1st go at TC - recipe and yeast questions

[AllHailToTheAle]

Hi there,

Recently when browsing JBK, I came across a few threads on here talking about TC. Sounds like a great idea and I'm giving it a bash.

My recipe is:

4 litres Asda AJ (from concentrate)
1 litre Asda Cranberry Juice (from concentrate)
a bit of yeast nutrient
Ale yeast (I'm going to ge taking his from the top of my Burton Bridge Porter, currently going like the clappers in FV)

Does anyone know how much Kraeusen I will need to take off the top of my ale to pitch to this cider?

I've heard that when using a demijohn, it's a good idea to leave a fair amount of head space for about 4 days at the start of the primary. I have 2 x 2 litres of apple juice, so was planning to start with just this, and then top up with cranberry. Will this make any difference to the flavour, as opposed to including the cranberry from the start?

Cheers!

[oldbloke]

Leave at least half a litre headspace, maybe a bit more, esp if your yeast is known to be really foamy. Adding the cranberry late shouldn't affect the flavour.
You might want to drink some of the Aj as Aj to make room for some tea for tannin, unless you have some powder tannin around.

I had a bottle of the one I made with ale yeast on Sunday, it had lost almost all its colour over the few months it's been bottled. Tasted basically OK but there was something slightly odd about it - dunno if that was down to the yeast though (Munton's Gold)

[AllHailToTheAle]

oh yeah, I was going to put some strong tea in for tannin, forgot to mention that. Thanks for the tip. How long do you tend to ferment/condition for?

[Pinto]

Usually go for a 10 day ferment, then bottle with 7 days in the warm, then 7 days in the cool and then start drinking improves with age tho.

Never done a krausen pitch before tho, so cant help you on that front.

[oldbloke]

I find ferment time varies according to temperatures and exactly what I put in it, but 10 days is typical. 2 weeks not unusual. I just wait until it clears then bottle.
I used to do 1wk warm 1wk cool like Pinto but now I have some stock I've gone to 2wk/2wk and I think it's noticably better.
1tsp/pint(or500ml) priming, and it'll come out pretty dry so when priming also add Splenda if you want it sweeter

[AllHailToTheAle]

Brilliant cheers for the info. Just about to pitch the yeast. It' s the first time I've taken it from the Kraeusen, but it should be ok. Only concern is contaminating the ale...

What yeast do people prefer for cider? By the sounds of it, you can use almost any type (Allinson's bread yeast?!), but I'd be interested to hear people's preferences. I've heard of champagne yeast being used also to good effect. The only reason I'm using the ale yeast is because I won't have a chance to buy any other yeast in the next few days, and having already bought the juice, I feel like I'd better start it now, while that's still fresh.

[oldbloke]

I've standardised on Young's cider yeast. I've tried wine yeasts, including champagne, and as said, Munton's Gold. Some of the wine yeasts give a funkier flavour, everyting seems to work. A lager yeast might be interesting. I tried to take notes but it didn't go well. I intend to try varying the yeast again soon, as I've finally decided my favourite recipe is 500ml Suma concentrate, 1l cheap AJ, 500ml pomegranate, 500ml tea, water to 1 gallon. I'll build up a stock of that with Young's then do the same but with different yeasts, and have proper tasting sessions.

[AllHailToTheAle]

Sounds good. Where do you get the suma? Homebrew shop? How much is it, roughly?

[oldbloke]

Sounds good. Where do you get the suma? Homebrew shop? How much is it, roughly?

Wholefood shops or Amazon are the place for Suma. A discussion elsewhere indicates the price may have just gone up. It is a wee bit more expensive than supermarket AJ but I think it tatses better in the final product. 500ml is equivalent to 3to4 l of normal AJ (and has the sugars to match so watch the ABV!!)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ ... Caps%2C286
Note that 5l one is organic - uneccessary extra expense for turbocider.

Suma's own list has these prices, whihc I think do NOT include VAT - it's theor catering supplies list.
JU057 Apple - concentrate 5l 17.99
JU243 Apple Juice Concentrate - og 5l 22.28
Is VAT 20% now? That'd make 5l non-organic less than 22 quid. Bargain if you can use it up fast enough. I have no idea how the Amazon sellers get their price so high. Ask your local healthfood shop to order it in!