohn, or can I halve it using a sterile tea-spoon?

I am going to brew the batches tomorrow! I can't wait!

PS: Oh yes! How long should I leave this to condition after primary fermentation is finished?

The sachet is usually sufficient for a 25L batch so I see no probs splitting it between the two demi-johns.

Don't forget to leave some headroom in your demi to allow for any head that develops, then top up after this initial head dies down.

Leave it till it stops bubbling, but check with hydrometer is the best way to determine whether the initial ferment has stopped (the same reading over 3 days is usually ok) usually 10 days ish! but it can take less or longer depending on temp. yeast etc.


: CS