TC. with a few questions???

[lollypopp]

Ok! this is what I've done! right or wrong?
4.5L of Morrison's own 100% Apple juice.57p a Litre, warmed up to mix in 6oz of demerera sugar, a large spoon of blossom honey, a 3rd of a large bramley, skinned and grated, a mug of really strong tea, and as I said warmed up in a large saucepan to desolve the sugar, started a half sachet of brewer's yeast in some boiled water, cooled down to 25c, spot of the said apple juice, the OG before I pitched the yeast is 1060, wonder what that will get down to?
1) Is it important to keep it in the dark?
2) Do I need to syphone it into another demijohn, and why? and when will I know its ready to bottle ( will be bottling in to cleaned 1/2 litre coke bottles...
3) What's the best thing to prime the bottles with? sugar/what type, or perhaps apple juice, well I have a litre carton left over!

[PMH0810]

What you've done so far sounds perfect to me and I'd expect you to get as low as 1.000 or even 0.998.
1) Cider doesn't seem to suffer from light-strike and my TC's have all fermented in normal light
2) Entirely your preference; I don't bother and just bottle from FV leaving the last pint of sludge behind.
3) AJ gives me the best mix of flavour and soft priming.

[lollypopp]

Thanks PMH, think I will pime the bottles with a small amount of AJ, but I see you've got a tea TC on the go, don't suppose you would share the recipe and what you did?

[DREADSKIN]

i always get the cider of the sludge and into another dj. i leave it for a week. this get more dead yeast and crap out of it better( and less in your bottles). everthing else is a-ok

[lollypopp]

Thank-you both, this TC as been bubbling away quite nicely,since tuesday night, if I can work it out? I'm going to try and post a picture of it?

[lollypopp]

Well this is what it looks like,
and another view of it, this has been bubbling since tuesday night!
Merky or what, does this look normal to you Ladz?

[DREADSKIN]

looks perfect. it will get you well blocked in a months time!

[timothio]

Looks absolutely foul, just like the one I started last Tuesday... (when will those bastard apples start to sink??!)

Does yours stink as much as mine does aswell?

I find it hard to believe that something that looks and smells so wrong is going to be a) drinkable, and b) drunk by me!

[lollypopp]

I know Tim, it's like waiting for god? Mine smells okay to be honest, but what I can gather from others on here is? that smell, and some say it's an eggy smell is quite normal, expect mine will start huming shortly, if it does it will be imprisoned in the boiler room, as at the moment it's in the kitchen as you can see from the photo's, Which I had a job to put on the thread, I think I've got that one licked now see if you can post some pics of yours? would be interesting to compare them? with out the smell Sir!!!! It would be great to see PMH and DREADSKIN's too, perhaps they will ablige us with them, hope their's arn't clear, or I shall be like a very jealous bitch

[timothio]

OK, FWIW here's my rather hideous looking brews...

DSC00010 (Small).JPG (42.83 KiB) Viewed 1646 times

Nothing as sophisticated as a DJ here, just 5 litre water bottles! Still, does the job... The one on the left is just bog standard TC, the one on the right is with 2 tins of blackberries added. It looks even worse than the standard and has a really thick layer of sludge on the bottom, most un-appetising...

It would be great to see PMH and DREADSKIN's too, perhaps they will ablige us with them, hope their's arn't clear, or I shall be like a very jealous bitch

Me too! They better not be or I'll be round there givin it large...

[lollypopp]

Wow! The one on the left definately looks like mine, the other one looks like I want to drink it now,the DJ's I have, cost about £5er, the bloke in the Shop told me that they're not making any more this year, not sure if that's the truth or not
But it made me buy the last 2 he had! I sometimes think these shop keepers see the likes of me coming, although I couldn't see his binoculars anywhere

[timothio]

the other one looks like I want to drink it now

Trust me, if you smelt it then drinking it would be the last thing on your mind right now... Maybe the sewer rats would like a nice little tipple? Its a thought thats been going through my mind quite regularly...

[DREADSKIN]

patience young padawan! have faith in the Force that is TC! the stink vanishes, the apples fall and the yeast dies and falls out. then you get blocked.
as for the photo thing ive tried before to post them but never manage it...

[timothio]

Hmmm... Faith and patience... 2 skills I'm sadly lacking in!

But with your training and guidance, Master Dreadskin... I shall be a worthy pupil!

[lollypopp]

Must say! I'm looking forward to doing more, bought more fruit juice today, so I'm going to perfect this if I can, had trouble with me pressure barrel today, so doing my best to sup as much nog as I can before that has to bugg*r of with the flower bed! C02 problems, if you do as much as your time and budget will allow, then at least something might go right?