Turbo cider

[brianaiton]

I seen an easy recipe online and it just seems too easy, I'm wondering if any of you have done it and if so, did it work.

1 litre apple juice in a dj, add wine yeast and shake - leave for 2 hours, add another 3 litres and leave for a week then prime it and bottle it

Thanks in advance

 

[oldbloke]

That'll make a not very good cider, but a good one is almost as easy.
Nip over to the Wine & Cider How To section, there are a few TurboCider guides.

 

[brianaiton]

Cheers mate, I'll nip over and have a peek. Will the one I have on be drinkable? I'm not too fussed to be honest. I have youngs cider bottled and it tastes excellent so I won't be without a nice cider.

 

[oldbloke]

Ah, you've started it already?
OK - the first one I made was pretty much as simple as your recipe, and t'missus said we could stop buying mainstream commercial stuff.
So it'll be at least drinkable. But the ones I do now are a lot better.
Got any space in the top of the demi? Pour the leftovers of your morning teapot into it - shop juice is short on tannin.
Suggest you leave it until it clears naturally, then bottle. Unless you used cloudy juice...
Never seen one take more than 22 days, most do take 2 weeks.
If by some mischance it isn't great, don't give up on the idea, try again with a few of the extras suggested in the HowTo guides. After all it doesn't cost much or take a long time to put together or to ferment.

 

[brianaiton]

What does the tea do and how much do I put in?

Thanks for your advice mate. Very much appreciated

 

[godfrey]

rule of thumb ....

one cup of tea per gallon :thumb:


the tea will add tannin (the bitter taste in tea)

 

[brianaiton]

Thanks gents. I'm very grateful for your help

 

[DylanB]

Hi, this is my first post so be gentle!

In my experience Turbo Cider is a great way to get into brewing. I've made several batches, all with different characteristics. For me i found that back sweetening with the addition of the original apple juice made for a great tasting cider. Without this, and drunk immediately after fermentation is complete, can leave you with quite a harsh tasting pint! As many people will testify to, the longer you leave it the better it tastes (or at least has a better depth of flavour).

My basic recipe for a small batch is:

4 litres of cheap apple juice (i used Aldi basics 64p litre)
1 litre of grape juice (Aldi again 98p per litre)
1 cup of strong tea
Normal granulated sugar (amounts vary depending on the finished ABV you want to achieve)
1 teaspoon of pectolase
1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon of yeast (i've used both cider yeast and wine yeast without too much difference in this case)

I would recommend heating a litre of apple juice to dissolve the sugar in, as it's a lot easier than trying to get it to dissolve in cold juice!

When adding the apple juice just add 3.5 litres and keep half a litre to one side for back sweetening when you come to bottle. For me this makes a world of difference!!

__________________________________________________
Currently brewing:
25 litres of Turbo Cider
5 litres of forest fruits wine
5 litres of summer fruits wine

Bottle conditioning:
5 litres of strawberry wine
5 litres of Turbo Cider

 

[graysalchemy]

The problem with apple juice from a supermarket is it is not from cider apple varieties. Cider apples are higher in acid and more acidic. So to make it like cider apples you need to add tannin and an acid, malic acid is what is found in cider apples. So if you add 1 tsp of grape tannin (this is better than tea as it gives the right amount of tannin) and 1 tsp of malic acid per gallon of juice.

Yeast a champagne yeast is best in fact better than shop bought cider yeast which tends to have sweeteners in it.

I wouldn't add sugar to bump up the abv. Apple juice has a very delicate taste verging on insipidity. when you add sugar you increase the alcohol but in doing so you dilute the fragile taste of the cider. You will end up with something stronger and insipid which is fine if you want to recreate park bench Cider, but not if you want top craft something with taste.

Finally you need time and plenty of it. Cider matures best in bulk so it really needs leaving a month or two to mature in bulk then bottle and again leave it for a month or so.

If you are interested in making a scrumpy style cider you need to encourage malolactic fermentation. If you search the site for my posts then I have written a lot about it over the past few years. well worth it and doesn't really involve much more apart from using a culture of yeast from a bottle of old rosie cider and leaving it for 6 months.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[richy.d]

Hi guys ive recently brought a homebrew kit and I decided on cider I used 2/3 fresh apples and 1/3 apple kuice been about 5 days now and a thick crust/skin has formed on top is this normal as its my first atempt im unsure many thanks Rich

 

[kentmark]

If you're looking for a simple juice based recipie do a search for the raspberryade thread, well worth checking out.

 

[NickW]

This is an interesting thread... I followed brewstews turbo cider recipe about 5 years ago. Literally asda smart price apple juice, sugar to 1.068, safale-04 ale yeast and stop the ferment at around 1.016 ,chill in corny keg and drink when carbonated. Not scrumpy style by any means but what a great drink. Better than a strongbow or magners....no tea, tannins or malic acid in sight

 

[Terand]

For me i found that back sweetening with the addition of the original apple juice made for a great tasting cider.

What is back sweetening?

 

[graysalchemy]

Adding artificial sweetner after it has fermented to sweeten it up. :thumb:

 

[oldbloke]

Hi guys ive recently brought a homebrew kit and I decided on cider I used 2/3 fresh apples and 1/3 apple kuice been about 5 days now and a thick crust/skin has formed on top is this normal as its my first atempt im unsure many thanks Rich

Completely normal. A good crust forms with most juice/yeast combos and comes and goes at different times according to the exact recipe&conditions.

 

[DylanB]

I don't like artificial sweeteners, so i prefer to use some of the original juice to sweeten if possible. Depending on what you brew (and the taste you like) its not always necessary!