Turbo Cider Ideas?

[oldskooladdict]

I tried about three turbo cider brews a few years ago, one was with traditional apple, honey and stuff, from a recipy on here, another was with mango juice and one other I can't remember which was red

Honestly? They all turned out a bit ropey - mostly far too dry for my liking and more like wine!

Besides 'just apple' what other turbo cider recipies have you guys tried with some decent success? - Is there any (easy!) way to achieve the 'smokey' sort of flavour/smell/taste you get with Scrumpy?!

[oldbloke]

GraysAlchemy over on thehomebrewforum reckons you have to add malic acid and leave it yonks for a malolactic fermentaion after the yeast fermentation. I can't be arsed.
I'd say:
1. Don't add extra sugar, whether honey or owt else. Keep the ABV down to under 7% to stop it being winelike.
2. Good additions are cranberry or pomegranate, about 1/2l per gallon.
3. Do add some strong tea for a bit of tannin bite.
4. Chuck a bit of Splenda in if you don't like it dry (I do, and so does t'missus)
5. Use a cider yeast (or maybe an ale or lager yeast) to avoid making it winelike (though Gervin D, for one, can give a fairly funky farmyardish effect)
6. Make it more appley, which helps a lot, by using an AJ concentrate instead of an AJ (NB I said 'AJ concentrate', not 'AJ from concentrate')

OK I'm not a big scrumpy fan. Had enough of it growing up in Zummerzet. Too many headaches. I prefer a somewhat cleaner flavour. But what I make isn't insipid, it's better than most shop ciders.
But I do like dry. A lot of commercial ciders I can't stand now, they just taste like somebody emptied the sugarbowl into them. But if dry isn't to your taste, a bit of Splenda will sort it.

[oldskooladdict]

That's brilliant! Thanks very much!

[Flea]

[quote"oldbloke"]4. Chuck a bit of Splenda in if you don't like it dry (I do, and so does t'missus)[/quote]


Just picking up on this bit, I've got 40 pints of cider that's ready for priming and bottling. It's currently too dry for my better halves taste. Roughly how much Splenda would you add to take it up to a medium sweet?

[oldbloke]

I don't really know, coz I don't do it. But, elsewhere somebody said try adding it bit by bit to a pint of water to find out how much of it you like in a pint.
I suspect, if it'd normally be teaspoon-equivalent to sugar in tea etc, that 1tsp/pint would be fairly but not overpoweringly sweet.

[Flea]

I don't really know, coz I don't do it. But, elsewhere somebody said try adding it bit by bit to a pint of water to find out how much of it you like in a pint.
I suspect, if it'd normally be teaspoon-equivalent to sugar in tea etc, that 1tsp/pint would be fairly but not overpoweringly sweet.

Fair enough, I'll give it a swing.

[TC2642]

You could try adding some herbs or spices, rosemary to his nice or if you want something for xmas cinnamon and brown sugar is worth a look.

[danbrew]

Mixed spice too...

Along with the other suggestions ferment the apple juice out as normal then throw in half a dozen chopped eating apples when it's finished fermenting (about one medium sized apple per gallon) to add some real appleyness. Go for more acid tasting apples rather than the tasteless sweeter ones...

Seemed to work for me.

Agree with the comment about not adding any more sugar as it's the alcohol that makes it wine'like to me...

Also look into any dried fruits you fancy... The problem is, the more stuff you add, the more it needs to be aged before it comes good...

[Pinto]

I'll be making a batch of my "Cinnamonator" cider once my current apple and lychee brew goes to the secondary - original recipie was clove and cinnamon, but i'll be 'mulling' it further by adding dried mixed peel and a healthy blast of allspice and nutmeg to this one.

Beauty of turbo cider is that there are so many things to try

For a medium sweet cider, i reccomend 1.5 - 2tsp of splenda or equivilent - i ferment using youngs super yeast tho so it always goes completely dry (less than 1.000 fg) so you may need less

[TonyT40]

I did one with Tymbark apple and cherry from the Tesco Polish isle or your nearest eastern european deli. Not bad if you like a fruity "Jaques" type drink. It still needs sweetening though imho.

[Pinto]

I did one with Tymbark apple and cherry from the Tesco Polish isle or your nearest eastern european deli. Not bad if you like a fruity "Jaques" type drink. It still needs sweetening though imho.

EXACTLY what I found with that one too - I think that was even the brew when I decided to go from 1 to 2tsp of splenda to get the sweetness up - I was impressed with the way the cherry flavour came through

[growbahthegreat]

Hi all,

new to the forum but not to home brewing been doing it since i was 18 and im 36 now done many TC's im my time with hugely different outcomes but as a rule what oldbloke said is largely correct except i dont use splenda I use truvia to prime or diet lemonade to sweeten at drinking

for what its worth ill list one of of my regular brews that is easy to do

THE TURBINATOR
4ltrs 100% cloudy apple juice (aldi)
450g white sugar
2/3lb clear honey
One sachet youngs dessert/high alcohol yeast

Using a clean demijohn empty 2 ltrs juice into DJ gently heat 1ltr add honey and sugar mix till dissolved (DO NOT BOIL) empty sweet mash into GJ, add yeast (do not stir)insert airlock(bubbler) leave for 30mins then agitate vigorously set DJ in a warm place (+21deg) after 3 days (72hrs) add the remaining 1ltr of juice and allow to ferment out (stop bubbling) rack off from sediment(I use 500ml coke btls)add half a teaspoon of truvia/splenda to each btl cap and allow to rest for at least a week

this works well with any yeast but if you want loopy juice then better get the good yeast

I do a summer batch using lager yeast that is very drinkable although a little dry for some

a word from god cleanliness is next to drunkenness none of us want bum wee's so sterilise and be clean