Glycerine in turbo cider

[CestrIan]

I'm not very happy with my initial attempts at TC. It's just too dry. I've been experimenting with different sweeteners, but my TC also tastes a bit thin, so I've got a couple of small bottles of glycerine from asda and wondered if anyone who uses this regularly could give me any pointers on how much they add to a standard TC fermented down to 1000ish FG.. if you could give me your addition in ml/L it would be great if possible!

Also tasting notes on sweetness imparted by the glycerine would be good to know in case you need to back off on the normal sucralose etc addition.

[Pinto]

Not used glycerine before but like you, its in my list of things to try (and I have some in my brew cupboard). I've had quite a lot of success with adding maltodextrin to ciders (which technically makes it Graff, but hey ho ) - adds a little sweetness, but does wonders for the mouthfeel - 10g/l

I add my MD into the primary fermentation in addition to any sugar additions. Bulk Powders ( http://www.bulkpowders.co.uk ) are your peeps for straight maltodextri - and damn useful if you're into your sports suppliments

[CestrIan]

Thanks for the link Pinto - I'll give it a try.

[CestrIan]

There's not much info on Glycerine in TC so i decided to do a trial. I got some maltodextrin from pinto's link above and some of the samll bottles of glycerine from Asda. For sweeteners I bought Asdas own brand sweetener which contains sweetex and maltodextrin and cologran from Lidl which contains Sodium cyclamate and sodium saccharin. I tested them both with some tc out of the fv and I found the sweetex to give more of a dodgy aftertaste than the cologran so I decided to use them together as a blend, with less sweetex and more cologran.

Recipe was 15L of 5 different types of apple juice from Asda, Lidl & B&Ms plus water and 300g sugar. I was told that a good mix of apples gives better flavour. Not sure how much truth there is in that, but anyway.. I fermented the lot for two weeks down to 1002 steady for 3 days. Then added the sweeteners in four different batches of 1 gallon. It was very sour/dry out of the fv and cloudy, but tasted nice and appley with the sweeteners and had a bit of bite to it.

Batch 1 - 8 pints
Sweetex 10.0g
Cologran 15.0g
Priming Sugar 20g

Batch 2 - 8 pints
Sweetex 10.0g
Cologran 15.0g
Glycerine 38ml
Priming Sugar 20.0g

Batch 3 - 8 pints
Sweetex 10.0g
Cologran 15.0g
Maltodextrin 15.0g
Priming Sugar 20.0g

Batch 4 - 8 pints
Sweetex 5.0g
Cologran 25.0g
Maltodextrin 33.0g
Priming Sugar 20.0g

These all taste much more appley than the mainstream ciders you get nowadays, so I'm looking forward to see how they turn out. I will leave it for two weeks now to condition and then set up a taster session with some of my mates.

[WalesAles]

Sounds good to me! Please keep us posted on the reults of your Taste test!
WA

[Donna1968]

Hello there all,
I've a batch of TC which I am hoping will be done by Sunday morning. The initial reading when I added the sugar to the juice was 1.070 and at today's reading I have 0.990, which by my reckoning makes it around the 8-9% mark. Fermentation has not finished due to the temperature drop and my lack of willingness to put on the heating but it's still at it, and when I get home at night I bung the dj into a bucket of just-warm water to kick it off again.. The bucket and a load of poly-wadding from my sewing supplies has certainly helped. When fermentations ends I'll take another reading but I suspect, like last time, we will be a little straw-headed when the gallon is gone!

I had intended to infuse this batch with ginger for a bit of a kick but rather than grate the ginger I just sliced it and the effect has been minimal - a friend told me it needs to be properly crushed to release the flavours/oils so I'll remember that in future. Any suggestions on other flavourings???

I am keen on the idea of adding glycerine as a rapid brew like TC can lack, well. smoothness and roundness. I have added it in the past but it's always been somewhat hit-n-miss to get it right, and always on a batch-by-batch basis as each batch seems different.

Happy Hiccy Brewing Folks!
)

[oldbloke]

Not tried glycerin but saving your post for future ref
What I do to fatten up TC is use 1/2l per gallon of something else - recent 6way taste test saw cranberry come out the winner
Some shop juices are quite acid - above Andrew Lea's recommended range for cider - which doesn't help: I've got a batch conditioning now with a bit of calcium carbonate in to cut the acid slightly
But today I started 8 trial brews (4 yeasts * straight-vs-minimal-sweetening) using Suma concentrate - its acid is right in the centre of the cider range and it tastes a bit fatter, plus you can get more apple into the demi as it's concentrate. The Suma based brews won over the Prince's ones in my last test, though they were also older and due to the concentrate, 1 to 1.5 % stronger#


Re ginger, last time I used it I had about 200gm finely sliced, simmered 20 mins in about half a litre of AJ which, strained, went into the brew. Not "hey that's ginger" but a nice extra dimension.

[CestrIan]

The results of the taste test

First things first, the problem with doing a tasting session where everyone gets pissd for free is that most people will say that everything tastes lovely, just in case they don't get offered another glass. However the general consensus was that this was better than most ciders available on the market, comparable with a Westons cider, so I was pleased with that, but bear in mind it was free and they all wanted more. Flattery will generally get you more booze where brewers are concerned.

The over all feeling was that batch 4 was too sweet. This was heavy on the maltodextrin, but it still got drunk. Some of the older drinkers, that have maybe tried the odd glass of scrumpy, (or is it because they were brought up on strongbow?) preferred Batch 1 with no maltodextrin or glycerine. It was definitely sharper with more bite to balance the sweetex, but less body. The two ciders that I would class as medium sweetness were Batch 2 and 3 and these were the favourites with most people. The glycerine was in Batch 2 and the maltodextrine was in Batch 3. The cider with the glycerine was the slight favourite and I had to agree that it was a smoother more rounded pint with less of an artificial sweetener aftertaste than the batch with the maltodextrin, but it was close.

So a result for glycerine, but all the recipes went down very well. Next time I think I will try a combination of maltodextrin and glycerine with half the amounts added on batch 2 & 3. I think that using a combination of sweeteners rounds the flavours out and means that there's less chance of any one sweetener giving a dominant aftertaste that you can sometimes get with artificial sweeteners.

Next batch - 8 pints
Sweetex 10.0g
Cologran 15.0g
Glycerine 19ml
Maltodextrin 7.5g
Priming Sugar 20.0g

There's another 5 gallon in the garage just waiting to be bottled. I can't wait!!

[Pinto]

Nice work m9 - I'll have to incorporate your findings into future cider production. The only (and its a personal thing) issue I have is with the Lidl Cologran as a sweetener - I picked a jar up last time I was in there and put it down immediately as it contains aspartame - nasty stuff ! (if you want more info to make a choice, type aspartame into google and do some reading) - personally, I'd reccomend the cheapo Tescos sweetener (yellow jar) and its a mix of maltodextrin and sucralose.

Keep us posted on your progress

[CestrIan]

I think you are getting cologran mixed up with candarel. Cologran contains saccharin and cyclamate, not aspartame.

Click http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.co ... -list.html

[Pinto]

Im certain it was the Cologran - it was the only sweetener that the local branch stocked ? I'll check again next time im in there