Turbo Fruity Stuff.

[Benson_JV]

Evenin' all.

Went down to tesco to pick up some juice to knock out two gallons of some fruity stuff to keep me tided over whilst my beer is doing.

DJ #1 has;
2L AJ
1L Blueberry Juice
1/4L OJ (Used it up, t'was in the fridge)
Topped up to 5L with water
I used about 300g ish (to my eyes) of sugar
Youngs Beer Yeast


I used youngs beer yeast in the hope it wouldn't ferment the shit out of the TC like wine yeast does, retaining a bit of body/sweetness. We shall see.

DJ #2 has;
1L Apple * Elderflower Juice
1L Blueberry Juice
1L Pineapple Juice
Topped up to 5L With water
Used maybe half of the sugar of #1
Same yeast.

I couldn't get the gravity readings due to the insane amount of froth going on, I couldn' be arsed to wait, so I dunked the hydrometer in and I guestimate it to be around 1050 for #1 and 1040 for #2.

Lets see how it goes! Not bad for a fiver.

I made them about 3 hours apart and #1 is really got a good yeasty head on it already, #2 I made only half an hour ago and hasn't done, well...anything!

Over & Out
Benson

[Benson_JV]

I bottled the second one first as it appeared to have slowed right down, although I worry it was a little soon as the bottles were carbonated within a day I brewed friday and bottled monday.

But, I digress, it tasted quite good, chilled and fizzy I reckon it'll be a good fruity cider! The first brew is still going, will probably bottle on friday, when I get some time off work.

[fatbloke]

Well I don't know about the beer yeast, as some beer yeasts will also go to 12/14% ABV if the sugars are available. And with your brews, they are. Don't forget, with beers, any sweetness is usually unfermentable sugars.

With a time frame of 2 to 3 days from brew to bottle, I hope that the bottles are beer or champagne/sparkling wine bottles, otherwise you've made some lovely bottle bombs......

The recipes sound a little like the "wine number 1" that Bob, who runs "Winesathome" explains in his recipe section. Yet it's also quite feasible that you'll end up with like a fizzy fruit wine. the second one, having probably a lower gravity, will likely carry on fermenting to dry, hence make sure they're well chilled when opened. I also suspect that they're gonna end up as dry as a buzzards arse.

I might be completely wrong, but as I only make meads and country wines, some of my thoughts/comments might be close to your eventual results.

[Benson_JV]

I bottled them in plastic PET bottles. So far so good really, I chilled one down the other night and it was quite good, a little lacking in flavour but very fizzy and not at all too dry. I've put another in the fridge today so will report back later on.

[danbrew]

a little lacking in flavour but very fizzy and not at all too dry...

It sounds like it might not have fermented out fully so i'd leave it another few days next time... I'd also bump up the juice content - say 3x AJ and one fruit juice or two AJ and one fruit juice then just drop the sugar...

Alternative (if you want to get steamed... on the cheap...!) is whack up the sugar content, make fruit juice wine and drink with lemonade by the pint... Not my cup of tea but a load of my mates did it at a BBQ recently with some wine i'd make (which had gone a bit wrong...) and they were all a mess the day after...