Next steps for Lidl cloudy apple juice cider

[ilikewatch]

Firstly, hello and thanks for all the useful tips I've picked up whilst lurking on the forum over the past few weeks

I've decided to try making my first ever brew, having aggregated various cider recipes I've seen on the forum:

16 litres Lidl cloudy apple juice
5 bramley apples - peeled, cored and blended
1lb clear honey
200g Demerara sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast
1 cup strong tea

I dissolved the apples, honey, sugar and tea in a hot (not boiling) pan with 2 litres of the apple juice, then divided between 4 demijohns, added the yeast and remaining apple juice - 24 hours later and the demijohns are bubbling once every 2 seconds.

My question is, what are the next steps? My current feelings are:
Top up the demijohns to the neck with juice after 4-5 days
Rack off the cider into clean demijohns once the fruit has dropped (top up with juice again?)
Once fermentation has stopped then rack off into clean 2 litre bottles with a teaspoon of sugar in each to give some sparkle.

So, how does this sound? What would you do differently? Thanks in advance for any tips!

[oldbloke]

Top up on day5, yep.
I wouldn't bother racking until it's done, myself - could be 2 weeks, could be 3. As you've used cloudy juice you'll probably need a hydrometer to tell.
A 2l bottle will want more than 1tsp for priming. At least 2, I'd do 4.
Then give it at least 2wks somewhere warm, then at least 2 somewhere cold.

[ilikewatch]

Thanks for the tips - I'm going to look really stupid here, but... you say that I'll probably need a hydrometer to tell when fermentation is done - I assumed that I would know fermentation was done when the bubbling stopped?

[Geezah]

Never use the airlock as a guide to fermentation, it's purely there to allow the co2 to escape and stop anything nasty (fruit flies) getting in to the brew. It can still be fermenting with no airlock activity if the co2 finds another way to get out. (badly sealed bung / grommet / screw cap)

I think what oldbloke was getting at was the fact that you wont see the yeast drop out of the brew and become clear due to the use of cloudy apple juice.
You can only be sure fermentation has completed when the hydrometer reads from 1.000 to .996 (depending on the yeast strain as to how far it will drop)

[ilikewatch]

Thanks for the info - hydrometer and trial jar ordered!

[wilsoa11111]

sounds like a plan, surprised u could be bothered with the cloudy juice- too pricy for me twice the cost of the value 65p a litre stuff,i also agree that can add more sugar to prime, just remember to leave for a while- really makes all the difference
Also worth mentioning it will be really dry, so dont expect the first few bottle to be what ur used to- this can be reduced by adding a some splenda to the bottles or using a sugar syrup on serving

[ilikewatch]

I couldn't decide between cloudy or clear juice, but when I got to Lidl the cloudy was only 89p a carton, and as I prefer cloudy cider I decided to spend the extra pennies. Will bear in mind your comments about dryness, though I do like a dry cider.