Turbo Cider cost

[dwhyte]

Hi,

I fancy making a Turbo cider from supermarket juice.
I made a Tom Caxton cider kit many years ago which was absolutely superb!

Looking at costs though, Asda smart price apple juice is 56p/litre so 23l comes in at £12.88
40 pint cider kits are around £12 from Local HB shop.

Why would you make a TC instead of a kit?

[Geezah]

Faster ferment and clearing
Stronger %abv
Choose your own brewlength
No need to add extra sugar - your kit will need fermentables adding
You can sometimes get 3 for 2 offers etc so buy in bulk.
I recently bought 50l of aj from Lidl when they were doing 2 for £1 - 1.5l cartons

[dwhyte]

Good points

Also I suppose you can add things that might unbalance a kit like other fruit etc?

Looks like Lidl have AJ 1.5l cartons for 59p from tomorrow

[Geezah]

thanks for the heads up... i'll bag me another 50l+
Still got 20l from the last offer, but you gotta take advantage if your doing TC regularly.
Last batch worked out at 33p a litre once fermented.

[Yeasty Rob]

Must admit, I've done a few TC's now and not sure about them. Followed other peoples recipes on here who have said they have come out nice and lets just say they must be an aquired taste.

Going to stick at a few more though and see if I can get one that hits the spot.

[Geezah]

I tried Dreadskins recipe, tried just aj and yeast, i've now found my liking of aj, honey and yeast.... brew it to 1000 and bottle it with 1tsp of sugar.
It works for me, but I find its best drunk young (for my pallet)
7% abv and a sharp, yet nicely rounded brew thats I personally dont find dry.

Try a 1 gallon brew in a dj and see what you think before going for a bucket full

[trucker5774]

Lidl seem to have been the best value for a while. I have been making mine like this......viewtopic.php?f=13&t=35802

[Geezah]

Good points

Also I suppose you can add things that might unbalance a kit like other fruit etc?

I do a wine with 1l of (simmered for 20 minutes vimto cordial) and made up to the gallon with apple juice.

It a huge hit with everyone who has tasted it, and no need to add sugar as it should finish around the 12% mark.

[BillJames]

It would be great if we could get hold of commercial quantities of apple juice concentrate, not just the half litre health food shop stuff.

All ASDA,Lidl,etc... budget juice is made from concentrate, where can we buy the same in reasonable amounts?

[avtovaz]

I tried Dreadskins recipe, tried just aj and yeast, i've now found my liking of aj, honey and yeast.... brew it to 1000 and bottle it with 1tsp of sugar.
It works for me, but I find its best drunk young (for my pallet)
7% abv and a sharp, yet nicely rounded brew thats I personally dont find dry.

Try a 1 gallon brew in a dj and see what you think before going for a bucket full

when you say you brewed it to 1000, what do you mean, it stopped at that, or you stopped it some how?

[Geezah]

I tried Dreadskins recipe, tried just aj and yeast, i've now found my liking of aj, honey and yeast.... brew it to 1000 and bottle it with 1tsp of sugar.
It works for me, but I find its best drunk young (for my pallet)
7% abv and a sharp, yet nicely rounded brew thats I personally dont find dry.

Try a 1 gallon brew in a dj and see what you think before going for a bucket full

when you say you brewed it to 1000, what do you mean, it stopped at that, or you stopped it some how?

As soon as the hydrometer reads 1000 I transfer the TC into another bucket or demijohn and leave it for 2-3 days to help it clear, then bottle it up.

I'll only stop a wine early if I want to retain a little bit of sweetness as I dont ever make a sparkling wine, and I dont like wine too dry.

[jason123]

Lidl AJ when its at 50p a carton is the best value.

I make a barrel with just AJ, a bramley or 2 and a cider yeast. I leave it to mature for a few months and it goes really well with ice.
It's always going to be down to personal taste though.

[dwhyte]

Lidl AJ 1.5l cartons are down to 59p this week till Thursday.

Buy them now!

[Geezah]

I went in to Lidl on sunday and they had 4 cartons left
Gonna try again tommorrow and see if they have had more stock delivered.

[dwhyte]

Yeah, luckily I have 3 Lidl's within a 10min drive so some are almost out while the others have loads.

Scored 12 bottles of Marstons 4-4-2 which has 10 different types of hop Excellent stuff, Marstons my favourite brewery and being a hop-head.... £1 a bottle!
Must have been brewed for all you engerland peeps during the world cup and didn't sell well in Scotland, wonder why