Not so Turbo Cider!

[Zonked]

I've now made the cider I like to drink!

Here's my how to do:

23 litres T*****'s value apple juice
1 Youngs cider yeast sachet (going to try the white labs one soon)
Normal fermentation brew bucket for 5 gallons.
NO added sugars at all or you will make a very dry apple wine!

Pour 23 litres of T**** apple juice into primary bucket, sprinkle 1 sachet of Youngs cider yeast, wait 15 minutes then stir for a bit.
Wait 10 days. Check fermented. Add 2 litres more of T**** value apple juice. Syphon into keg or bottles. Leave in warm for 7 days. Move to coldish area or leave wherever for further 4 weeks at least or better still for however many merrie months you want!

I've now made a couple of batches of this brew & I've found that the longer it's kept (hard to do!) the better the final outcome.

If you want you can replace T***** apple juice with any litre of supermarket branded cartons of apple juice if you so desire).

[oblivious]

Much nicer without added sugar

lets us know how the Young's cider yeast goes, i have a couple sachets of it

[anomalous_result]

Do you prime yours or prefer it flat? Did you take any gravity readings, just interested to know what the abv is without adding sugar.

[Wez]

I'd guess that the 2L of juice that go in after fermentation / just before kegging are the priming 'sugars'

Nice write up, I think I might do a large batch of TC

[anomalous_result]

Ahh yes

[Curious Brew]

I'm going to try a sugarless batch next.

Batch #4 should be finished by tonight and I'll bottle it tomorrow as I'm out late tonight. 8% TC is all very well but it does come out a bit "thin".

Finished drinking my first batch last night and I must say it was getting much better with age. I think a 23L brew might just be mature by the time I finish it!

[delboy]

Do you prime yours or prefer it flat? Did you take any gravity readings, just interested to know what the abv is without adding sugar.

The gravity of apple juice out of a carton is about 1042-1046.

So you are looking at something like 5.6-6.2 % alcohol.

[Wobbler]

The gravity of apple juice out of a carton is about 1042-1046.

So you are looking at something like 5.6-6.2 % alcohol.

Made a double batch of TC back in early August. One 4L batch was from the cheap cartons of concentrates, which had an OG of 1.045. The other 4L batch was made with so called English Pressed juice, which also had an OG of 1.045. Fermented with Young's cider yeast, it recons one sachet is enough for 23L, so split a sachet between the two batches, didn't add any sugar to either brew.
Forgot to take a gravity reading at the end of fermentation, but I'd guess it ends very low because both are VERY dry. Anyone know what cider normally ferments down to?

The batch from the concentrate is crystal clear, whereas the batch from the pressed is still very murky, which doesn't bother me. The pressed has a slightly smoother taste, but I don't recon it's worth the extra expense.

[delboy]

The gravity of apple juice out of a carton is about 1042-1046.

So you are looking at something like 5.6-6.2 % alcohol.

Made a double batch of TC back in early August. One 4L batch was from the cheap cartons of concentrates, which had an OG of 1.045. The other 4L batch was made with so called English Pressed juice, which also had an OG of 1.045. Fermented with Young's cider yeast, it recons one sachet is enough for 23L, so split a sachet between the two batches, didn't add any sugar to either brew.
Forgot to take a gravity reading at the end of fermentation, but I'd guess it ends very low because both are VERY dry. Anyone know what cider normally ferments down to?

The batch from the concentrate is crystal clear, whereas the batch from the pressed is still very murky, which doesn't bother me. The pressed has a slightly smoother taste, but I don't recon it's worth the extra expense.

Should get down to 1.000 or even below since alcohol is less dense than water, but you do the calculation from 1.000 AFAIK.

[anomalous_result]

So you are looking at something like 5.6-6.2 % alcohol.

That's plenty for me. I need more bottles I think.

[Wobbler]

Should get down to 1.000 or even below since alcohol is less dense than water, but you do the calculation from 1.000 AFAIK.

Thanks DB.

So that makes mine to be 5.5831265% ABV.

[anomalous_result]

So that makes mine to be 5.5831265% ABV.

I still giggle when I see loads of decimal places. As a recovering mathemtician I can still remember my teacher telling me how there's absolutely no point in more than 39 decimal points of pi as this is sufficient to calculate the circumference of a circle bounding the known universe with an error no bigger than the radius of a proton.

but you do the calculation from 1.000 AFAIK.

So if it ferments past 1.000 you find the difference between OG and 1.000 and divide that by 7.45?

[Wobbler]

So if it ferments past 1.000 you find the difference between OG and 1.000 and divide that by 7.45?

I thought it was 8.06, well that's what I used.

I'd have been happy to provide you with your 39 decimal places, but my calculator only has 7.

[Russ]

From my experience it all ends up dry if you add sugar or not. Only way to stop it been dry is stop fermentation early or add something to sweeten it (I add apple juice) after fermentation.

My latest batch was 24 litres of T***O cheapest AJ using Whitelabs775 yeast, I added 1.4kg of sugar (OG 1065), it fermented out to 1.000 (8.7% a.b.v) and is pretty dry. I moved it to my Cornie when it finished fermenting and force carbed it. I add 100 ml of unfermented apple juice to a pint glass then pour the TC on top when serving. (This then gives a FG OF 1010 ish so it's then 7.3% a.b.v)

This sweetens it up and it tastes great!!!

I've also bottled some like this to take to a friends, never had any complains yet. Very easy to drink

Not sure if it would start to secondary ferment if it was left in the bottle like this- I doubt it as it's crystal clear so can't be any yeast left to work on the newly added AJ. It never stays in the bottle long enough anyway.

I made a 1 gallon batch prior to this without any sugar (OG 1046) same juice and yeast, still fermented out to 1.000 and was still dry just lower alcohol content (a.b.v 6.1%).

I'm going to stick to this method it works a treat, if people like it dry they can have the 8.7% rocket fuel, if they like it sweeter they can add AJ to taste and hold onto their eye sight for a few more pints

BTW I find using the the whitelabs yeast it's crystal clear before it's totally fermented out, it's great!! Not seen this using other yeasts before.

Cheers!!

[Curious Brew]

Not sure if it would start to secondary ferment if it was left in the bottle like this- I doubt it as it's crystal clear so can't be any yeast left to work on the newly added AJ. It never stays in the bottle long enough anyway.

I've been priming mine with 30ml of apple juice and it's got a very nice fizz to it.

BTW I find using the the whitelabs yeast it's crystal clear before it's totally fermented out, it's great!! Not seen this using other yeasts before.

Mine is crystal clear with both W0094 and Ritchie Champagne yeast.

Going to buy a cider and an ale yeast tomorrow and see if that makes any difference.