Attempts at homebrew

[Buddy-Matt]

Okay, no pretence, I have no real idea what I'm doing...

So let me explain, I've gone our and bought myself a homebrew kit. Got some bitter on the go, used to do that stuff with my good old grandad back in the day, so fairly confident what i'm doing there.

What i'm not so sure on is my other 2 brews...

Basically, after purchasing a young's brew buddy i discovered it didn't come witha pressure barrel. No problems, says I, down to wilkinson's and buy one. Except they don't have one. Anyway, long story short, I wind up halfway across the county at a homebrew shop purchasing my pressure barrel, and never one to walk before running, or even attempting to fly, I've bought two demijohns + airlocks, some wine yeast, nitrient, corks, and 4.5 litres of value apple juice and Mango juice. apple juice is the from concentrate stuff, mango not so sure.

no prizes for guessing where those juices ended up. Plus around about 250kg of sugar with the apple (no extra with mango)

basically, I found a video online suggesting this was the way i could make a much heard about drink called turbo cider. Sounds good! might as well try mango turbo cider too (One of my mate's nicknames is mango)

Anyway, my question is... What on earth am i actually doing?! Is this anywhere approaching a method of making a good home brew, and more importantly, what do i do next????? I'm starting to think forget learning to run, or walk, it's a good idea not to skip the crawling stage!

Which of course is why my next step after i've kegged the beer is to buy another keg, and use my bonus-extra pack of beer yeast to make 5 gallons of turbo cider. possibly from a cocktail of fruit juices. of course

Thoughts/Suggestions much appreciated, but remember although i'm new, i'm definitely ambitious.

[crafty john]

Just carry on what you are doing, I started just like you and I love it You would be better off saving your ale yeast for beer and using the wine yeast for your TC

[boingy]

Plus around about 250kg of sugar with the apple
... i'm definitely ambitious.

Ambitious you are. That quarter of a tonne of sugar is going to take a while to ferment out....


(soz, just couldn't resist it....)

[TC2642]

Be careful using mango, it can be quite acidic, don't use the stuff with bits in either, you'll end up drinking something which has the consistency of sick.

[speedtripledan]

250kg of suger god that would be strong if you mananged to ferment it as for the rest of it keep it clean and be patient i made cider last year from apples off my tree and any one elses who i could scronge from and it came out not half bad don,t think beer yeast is ideal thou might impart the wrong flavor i used apple yeast and then a champagne yeast in the bottle to get the bubbles
worked for me

[TC2642]

You could try honey next time. My method was to use 4.5ltrs of apple juice, one 300gm jar of honey and a stick of cinnamon. From experience you will get a lower FG with cider yeast but an all purpose brewing/wine yeast will give good results.

Had to stop making it because after two bottles I was smashed.

[Buddy-Matt]

Oh dear, 250kg... think I dropped a clanger there somewhere. boingy and speedtripledan, you got belly laughs there! (amplified by the fact that in lieu of having my own stuff i've been enjoying a spot of the local cider - Black Rat, Wiltshire, England for those that are interested - and you should be, it's a mighty nice brew)

Rest assured I was just rushed in my first post by a wine brewing buddy of mine turning up to inspect the offending brews, and my attempting to type a forum post with less than my full concentration! Clearly i meant 250g, i.e. quarter of a bag of sugar, tho i might have taken a berating because i didn't boil it first...I added it to demijohn - after the yeast - it was an afterthought - then shook the whole thing until i decided it was dissolved enough

Thanks for the general assurances i'm heading in the right direction tho... I'm kinda feeling my way in the dark here, but the more i'm told i'm not making a total fool of myself the better in my opinion

Anyway, i'm looking for timings here... The wine making buddy is convinced i have to start "racking" the stuff i.e. transferring from one demijohn to another, then leaving it for months to mature... Now anyone who knows me knows i'm not the most patient of chaps... I kinda figured cider would take about the same time as beer... But the wine making mate tells me that because i'm using wine yeast means i have to make wine... 6 months til the first sample!? surely not???!!

Anyway, I'm now in a state of confusion... Can i bottle this stuff up after a few weeks and enjoy some fairly fermented - fairly close to cider stuff? Or have i basically started a 6 month conissseurs (sorry about spelling - see the i've been drinking comment above) brew?

Should I even be bottling it for that matter?

Budy-Matt just wants to enjoy some fermented apples

[TC2642]

You can drink it as soon as it's fermented, it's a bit rough but ok. Otherwise try to leave it for a month or so. I would tend to bottle it but you can transfer to another demijohn and drink it out of that, the only problem here being that it's shelf life is shorter.

[Buddy-Matt]

okay, first daft question, but how do i know when it's fermented?

told you i had no idea what i'm doing!

[TC2642]

okay, first daft question, but how do i know when it's fermented?

told you i had no idea what i'm doing!

If you've got a airlock, when the bubble's stop, if the water levels then the yeast is shagged out and can't produce any more alcohol. Otherwise use a hydrometer, at 18-20oC should give the most accurate reading, once it's below 1010 it's pretty much ready.

[Buddy-Matt]

just looked at the brews, no danger of anything becoming shagged out just yet...

Apple's going like a freight train, mango looking like the apple did around 6 hours ago when I shook both on advice - looks like it did something Mango appears to have a massive frothy head on it too, which I personally consider to be quite cool.

I'll test with a hydrometer again tomorrow (assuming it's safe to remove bungs to do this)

original values were:

Apple: 1.030
Mango: 0.050

hmm, think document on laptop's slightly wrong there, either both 1.xxx or 0.xxx, whichever looks most likely, a mate noted those down for me... bloody hard to read the thing when in the DJ tho, so might be out a bit...

but basically, watch for a lack of bubbles, then bottle, leave for a month and drink?

[Buddy-Matt]

daft question no2:

should i be worried gunk from the top of the mango brew is getting into my airlock?

this onyl started happening about 30 mins or so ago

[TC2642]

Should be fine, clear out the airlock and replace once done.

[Buddy-Matt]

Yeah, did that a couple of times, then tiredness got the better of me so I had to go to bed and hope for the best...

Result this morning:



anyway, looks like the foam's gone back done, so i've cleaned everything again and will see what awaits when i'm home from work!

[Buddy-Matt]

so, daft question no3:

I'm hoping to put these in wine bottles, but it's just occurred to me that, well, they're both fizzing...

I'm looking to get the cider finished soonish, for a secondary fermentation in the bottle. kinda thinking along the beer lines here. Not so worried about the mango, think i'm gonna let that keep going for a bit, get a bit of strength out of it, if it lets me

Anyway, any special precautions I need to take? Can I use regular wine bottles with a regular cork? (Preferred method as it'll be cheaper than buying beer bottles...) I'm happy to leave secondary for a month, as providing the stuff works, it's a mate's wedding end of next month, so i'm probably gonna name my first batch in honour of that, and gift him a bottle or two.

so, am i totally wrong when thinking this is a good way forward: I'll siphon off 6 wine bottle worth of cider, put a couple of tea spoons of sugar in each for secondary fermentation, cork them, and leave somewhere dark to mature...?