TC Virgin

[daveyk]

Hi Yall,

been brewing kit beers over the past year and now busy fermenting my first extract so thought it was about time to try this turbo Cider lark. Managed to pick up most of the method from searching this forum so thanks.

Put 4l of Sainbury's Pure apple juice into a demi, rehydrated a sachet of ale yeast, (had it lying around from a kit which had replacement yeast in). That all happened on Thursday evening. 24hours later and all over the weekend, the airlock has been bubbling away nicely, this is starting to slow now.

So here are my questions,

1) When do i know the fermentation has stopped? Do i rely on the bubbles stopping or should I be more scientific and look for a constant gravity reading over 24hours?
2) When fermentation has finished, I was going to prime and bottle.... should i use sugar of more apple juice? If so how much?
3) a week in the warm to carbonate the in the cold to clear I guess.... when is it drinkable?

Sorry for the question bombardment but I know I'm in the right place for useful answers.

Dave.

[Benson_JV]

1) When do i know the fermentation has stopped? Do i rely on the bubbles stopping or should I be more scientific and look for a constant gravity reading over 24hours?

Well, the bubbles will have slowed right down to around one a minute. You could also check for a constant gravity reading.

2) When fermentation has finished, I was going to prime and bottle.... should i use sugar of more apple juice? If so how much?

You could use more apple juice, that'll give it a sweeter taste, but if ye like dry cider, by all means go for sugar. Generally around a teaspoon a litre i find works

3) a week in the warm to carbonate the in the cold to clear I guess.... when is it drinkable?

Turbo cider mate, drinkable when ye wanna drink it! I've known people to drink it straight from Demijohn

Hope this helps!

[randomdave]

Ive just made TC an i dont think id wanna drink it outta the DJ, Its a bit mouth puckering. Tastes very much like strongbow just dryer. I cant wait to get it bottled an fizzed cos i reckon it will be cracking.

[Marts]

I made a pork casserole last night with THC dumplings. washed down with chilled THC.

Went down a storm.

[daveyk]

I made a pork casserole last night with THC dumplings. washed down with chilled THC.

Went down a storm.

Cracking idea.... thanks, might just have to give that one a go!

[daveyk]

1) When do i know the fermentation has stopped? Do i rely on the bubbles stopping or should I be more scientific and look for a constant gravity reading over 24hours?

Well, the bubbles will have slowed right down to around one a minute. You could also check for a constant gravity reading.

2) When fermentation has finished, I was going to prime and bottle.... should i use sugar of more apple juice? If so how much?

You could use more apple juice, that'll give it a sweeter taste, but if ye like dry cider, by all means go for sugar. Generally around a teaspoon a litre i find works

3) a week in the warm to carbonate the in the cold to clear I guess.... when is it drinkable?

Turbo cider mate, drinkable when ye wanna drink it! I've known people to drink it straight from Demijohn

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the help.... really useful ta.

if I want to use apple juice for priming, how much should i be using? (for 4l)

Dave

[daveyk]

Been checking the TC... still bubbling every 15 seconds or so, guess need to leave it for a while.

[Benson_JV]

Dave, depends how fizzy ye want it. From what i've just had a quick read, about a litre for 4.5 litres seems the normal, but have a look around on the "Other Brews" section and ye'll find what ye want im sure, or use the search function

[PMH0810]

Daveyk - I prime with 20cl AJ to 1ltr TC and am vwery happy with the slightly sparklind TC and the extra hint of Apple.

Of course tastes, and quantities vary...

[daveyk]

Daveyk - I prime with 20cl AJ to 1ltr TC and am vwery happy with the slightly sparklind TC and the extra hint of Apple.

Of course tastes, and quantities vary...

Thanks that gives me a good place to start.... for this first batch of TC I'm happy to to try it in a straight forward manner. Like you say, things can tweaked and tuned once we have a stick in the ground so to speak.

Dave