When to bottle Cider

[mrdave3000]

Hi all,
I started to make my very first turbo cider about 8 days ago,

20 litres carton apple juice
1kg Sugar
Yeast
Nutrient

Due to lack of knowledge, I didnt have a hydrometer to take the starting SG. (although have one)

at the moment its sitting at 1.010 an is still very cloudy.

Ive read that it can be bottled once it stops fermenting, will it totaly stop or just get really slow? or do I just wait until it goes clear then bottle it? Im still getting a bubble about every 20-25 seconds at the moment.

Sorry about the newby questions

Cheers
Dave

[Crossbow]

It probably won't stop totally for the foreseeable future, but 2 bubbles a min is probably pretty much finished (depending on yeast ofc), however my TCs have tended to end at about 1.000.
My experience is that putting it somewhere cool for a couple of days to help it clear and then bottling with apple juice as a primer works very well, although there are far more experienced TC makers here than me

[mrdave3000]

OK Ive just checked another demijohn of cider - started on the same day.

Its giving a reading of 1.002 with 1 or 2 bubbles a minute.

Ive also just had a taste and its not what I expected. Quite dry (definatly got alcohol in there )but not much flavour. Will the taste change the longer I leave it or can I add somthing?

[Crossbow]

The thin taste (most common when making stronger TC) is one of the main reasons for using apple juice as a primer when bottling, or just adding juice before consuming. Another flavour tip is to use muscovado and or demerara sugar.

[mrdave3000]

Thanks for taking the time to reply

When priming with apple juice, how much would I add to say 1 litre of cider for example?

[Crossbow]

I've used 30ml of jiuce per 500ml bottle with good effect (the 30ml is a suggestion elsewhere in this forum)

Try reading all the other TC threads... even when they aren't helpful. they are amusing

[mrdave3000]

Thanks!

Im slowly working my way through all the posts lol

[Vossy1]

You can introduce sweetness back to a dry cider by adding artificial sweetener. It can't be fermented out so it remains sweet.
I used to prime 500ml bottles with 30ml of apple juice and it certainly added apple taste back to the cider

[Rez_brp]

I've used 30ml of jiuce per 500ml bottle with good effect (the 30ml is a suggestion elsewhere in this forum)

Try reading all the other TC threads... even when they aren't helpful. they are amusing

We nicked this 30ml apple juice from somewhere on this forum and my bottles are nice and hard (Oooer!) which means nice bubbly things are occurring...

[Curious Brew]

I use 30ml of apple juice per 500ml/pint with good effect.

My TC tends to finish in the 1.002 to 0.998 range depending of added fermentables. Personally I'd wait until you get a stable reading on your hydrometer over a 24 hour period just to be on the safe side.

The amount of sugar you've added will probably produce a brew of about 7%-8% which will end up a little on the "thin" side.