Turbo Cider Recipes, Methods and Taste Collection.

[gallagtara]

Hi there Turbo Ciderers!

I'm a first timer attempting a turbo cider type hybrid - basically I have my own apples but want to make some quick easy cider with them. I've got all my details over here, if y'all have any advice I'd really appreciate the help!

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=62396&p=656285#p656285

[GARYSMIFF]

I am slowly doing a few videos on my turbo ciders go to YouTube as a friend saud I should. Im no presenter but thr TC is good. Go search GARYSMIFF on you tube im on part 4-5 almost done

[Checky]

Are there instructions anywhere on here about the Turbo Cider process and is it something I can do with my coopers beer making kit. The wife is a koppaberg cider drinker and I was thinking if I can get another kit and get a cider brew away for her the life will be rosy and I'll have another kit .

Pinto's Simple Guide to Liquid Blindness (AKA Turbo Cider)

Im sure there are lots of guides and information available on this very subject, but im feeling verbose today so I'll impart my t'uppennith of wisdom of the subject - please feel free to contradict, add or comment on my ramblings

Turbo cider making is the process of brewing your own cider using pre-pressed juices and concentrates that you can buy from any decent shop or supermarket (as opposed to harvesting and pressing your own apples in the autumn) but there are a few differences between proper cidermaking and TC making (and again, commercial kit cider making) - it helps to know a little about these as it explains some of the steps you'll be making later.

Apples

Firstly, you can make good cider with ANY apple variety, but proper cider apples are varieties selectively bred for their high tannin content - tannins being an important component of flavour and bite in a finished brew. Shop bought juices are made from "dessert" apples - the polar opposite - bred for their light, very sweet charecter and hence have very low tannin contents. Therefore, we have to add those tannins back in to the mix and there are a number of ways to do this - more on this later...

Yeasts

Yeast selection, as in beer brewing, can impart many subtle (and some not so subtle) charecteristics to your brew; you are free to experiment freely to see just what comes out at the end Assuming this is your first brew, I'd make the following reccomendations tho

or....

I've used both of these with great sucess now, although I lean towards the super yeast simply because its got nutrient included in a one shot package with the yeast. Both of these will ferment to absolute dryness eg: consume/convert all the available sugars and take the specific gravity (SG) to 1.000 or lower ( in 99% of cases unless your trying to make some dangerously powerful alky brew )

Note the word....DRYNESS.... I've had brews that on sampling will suck the water out of your eyeballs ! Now whilst I like bone dry drinks, its not to everyones taste ( namely SWMBO ). This lead me to an experiment using Nottingham ale yeast - its lower tolerance of alcohol meant that it finished earlier, with a lower ABV and to boot, a naturally sweeter finish as not all the sugar was converted ( IIRC, it finished about 1.008)

Experimentation . Spice of life

Additives

There are certain additives that you'll need to use (and some optional ones you dont have to) that are used in turbo ciders to alter the charecter and improve the brew. Here's the breakdown of the ones I know about feel free to add.

Tea & Tannin Sources - Remember the earlier info about tannins ? To make a decent cider you'll need to boost the tannin content of the apple juice somewhat. The easiest and most common way to do this is to add strong brewed tea to your mix. Brew up a cup of tea using 3-4 tea bags (or more for bigger brews), let it stew for 20 minutes and bung it in (for my last 23l brew I used 10 bags in a litre jug !)

There are other sources of tannins too. The most common (and used by many others) is to add high tannin apples in your brew (such as brambley cooking apples or even crab apples in season) - usually chopped finely or shredded and added to the fermentation vessel. Its claimed this has an added effect on the "appleness" of the finshed product too. To this end, do a search on this forum for "dreadskin's Turbo cider recipie" for all the info you need.

Yeast Nutrient - Not essential, but strongly reccomended. Apple juices are poor in the nutrients that yeast use to metabolise so progress without it will be slowed - use of nutrient could cut the fermentation time by more than two weeks ! Certain yeasts come pre-mixed (see above) or buy it from you HBS and add it as per directions.

Pectolase - Enzyme that works on breaking down the pectin content of the cider, supposedly making the finished product quicker to clear. I've only added to my jam-boosted TC's as the pectin content of jam is very high indeed so i thought it could use the help.

Maleic Acid - Common ingredient in winemaking, its use in cider increases the tartness (dryness) of the brew and lowers pH of the fermenting brew ( never used it and looking at the warning on the label of a jar, not something i'd want to add either )

Brewing Kit

In response to Barticus' original question, you dont need any special equipment beond what you probably already have for brewing your beer, and you can use a fermentation bucket without hesitation. What I would say is in relation to quantity; using a fermentation bucket means you'll be making big batches of TC or having a lot of head space which could lead to oxidation issues. Over capacity can also just be plain inconvenient for space reasons too.

IMO, turbo cider lends itself well to the Demijohn - its enough cider to be worthwhile making, not so much as to be a waste if you make a duff batch and perfect size for carrying out a number of experimental flavours all at once So where to get a demijohn (if you dont already have one) - glass ones are expensive and (these days) harder to get hold of, so the modern equivlent is the 5 litre PET demijohn.



Now, your LHBS will have these in stock for around a fiver each, but why buy them when there's a cheaper alternative? Most larger supermarket stock their spring water in the same bottles for around a quid So why not buy half a dozen and use the water for making an ale brew ? Waste not, want not

You'll be left with this:



Remove the cap, and you'll need to prepare it to accept a ferm lock. Simple enough, just need a 12mm drill bit and punch a hole through it.



To provide the gas tight seal, you then line the hole using a 12mm rubber grommet, just pops right in. Slip your fermentation lock in. I bought my grommets from an ebay seller, cost me £ 3.95 + P&P for 50 of em



and....BOOM !!



Lets make some cider

Apple Turbo Cider (5l Trial Batch)

You'll need:

4l Apple Juice
Cup Cold Tea
Yeast
Nutrient (reccomended)


Yup. Thats it Simple, eh ?

Just pure juice will normally have an OG of around 1.040 that will give you an ABV of around 5%... thats WITHOUT any sugar additives. Its your brew tho, so feel free to boost (and as its cider already, the "cidery" thing with granulated sugar wont matter really so use it) - I found that the SG went up by 0.01 for each 150g of sugar added (impirical observation, im sure theres a mathematical formula somewhere...)

Source your apple juice from your place of choice (usually the euro-supermarkets are the best place as they make some very nice juices at very low prices, sometimes ~40p/litre). Just pour it in - its already sterilised from the pack so no boiling or campdens required. Make up a cup of very strong tea (i'd reccomend 4 bags, brand is irrelevant and if im honest, the cheapest bags are better for it !), leave them to stew for 20 minutes, then remove the bags and pour it in the fermenter. Add your yeast, sprinkle method works here. Then,..... leave it

Fermentation should begin within 3-4 hours, and will complete out in about a week to 10 days. Once activity seems to have finished, you can take a sample or drop your hydrometer into the bottle (though you'll need sanitised tweezers to get it out again) and provided the gravity is ~1.000, then its syphon and bottle, but expect to loose about 3-500ml to wastage and sediment if you want nice clear cider.

I like fizzy ciders, so add 1.5tsp of priming sugar to each 500ml bottle, but prime to taste. Leave the bottles in a warm place for about 10 days, then chill and drink, or better, transfer to a cool place to condition for another 7-14 days for a much better product. If you've let it ferment to dryness and want a sweeter finish, you can backsweeten with splenda or stevia easily by adding some with the priming charge in the bottle (i'd reccomend one level tsp of splenda as a good baseline to start from, then add/cut back to taste)

Thats all there is to it.

Moving on...

With your first turbo cider under your belt, you can now survey the vista of choices that await your future brews

The choice of juices is vast - cranberry, blueberry, white or red grape, mango, multifruit.....and every combination inbetween; it just goes on and on, and they can all be used (although some im told arent too clever a quick google will tell you if your crazy plan is sensible or not) How about jams for a flavour boost ? or honey ? herbs ? spices ?

Its a career in itself

most of all tho... HAVE FUN !

I know this post is a year and a half old.... But....

I just wanted to say thank you for it! I balls up creating my first PET Demi John for a Christmas creation which has gone terribly wrong... Wanted to save money instead of buying a glass one and didn't research properly... So yea... Thank you!

[oldbloke]

Pinto's guide quoted above is pretty good.
I'd just add:
For tannin I now use proprietary wine tannin from a homebrew shop. Leaves more room in the FV for AJ. The more apple you can get in the better.
Suma AJ concentrate, diluted 1:6, is bang in the middle of Andrew Lea's recommended range for acidity.
Add half a litre per gallon of some other juice to fill out the flavour. (cranberry and cherry work well)
I wouldn't add any acid, malic or otherwise, unless you're planning on going for a secondary malolactic ferment. Perhaps surprisingly, most shop AJs are /more/ acid than the optimum range for cider. One of my recent successes had calcium carbonate added to reduce the acidity.
Shameless promo: My TC guide is at http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewt ... 48&t=38843

[Bradmuff]

As i'm totally new to this home brewing malarky thought i'd scan the internet in search of a recipe to make myself a cheap, cheerful, hard hitting, fruity, fizzy, delicious cider
Anybodys thoughts or opinions on this would be greatly appreciated
I've scanned through a few threads and this is the recipe i've attempted tonight!

1 Granny Smith Apple (Chopped and Peeled)
500 grams of Brewing Sugar
Cold cup of tea
2 Litres of 100% Pure Apple Juice ( ASDA Chosen by you)
1 Litre of Exotic Juice Drink (ASDA Chosen by you)
1 Litre of Five Fruits Juice Drink (ASDA Chosen by you)
1 Rounded Teaspoon of Wilko Pictolase
1 Rounded Teaspoon of Wilko Yeast Nutrient
1 Sachet of Wilko Gervin universal wine yeast

Right as always i sterilised all equipment i was using and started by pouring the 2 litres of Apple Juice into my Glass DemiJohn, i then boiled up some water and and put 3 tea bags in (Just used whatever teabags we have 'Red Label') then left for them to stew for about 20 mins.
I then chopped and peeled 1 Granny Smith apple and put it into a cooking pan and added 1 Litre of the Exotic Juice Drink and Approximately 3/4 of the Five Fruits Juice, put the last 1/4 in the demijohn else pan would have overflowed, then proceeded to heat the juices and apple up to just slightly less than boiling hot and measured out 500 grams of Brewing Sugar and poured into the heated juice and stirred until all sugar had dissolved and mixture was bubbling, almost at boiling point.
I then left the juice mixture to cool whilst i watched Made In Chelsea so about an hour, then poured the cooled mixture into the demijohn! I took out the apples because wasn't sure if it was wise to put them in the demijohn along with the mixture??
I Also added the cold tea, 1 tsp of Pictolase, 1 tsp of Yeast Nutrient and Poured the yeast into the demijohn and gave it a rigorous shake and mix about! Put on the airlock and rubber bung and bobs your uncle!
Hoping my first attempt will come out nice!
Do wanna try and get a quite a fizzy cider out of it so was wondering what is the best way to ensure i get a nice little fizz with it was?
Will keep people posted on how it goes if you're interested.
Many Thanks
Bradmuff