Tropico TC

[Pinto]

Wandering round Bookers this week, they were putting Happy Shopper Mixed Tropical juice out for £3.79 for 12 litres - so I thought it would be rude not to Decided to knock this up in half an hour I had before work, using up some spare AJ I had from my last TC.

El Tropico Turbo Cider

12 Litres Mixed Tropical Fruit juice
4 Litres Apple Juice
4 Tsp Wine Tannin
3Tsp Yeast Nutrient

Wanted to add pectolase due to the cloudy juice but I'm all out so i'll just have to rough it

OG : 1054 @ 20 deg C
FG (proj) : 1002
ABV (proj) : 6.9%

Interesting to see how this one goes as i've never tried to ferment out an "orange" style juice before - worst case it'll be a £5 experimental drain wash

More to follow.....

[6470zzy]

Sounds as though that was 30 minutes well spent

[Pinto]

Sounds as though that was 30 minutes well spent

Beauty of turbos - smash em in the fermenter, yeast, tannin, brew fridge !

[MarkA]

That sounds good (especially at that price!)

[WalesAles]

Pinto,
Interesting to see how this turns out.
I`ve always done my TCs with 5Lts Fruit Flavoured Juice and 15Lts Apple Juice.
I still get the Fruit Flavour coming through, not too weak, not too strong.
Hope it turns out OK!

WA

[Pinto]

Fermenting like mad - got a Krausen on it two inches deep ! Aromas from the fermenter are basically like alcoholic J2O - so I have high hopes.....

I guess you could argue that its not a TC given the low apple content; would you say it qualifies more as a wine ?

[Pinto]

Bottled this tonight in the old style - rough and ready, in reused two litre carbonated water bottles with 4tsp per of granulated sugar for carbonation and 3tsp of stevia for backsweetening. I also decided to experiment with adding 4tsp of Maltodextrin to a couple of the bottles to see if can get that nice, thick mouthfeel.

Tastewise, im very impressed - it's lost body, but that was to be expected - other than that, it's pretty much like the tropical juice that went into the fermenter, with a dry fruitiness and certainly more mouthfeel than a straight turbo being fruit rather than apple based, I was expecting all kinds of curdling and nastiness - not a bit of it

Bottling FG was 1.000 - which by my calculations mean that Tropico weighs in at potent 7.1% ABV Youngs Wine yeast & Nutrient does the business once again !

Cant wait to see how this one comes out when carbonated and matured a little - I'd say it was a go-er, WA

[Pinto]

Ok... after the half pint trial and writing the last message, I got up to walk to the kitchen.

Yep... there's the 7.1%

I LIKE it !

[Pinto]

Noticed the bottles had carbed up nicely so even tho its just 6 days conditioning, I decided to crack into a bottle

Wow even this young and at room temp, its a cracker ! (Or should I say the proper terminology.... It's bloody lovely, mun !! )

Come out like a tropical J2O with an alcoholic twist this was a bottle with maltodextrin, and has a lovely smooth mouthfeel with a long lasting, glossy head ( in the pic, the glass had been poured a good 10 mins previously) - shall try MD in my next turbo cider !

If you're looking for a change from TC, I reccomend grabbing some tropical juice from the shelf !

[WalesAles]

Good looking TC there Pinto!
Mine came out the same colour last year, only 5.2% but very drinkable, you think your drinking Fruit Juice until you stand up, then bang!
The great thing about TCs` is they can be ready so quickly. I had one last year, 1Wk warm, 1Wk cold, all gone a week later (friends helped)!

WA

[Pinto]

Yeah, another week cold and I think it would smooth off the few rough edges. Really happy about how the MD change the character - Im going to try a bottle of the non-MD next to see how different it is.

[Jaxteller15]

Wouldn't mind trying this in my 5ltr DJ!

[Pinto]

Wouldn't mind trying this in my 5ltr DJ!

Give it a try then - mixed tropical juice is usually cheaper than apple juice in the shops anyway. I saw that someone who made an Um-Bongo TC didn't like it at all, although whether something went wrong, I don't know - I'm lucky enough to have fermentation temp control, etc, so I try to ferment cool (16-18 degrees) to try and prevent some of the "sour" notes a TC can have - I feel as the Tropico already has a high level of acidity due to its high citrus content, its something that needed control.

Also, I cant recommend the use of Maltodextrin in the brew highly enough - it adds a smoothing character, almost silky and promotes excellent head retention, as well as smoothing the sharper notes out a bit. If you struggle getting MD (Bulk Powders are my go-to suppliers, but the local health food shop may stock it) then you could try a little glycerine from the baking aisle at the supermarket - IIRC, Wales Ales has trialed it and had some success.

[WalesAles]

Pinto,
I haven`t used Glycerine in a brew. I have used Spraymalt at the start of a TC and that gave it a totally different mouthfeel.
Is the MD just to get a better mouthfeel? Did you just add it to the bottles or mix it with juice as in batch priming?
Bottling my `White Grape and Peach` TC tomorrow so I will go and get some MD and have a play about!

WA

[Pinto]

Pinto,
I haven`t used Glycerine in a brew. I have used Spraymalt at the start of a TC and that gave it a totally different mouthfeel.
Is the MD just to get a better mouthfeel? Did you just add it to the bottles or mix it with juice as in batch priming?
Bottling my `White Grape and Peach` TC tomorrow so I will go and get some MD and have a play about!

WA

Maltodextrin is the unfermentable sugar that gives spray malt its "body" and is indeed to alter the mouthfeel. I added it along with the priming sugar. I thought it was you who had been trying glycerine in a TC - not sure who it was then....