http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ Brew UK Forum » Forum: Cider Making - Recent Posts en Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:53:01 +0000 http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-time-failure-s#post-29626 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:50:14 +0000 saracen 29626@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Kurayami.</p> <p>Turbo Cider is very easy and I&#39;m having a bit of trouble visualising what you did with it. Basically, you should have cider. Have you tried drinking any?</p> <p>To make any brew you need to follow a few basic rules. You need a fermenter and the best way to get one is to buy a 5.0 lt bottle of water from Tesco. The bottle is exactly the same as commercially sold fermenters. Get 4.0 lts of the cheapest Apple Juice you can find and some sugar. You also need a packet of yeast. Cider or Champagne yeast works well but gives a very dry cider. Put 2.0 lts of Apple juice into the fermenter, screw the top on loosely, and add half the pack of yeast. You&#39;ll see why only 2.0 lts go in within a day or so. The yeast can rise up alarmingly, so it needs room. Don&#39;t bother with nutrients and pectolase. Let it ferment for 3 days, then mix the other 2.0 lts of Apple Juice with 200 gms of sugar and tip it into the fermenter. Screw the cap on tight and give it a good shake to mix it all together. Loosen the cap. At this stage you can add citrus peels, keep it thin so you don&#39;t get the bitter pith, some Honey if you like (add at the time you add sugar, reducing the sugar accordingly gram for gram), Kaffir Lime Leaves, or any flavouring item you fancy. Leave it for 2 weeks, then syphon it into Cider bottles, Magners work well, adding 3 gms of Priming Sugar per 500 ml.<br /> Leave it a couple of weeks then drink it. If you like it, get another water bottle and make twice as much.<br /> The reason I said only use 4.0 lts is because you need a bit of room in the fermenter for the yeast to expand. You could top it up with another 1/2 lt when you put the second lot of juice in the fermenter, but leave a space so it doesn&#39;t flood out everywhere. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-time-failure-s#post-29623 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:39:21 +0000 Kurayami311 29623@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Ok, I&#39;m gonna need some help because I feel that I&#39;ve messed up my Turbo Cider, especially because it&#39;s my first time doing it. I&#39;ve had about 2 litres of apple juices, each concentrate and pressed put into a couple of 4 Pints Milk Bottles. I used Orange &amp; Lemons Peels to add a citrus aroma and flavour as well as a cinnamon stick just to give that hint of it&#39;s flavour. I even went for the use of Honey in order for a sweeter flavour into it. By the time I&#39;ve chucked the lot into the bottles, I&#39;ve added about a teaspoon of yeast per bottle as well as the nutrients for it and the pectolase.</p> <p>After the week (or two) has gone, I&#39;ve bottled my Cider using beer bottles which has been used but sterilised beforehand. I&#39;ve pretty much poured it in than used a syphon and added some of the lees in with it. In all honesty, I felt that I&#39;ve failed on my first try and I&#39;d need some advice on it. Is anyone able to help me get in the right direction? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-29592 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:17:51 +0000 Nath 29592@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>A sweetener will do fine, you can try them out by pouring a pint and just adding 1/4 tsp at a time to the pint - you should be able to gauge from there how much you need in total. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29582 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:34:07 +0000 Hamish 29582@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Too much lactose and you&#39;ll be able to squit through the eye of a needle. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29581 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:32:16 +0000 Barracuda 29581@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>S&#39;ok, I&#39;ll only be adding in moderation, just enough to make the Cider &#39;off dry&#39;. </p> <p>Also I eat cheese by the ton, if I was intolerant, I&#39;d know already &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_razz.gif&quot; title=&quot;:P&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29575 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:17:57 +0000 saracen 29575@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Good luck, Barracuda. Lactose not only gives a softer mouthfeel, but I seem to remember reading somewhere it give a rather softer feel right through your system and out the other end! Don&#39;t overdo it. It could be a really bad time to find out you&#39;re lactose intolerant. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29573 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:12:02 +0000 Barracuda 29573@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks for the replies guys.</p> <p>TC does indeed end up very dry, I&#39;m pretty sure all the sugars in the supermarket juices are fermentable, so the yeast goes to work on all of it.</p> <p>I&#39;ve got hold of some Lactose Sugar instead, which seems to be preferred by many, as it&#39;s less artificial than Splenda (but also Non-Fermentable). (And can give a softer mouthfeel)</p> <p>I think your right Hamish, I may have to figure this one out myself.</p> <p>I&#39;m not trying to make the cider sweet, just pull it back from the brink of total dryness, I&#39;ll do that by back sweetening with some desolved Lactose this time, and when I do my next round of TC&#39;s I&#39;ll probably try 3 different amounts in each of my 3 Demi&#39;s (added with the fermentable dextrose before fermentation).</p> <p>I&#39;ll post any useful conclusions if I find any.</p> <p>In other news, I also got hold of a Bottling Stick today, which i&#39;m looking forward to using. Previously i&#39;ve just been storing in 5L PET&#39;s. It&#39;s going to be great to get some glass bottled filled and capped, with a label. I&#39;ll probably post a pic. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29551 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:09:57 +0000 Hamish 29551@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Me thinks you&#39;ll need to experiment. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29548 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:07:28 +0000 kilconlea 29548@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I used champagne yeast in mine as per the recipe spec.<br /> If it&#39;s too dry, I&#39;ll probably add some lemonade, R Whites of course. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29547 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:55 +0000 saracen 29547@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I know it ends up dry, because you are effectively making wine by fermenting fruit juice. It&#39;s going to depend on your personal preference. It will always ferment out much drier than a beer. I suppose you could use a less attenuative yeast. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29546 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:56:45 +0000 kilconlea 29546@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Does the Turbo Cider end up too dry then? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29545 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:56:06 +0000 saracen 29545@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I saw this at the time, but it&#39;s not really my field. There are 1 or 2 on here that might be able to calculate this sort of thing. Let&#39;s hope one of them sees it. This might help.</p> <p><em>Sucralose, the no-calorie sweetening ingredient in SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, is about 600 times sweeter than sugar. Like other tabletop sweeteners, the granulated and packet products contain small amounts of carbohydrate (less than 1 gram per serving) for consistent sweetening and to provide volume. These bulking ingredients are dextrose (packets) and maltodextrin (packets and granulated). However, the bulking ingredients provide so few calories per serving that the FDA allows the SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener Products to be labeled no calorie sweeteners, because they provide less than five calories per serving.</em></p> <p>You could start here: <a href="http://www.splenda.com/faq/no-calorie-sweetener" rel="nofollow">http://www.splenda.com/faq/no-calorie-sweetener</a><br /> It&#39;s not easy to find out much. Personally, I&#39;d try it in something. Get some dry cider, add some and see what happens. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-29544 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:37:54 +0000 Wardie 29544@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Bump! (not sure if thats against the rules here, if it is I&#39;ll slap my wrists and not do it again) But I need help with this too! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-29543 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:36:26 +0000 Wardie 29543@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Soooo...Update :/</p> <p>I&#39;ve syphoned it all off into a second demijohn and taken a small sample to test gravity for ABV.</p> <p>Well for starters, the gravity has gone from somewhere around 1.070 down to past 1.000<br /> Calculator says somewhere around 8%</p> <p>It smells strong, and it tastes even stronger, not unpleasant as long as you&#39;re prepared for it.<br /> It&#39;s very dry any advice on how to sweeten it? I&#39;ve seen splenda banded about on here.</p> <p>Another thing...obviously I naturally took some sediment with it and now that it&#39;s been disturbed it&#39;s started fermenting again &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_neutral.gif&quot; title=&quot;:|&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; Holy Jesus! Thankfully not vigerously! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-splenda#post-28930 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:44:51 +0000 Barracuda 28930@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I&#39;ve seen a number of mentions of Splenda for a non fermentable sugar to add to Turbo Cider, to increase sweetness.</p> <p>I can&#39;t see any suggestion of how much people would recommend (Per 500ml/per gallon) to create off dry/medium sweet/sweet.</p> <p>Any ideas? I intend to add along with the priming dextrose.</p> <p>Cheers. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28458 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:02:29 +0000 Mark81 28458@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Looking forward to this making an appearance in the coming months </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28449 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:57:43 +0000 Nath 28449@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Looking forward to this one. I call myself a homebrewer but have never made any type of turbo cider! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28444 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:30:51 +0000 Timbo77 28444@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Have patience, it will be fine, then you can kindly forward me a sample &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;;)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28441 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:31:12 +0000 Wardie 28441@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Update:</p> <p>Smells great!</p> <p>Still a dodgey colour :/ </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28340 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:32:07 +0000 Mark 28340@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Good work Wardie<br /> Seems to be going as planned with a good ferment there. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-28338 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:23:39 +0000 Wardie 28338@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Update:</p> <p>Last couple of days has seen this go through a fair few changes!</p> <p>Colour has lightened a lot! From that nice deep calpol colour it went candyfloss pink and now quite a pale pink.</p> <p>Smell became VERY strong a couple of days ago, but has subsided a little and smells like a strong cider, so thats promising.</p> <p>Airlock got full of foam and debris on the first day of fermentation but is fine now.</p> <p>Sediment has collected at the bottom about an inch or so thick and there&#39;s bits being forced about within the liquid itself all the time.</p> <p>Bubbling away once a second or so for the last 3 days.</p> <p>All looks well, but I suspect I may have to leave it in the bottles for months for it to look appetising!</p> <p>It&#39;s going to be a strong one - OG was about 70 :/ </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-27782 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:11:12 +0000 Mark 27782@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>looking good Wardie<br /> Post back when you have updates. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-27704 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:07:50 +0000 Wardie 27704@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Gah wish I&#39;d seen this sooner, I was a tad pushed for time so I went for the blitzing method :/<br /> Berry mix smelt great though, and alot of the pips and stuff were left in sieve afterward!<br /> It&#39;s bubbling away nicely - about 1 bubble through the airlock every 4 seconds!</p> <p>Anyway here&#39;s a few pics no idea how it&#39;ll turn out:</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/402914_10151148636305386_840070385_22390754_294091261_n-1.jpg"><br /> Blitzed into the sieve...</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/390512_10151148637175386_840070385_22390757_1074250238_n.jpg"><br /> Sieved...</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/386285_10151148638665386_840070385_22390762_301492625_n.jpg"><br /> Into the pan with 3/4 litre of apple juice and 150g of sugar...</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/408338_10151148640225386_840070385_22390768_1956127904_n.jpg"><br /> Into the demijohn with the other 3 1/2 litres, airlock on...</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/384821_10151148883540386_840070385_22392030_1125610686_n.jpg"><br /> An hour or 2 in and there&#39;s plenty going on...</p> <p><img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee288/pblz129/397934_10151148889535386_840070385_22392082_769514939_n.jpg"><br /> Bonus photo of my Ginger Beer after 5 days... </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-27674 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:18:34 +0000 saracen 27674@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Not an expert, but I&#39;d crush them, not bltz them as you&#39;re likely to extract a lot of stuff from the pips, etc. Put the pulp in a dish, pour on 1.0 lt of boiling water from the kettle, let stand for an hour then add it to your cider brew. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/mixed-fruit-cider#post-27652 Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:19:04 +0000 Wardie 27652@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Right chaps,</p> <p>I&#39;ve got 4l of copella apple juice, cider yeast, sugar and some fresh berries (raspberry, blueberry and strawberry).</p> <p>How the hell do I go about adding the berries to the cider properly, do i make a syrup? a tea? blitz them? just drop them in?</p> <p>HELP! haha </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/to-bottle-or-not-to-bottle#post-25405 Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:10:36 +0000 Monk 25405@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>It does sound odd to have only managed to convert that far in 7 weeks. Especially if you had it at indoor temps for most of that time.<br /> I don&#39;t think it would hurt to try and kick start it, but it would have to come back in the warm for a while if you&#39;ve moved it to a cool spot. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/to-bottle-or-not-to-bottle#post-25285 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:01:52 +0000 Hels 25285@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thank you for your reply. We had resigned to this, and have decided to leave til spring as you suggest. It has been in the demis for about 7 weeks.<br /> Our first batch was in demis for about the same amount of time, and it is great! It turned more acidic for sure, and is pretty strong! This batch we did put more sugar in it and also honey in it.</p> <p>So its definately not worth adding another yeast start to give it a kick start?? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/to-bottle-or-not-to-bottle#post-25194 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:50:23 +0000 Monk 25194@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>How long has it been so far?<br /> The initial fermentation in cider will be noticable, but it normally carries on slowly for a couple of months where it may be imperceptable. It then settles down and should taste quite acidic as it&#39;s converted most of the sugar to alcohol. You could bottle at this stage, but best left in bulk. As when the temperature picks up again in the spring, It should naturally convert the harsh malic acid, into the more palatable lactic acid.<br /> So I would leave it in demi&#39;s in the dark until after easter, then bottle or prime &amp; bottle if you want a sparkle. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/to-bottle-or-not-to-bottle#post-25162 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:19:00 +0000 Hels 25162@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi! </p> <p>I am on my 2nd batch of cider, I have 25l in Demijohns, it stopped bubbling around 5 days ago, and had been slow for a week or so before that. Its nice and clear, so decided to bottle. When I tasted it, the cider is very sweet no acidity to it, and is around 2% Abv. </p> <p>My question is shall I bottle it and leave it or shall I leave it in the demijohns? Can I add yeast to it and put it back in the bucket to restart? My first batch is awesome, about 14%!!! Can this batch be salvaged?</p> <p>Thanks in advance, Hels! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23431 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:13:55 +0000 scroterscrumpy 23431@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>well this is really odd, i checked the gravity again today in both barrels and both had a grav of around 1000, so some how since middle of last week it has fermented and not goven off any bubbles through the airlocks. this means that its escaping somehwhere else. I&#39;ll rack it off next weekend and macksure i seal the lids on with some heavy duty tape i have. </p> <p>Thanks for all your help, i&#39;ll let you know how i get on. Here are some pics of the pressing if anyone is interested.<br /> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#" rel="nofollow">http://www.facebook.com/#</a>!/media/set/?set=a.10150458743491800.426597.679106799&amp;type=3 </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23396 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:27:23 +0000 Hamish 23396@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>54 litres is just under 12 gallons, if it was mine I would put it in the shed and leave it until March when I would rack it and leave it until July. The more you tamper with it the greater the chance of it going wrong, as it is I think it will turnout to be very good, it&#39;ll just take time. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23379 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:51:06 +0000 Nath 23379@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I think its the cold temp, the ambient temp may well be 15c but I would expect the temp of the liquid to be a bit lower. 15c is too low (IMO) and I would be looking at getting the temp of the room up to 19-20c to begin with to ensure fermentation has kicked off.</p> <p>I wouldnt worry about turning the cider to vinegar, its cold enough to ward off nasties and as long as youve got a lid on to stop things from dropping in Im sure it will be ok.</p> <p>Ive tried looking up for a youngs yeast information guide to check the range that the temp should be in, but I would expect it to be around the 19-20c mark, so get em somewhere warmer for a while before moving them to 15c. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23377 Sun, 04 Dec 2011 00:29:38 +0000 scroterscrumpy 23377@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>When i added the yeast nutrient i also added another 5g of yeast to one of the barrels, this one started bubbling when i brought it into the house. It bubbled for 2 days and has now stopped again. the other barrel still hasnt done anything . I&#39;m getting very worried that all that i&#39;m going to end up with is vinegar. the temperature in the room with the cider is now 15degrees so it should be warm enough now. </p> <p>How much yeast should i have added Hamish?? the instruction on the teasy packet said the pack should do 5gallons </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23223 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:05:36 +0000 Hamish 23223@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Did you only add 12.5 grams of yeast in 54 litres?.</p> <p>Not enough yeast + cool ambient temperature = very sluggish fermentation. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23213 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:10:26 +0000 scroterscrumpy 23213@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>thanks for that mark, its in an old apple store outbuilding at the moment which has really thick walls and keeps the heat in well, the demijohn is out there as well but i guess its less liquid to bring upto temperature.The big blue barrels are 54 ltrs in each so will take some time for the liquid to get up to temperature after all i&#39;m only heating the air and not the barrels themselves. i&#39;ll bring it indoors and see how it gets on. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23196 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:31:25 +0000 Mark 23196@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You say you got the temp upto 10c but this needs to be probably 15-18c to ferment, did you have it outside in a shed or garage?<br /> What temp is the demijohn at and is this indoors?<br /> Under no circumstances remove the lid as you will get an infection most definately.<br /> The yeast is probably asleep because of the cold, just get the temp up to what i said above and it should work.<br /> If it is outside then maybe best to bring indoors in the warmth. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-fermentation-stuck#post-23192 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:04:27 +0000 scroterscrumpy 23192@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi there, I&#39;m on my second year of cider making, last years brew turned out fin with no hicups at all so we decided to make a bit more this year. We pressed enough cider apples to get 200 pints of juice with an OG of 1042. I then added 12 campden tablets to each 54ltr barrel to kill of the natural yeast and then after 2 days added 12.5g of youngs cider yeast to each one. I then put the lids on the barrels and fitted the airlocks. The temperature was cold but not really cold as this was at the start of november. The mix looked like it started to ferment and the top got very frothy but I wasnt getting any bubbles out of the air lock. </p> <p>About 2 weeks later I rechecked the gravity and it was pretty much the same at 1040. So I installed a heater and got the temperature up to 10degrees and stirred the brew to get the yeast moving again, nothing happened.<br /> I then added 10 teaspoons of youngs yeast nutrient to each barrel 2 days ago and still no bubbles? I even went to the measure of taping the lid on one of the barrels just in case any of the air was leaking out of the lid rather than bubbling out the air lock. </p> <p>Meanwhile i have a demijohn from the same brew which is bubbling away nice and steady now after it stopped originally before the heater went on to bring the temperature up. When it warmed up and after i gave it a good shake it started again and now i have a nice steady bubble production. </p> <p>Can anyone advise what i&#39;m doing wrong??? do i need to leave the lids off to allow the oxygen in to work the yeasts?? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-23169 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:45:57 +0000 Monk 23169@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Best kept in the dark. Daylight will effect the colour and the flavour.<br /> It&#39;ll need at least 3 or 4 months but will still taste quite acidic at that stage. Best left to go through the malolactic stage as mentioned, where the malic acid converts into the less sharp lactic acid. So ideally 6 months in all. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-23109 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:09:14 +0000 ryanguevara1983 23109@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I think I&#39;m just being impatient - like Hamish says, I think the best thing for me to do now is leave it in the garage til the summer! One more thing - should I keeo it in the dark? Will daylight affect it in any way good or bad? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-23012 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:58:35 +0000 Nath 23012@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Use a hydrometer to see if fermentation has finished or stalled. Always best to use a hydro to ensure you dont get any bottle bombs. I seem to remember Hamish said that the cider will go through another process when kept at 15c ish ....</p> <p>Hamish siad - &quot;<blockquote>Making cider tradionally takes months. Rack it off the lees into another sterilised fermenter then leave it in the garage under airlock until next summer when you can bottle it, mine goes into bag-in-a-box.</p> <p>When the ambient temperature is above 15C it will undergo malolactic fermentaion, this will turn it from scrumpy into cider.</blockquote>&quot;</p> <p>So its best to leave it for an extended period anyway, even if fermentation has finished. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-22985 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:45:20 +0000 Monk 22985@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>How long has it been? The main fermentation will be over in a week or two, but it carries on slowly for a good while.<br /> I would leave it a few weeks in the demijohns, then put out in the cold for a couple of nights prior to bottling to let it settle out a bit. Otherwise you can end up with it separating out a lot of pulp in the bottle. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-22866 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:39:46 +0000 ryanguevara1983 22866@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>No, I pressed the apples myself </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-22489 Fri, 25 Nov 2011 03:05:22 +0000 aderuk 22489@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Was it a kit cider ?<br /> If so ,usually after 5 days or so you can prime and bottle. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-so-far-so-good#post-22460 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:01:33 +0000 ryanguevara1983 22460@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I am brewing for the first time and think it&#39;s going OK! After the first stage in the bucket, I transferred it to glass demijohns with an airlock. The fizzing stoppped more or less straight away. I moved one of the demijohns inside to see if it was just the temperature that had caused it to stop fizzing - but it is the same indoors as in the garage. It&#39;s completely still. I wonder if this is normal? Does it mean that ferma=entation is over? Can I bottle it up? Or do I leave it in the demijohns? Thanks. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/top-up-question#post-22176 Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:00:37 +0000 Matthew77 22176@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks Madlen,</p> <p>Well the Cider has started to ferment again as its started bubbling. Think I&#39;ll let it ferment until it slows up on the bubbling and then stick it in the garage to over winter and hopefully all will be ok when I goto bottle it in the spring &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p> The cider I tasted when tranfering it all into the large demijohn tasted alot better than I&#39;d expected it to, maybe a little acidic. </p> <p>Time to start collecting some champagne bottles I think.</p> <p>Thanks again</p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/top-up-question#post-22040 Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:07:47 +0000 madlen_lieb 22040@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>hi,</p> <p>lets say, the yeast will mutate with the time (hence you should use the same one only up to 6 times) and or you will reach the abv tolerance limits of the little helpers which would make a nice &quot;unfizzed&quot; and maybe even sweet apple wine (depending how much sugar/juice you used).</p> <p>if you get wild yeast strains from the fresh apple juice in, you can get an odd taste, but lets face it or great grand fathers did it only with wild yeast and they liked it. cultured yeast makes it more predictable, which abv and which flavoures you get. </p> <p>there are several thick books written about yeast and its behafour. some of the beer brewers in this forum could tell you more.</p> <p>for me it is more to have fun with this hobby and to try things.</p> <p>lg madlen</p> <p>i made a cider 2 weeks ago, using an big baked full of shredded apples, 2 liter apple juice, 900g sugar (left over) and champain yeast. let i ferment 3 days, pressed out the apples, topped up with 2 liter juice, 1kg sugar and water till i got 23 liter. its still fermenting &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; hubby loved the sample i did give him </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/top-up-question#post-22012 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:28:09 +0000 Matthew77 22012@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks Madlen</p> <p>Well thats 50-70% less than pure suger!! </p> <p>I had to top up with 6 litres of juice in the end so I&#39;m hoping that all will be o.k.</p> <p>Does it really matter how many ferments the cider goes through? For example if the juice I&#39;ve put in this evening ferments or if I&#39;d used fresh apple juice and that ferments how would that effect the cider overall, would it cause any problems? </p> <p>Thanks </p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/top-up-question#post-22011 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:22:02 +0000 madlen_lieb 22011@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>hi matt</p> <p>good joke &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; apple juice has between 30 and 50% sugar. i don&#39;t think there will be much lesser abv at the end.</p> <p>to the juice itself, i would use the sterilised, as any wild yeast is dead inside this juice prior to the cooking. </p> <p>lg madlen. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/top-up-question#post-22000 Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:38:22 +0000 Matthew77 22000@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi all,</p> <p>When I did my first racking off I added some extra sugar syrup to my demijohns problem is I know now that I added way too much sugar (I have no idea now how much it was, but I think it was a lot!)and I&#39;m probably now on my way to having an apple wine! I over sugared all 3 of my 5 litre demijohns, but I&#39;m wondering if now that the second ferment has slowed right down I could rack off once more into my 23 litre large glass demijohn and top up with shop bought apple juice? </p> <p> My question is would this be a good idea to bring down the alcohol content a bit and if so should I use fresh apple juice or a juice that has been sterilised and persevered to stop any further fermentation?</p> <p>I used a champagne yeast.</p> <p>Thanks in advance </p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/fermentation-has-stopped-after-two-weeks#post-21947 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:33:06 +0000 Hamish 21947@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Making cider tradionally takes months. Rack it off the lees into another sterilised fermenter then leave it in the garage under airlock until next summer when you can bottle it, mine goes into bag-in-a-box. </p> <p>When the ambient temperature is above 15C it will undergo malolactic fermentaion, this will turn it from scrumpy into cider. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/fermentation-has-stopped-after-two-weeks#post-21936 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:42:10 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21936@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Adam</p> <p>I&#39;m no expert as this is my first year too. However, I&#39;d offer the following comments:</p> <p>Your experience is the same as mine. I used Youngs&#39; Cider yeast and had the same results. A week or so of frothy, bubbling (nothing too dramatic) and then lots of &#39;fizzing&#39; and then suddenly nothing. As I understand it, at this stage your cider has now finished its primary fermentation. After this, I&#39;ve done a couple of things. Firstly, I racked off the brew from the &#39;gunge&#39; that sits at the bottom of my bins into another clean bin (filled to the brim and put under air-lock) that will be left until Spring / Summer next year. I topped some of these bins up with a bit of bought apple juice. I also, for some early drinking around Xmas, put some into bottles. </p> <p>(For one bin, I did use (I think it was), Youngs brewing (or dried) Yeast. This batch went mental, was messy and frothed big-time but with the same end result).</p> <p>Ref the air-locks. I didn&#39;t actually seal the lids of the bins until the &#39;fizzing&#39; had stopped and since then I have noticed that those bins filled with just pressed juice don&#39;t seem to pass much CO2 out of the air lock but those that were topped up with a bit of apple juice are a very active (bubbles every few minutes).</p> <p>I&#39;m not sure about the alcohol % of mine but the SG has dropped from about 1050 at the start of fermentation to about 1000 once &#39;fizzing&#39; had stopped. </p> <p>I hope mine is OK as I&#39;ll end up with gallons of vinegar.</p> <p>Hope this helps.</p> <p>CF </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/fermentation-has-stopped-after-two-weeks#post-21920 Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:12:41 +0000 apple bob 21920@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hello,</p> <p>This is my first year at cider making and I&#39;ve got problems. Fermentation seems to have ceased after two weeks.</p> <p>I&#39;ve got six fermentation buckets with airlocks stuck in the top, through gromets in plastic lids. In each, I&#39;ve got apples juice with champagne yeast added. Two of the six were fermenting steadily - not the vigorous frothing that I&#39;ve read about but there was certainly activity - a bubble a minute or so. But the others - nothing. The lids of these have bulged out but the air must be getting out (and mabe in) somewhere. I think it&#39;s around the gromets and have tried sealing with silicone without any luck. I&#39;ve got a few ideas of other things I can do. I was thinking about punching a larger hold through and dropping a rubber stopper through. But, as I said the big problem seems to be that the two that were doing something have stopped in the last day or so (the house is no colder).</p> <p>I&#39;ve lifted the lids for a peek at these two (the buckets are opaque) and there&#39;s definitely bubbles on the surface and I can&#39;t see signs of an acidy clear film. When I tested the SG it worked out to be a potential alcohol of 6% (I can look up the exact figure) and one book I&#39;ve read says I need to add sugar to get it up to 9% but I&#39;m not sure why.</p> <p>Anyway, my big questions is am I on the slippery slide to vinegar, why has it slowed almost to a halt? And why hasn;t it frothed over like crazy?</p> <p>Any help or advice would be MUCK appreciated.</p> <p>Cheers,</p> <p>Adam </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-not-fizzing#post-21826 Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:31:18 +0000 daisydog 21826@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>yes , i opened a test bottle and it was a lot more gassy , so i will leave it till christmas and start a ginger beer recipie for now , thanks again dd </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/racking-perry-top-up-question#post-21799 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:39:34 +0000 Hamish 21799@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I guess if you can top it up that would be best but it if you can&#39;t it should still produce CO2, so it should be fine. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-not-fizzing#post-21789 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:10:17 +0000 Hamish 21789@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Sounds like it just needs a bit more time then. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:-)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-not-fizzing#post-21786 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:07:03 +0000 daisydog 21786@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>yes i primed the bottles with a tea spoon of sugar to the liter of cider , left them in the same room i brew in , in the dark , i have brewed cider very successfully before , to which i used double the sugar recomended to brew with , i added another third as much to the problem batch , have moved them to a warmer area of the house tonight , will give it another week . i recon the abv is about 12% just now , perhaps the abv is just too high for the yeast ? after all i am not sure just how strong you can actually brew cider , thanks for answering ,. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/racking-perry-top-up-question#post-21778 Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:00:48 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21778@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I have a couple of drums of perry that have been fermenting for a couple of weeks and I can see that there&#39;s a good 1&quot; or so of &#39;stuff&#39; (dead yeast etc) that has settled out at the bottom of each drum. So, I now want to rack this off into clean drums or DJs so it can mature over the winter. I may bottle some as well.</p> <p>Question. I need to top up the clean drum before I seal it again, but I don&#39;t have any more perry juice. Do you know anywhere that sells this or is there an alternative I could use; could I use a small amount of water or would a bit of apple juice do any major harm ?</p> <p>Ta. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-not-fizzing#post-21711 Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:47:32 +0000 Hamish 21711@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Did you prime the bottles?, though traditional cider ye olde farmhouse style is served still. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-not-fizzing#post-21708 Tue, 08 Nov 2011 19:11:27 +0000 daisydog 21708@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>i foolishly tried to make a super strong batch of cider , i used quite a bit more sugar than i should , about 2.5 kilo&#39;s in six gallons of liquid , this was for a serious cider head at work who said he could drink anything so i decided to call his bluff , i recon the stuff that is in the bottles is about 12% , it is bitter and barely gassy ,it looks like a pint that has been left for an hour , whatever that is , any suggestions ? or is it just time again as it has been sitting for 6 weeks in bottles . </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/am-i-on-the-right-track#post-21512 Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:06:15 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21512@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks for the tip - I ended up buying some plastic ones online a few weeks ago - with hindsight I would definitely just pop to Tesco and grab the water bottles - they&#39;re exactly the same!!! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/am-i-on-the-right-track#post-21491 Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:38:44 +0000 saracen 21491@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Glass demijohns last well, but they can be difficult to clean, espescially if you get a really fierce fermentation. Tesco&#39;s 5.0 lt water bottles are the same as the plastic demijohns, and you get all that clean water with it for under £1. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/am-i-on-the-right-track#post-21485 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:49:09 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21485@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Excellent, thanks for clarifying this for me!! looking forward to the next stage - so far, so good!! Just looking on ebay for glass demijohns! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/am-i-on-the-right-track#post-21442 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:57:14 +0000 Greg 21442@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Its totally normal and part of the fermentation process. Just move onto the next stage once the gravity remains constant for a few days.</p> <p>Regards</p> <p>Greg. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/am-i-on-the-right-track#post-21441 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:32:11 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21441@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi everyone, I have attempted cider brewing for the first time and have completed the very early stages. I added the yeast and it frothed away nicely. However, I just checked it today (about 9 days after adding yeast)and the frothy foam at the top has vanished completely! I this normal? The juice is bubbling and fizzing away, but I was just a bit concerned with the change. I haven&#39;t checked the SG for a little while. The brew is in my garage.</p> <p>Can anybody tell me if this is normal? Or if it isn&#39;t, is there any way to rectify it? </p> <p>Cheers All. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21424 Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:15:58 +0000 Anon e mouse 21424@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Still bubbling away so would&#39;ve thought that it would have stopped the fermentation by now. Think i&#39;ll check them with the hydrometer tomorrow to see if anymore of the sugar has fermented. Did&#39;t really want to go the artificial sweetener route, always try to avoid stuff like that in soft drinks. I&#39;m hoping it&#39;s just the one barrel still bubbling, at least then i can mix them together when i bottle so not too dry. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:-)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21342 Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:38:18 +0000 Hamish 21342@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Half a tsp of potassium sorbate per gallon should do the trick I would have thought. Maybe it takes a while to work?. After its matured, if it too dry add some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splenda"><u>Splenda</u></a> when you bottle, maybe not for the purist but you don&#39;t have to tell anyone. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;:wink:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21341 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:46:30 +0000 Anon e mouse 21341@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I believe they stop any unwanted bacteria growth and kill yeast etc to prevent the cider going off. I added 5 to each 5 gallon barrel of juice at the start then added wine yeast about 30 hours later. I think you are supposed to add them again along with potassium sorbate to stop the fermentation and to help preven it going off once bottled, but there&#39;s so much info i&#39;m not sure really. My mate makes it every year but his is so dry it&#39;s almost undrinkable without adding lemonade or something which i don&#39;t want, looking for something you get from the cider farms in somerset, proper strong, still medium dry type scrumpy. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_razz.gif&quot; title=&quot;:P&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21340 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:40:39 +0000 PMA 21340@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Oh dear! One question - aren&#39;t campdens for water conditioning? How do they reduce fermentation? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21339 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:32:01 +0000 Anon e mouse 21339@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p> &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_cool.gif&quot; title=&quot;8)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; Cheers for the heads up Phil, yeah hope so as the ciders getting drier by the minute i think. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_lol.gif&quot; title=&quot;:lol:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21338 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:27:02 +0000 PMA 21338@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Welcome Paul &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; fancy seeing you here! I can&#39;t help with your problem though mate, but I&#39;m sure someone will be along soon! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/stopping-fermentation#post-21337 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:13:13 +0000 Anon e mouse 21337@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi, I&#39;m new to the forum so i apologise if this has been asked before. Just been recommended from a friend this website from another forum and looks good so will have a good look around. </p> <p>Basically i&#39;ve got my 1st ever batch of cider fermenting (15 gallons) It was about 1.060 OG and i let it ferment to about 1.005 then added sugar to take it back to about 1.020 then i racked it off then let it ferment back to around 1.005-7 and a few days ago added 2 campden tablets and 2.5 tsp of potassium sorbate to each 5 gallon barrel to stop it fermenting as i don&#39;t want it stupidly dry.</p> <p>Problems is though they still seem to be bubbling away through the airlocks. Does this mean it&#39;s still fermenting and the potassium sorbate and campden tablets haven&#39;t worked thus eventuall leaving a very dry cider? I&#39;m about to transfer it from the dining room to the shed to mature and clear for a couple of months so need some urgent advice please.</p> <p>Thanks</p> <p>Paul </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21263 Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:52:55 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21263@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Right, I pressed all of the apples I have, and also added a few litres of pressed shop bought juice.</p> <p>However, there isn&#39;t going to be enough to fill my 25l Bin - does it matter if it&#39;s not full?</p> <p>Also, I have 5l demijohns, can I use these straight away or is it better to transfer into these after fermenatation? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21199 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:58:00 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21199@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>It worked a treat; the brew&#39;s now fizzing away quite nicely thank you. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21187 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:38:09 +0000 Nath 21187@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p> &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_redface.gif&quot; title=&quot;:oops:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; sorry my bad, forgot the title thought we were taking about beer. </p> <p>I&#39;m not obsessed with beer or anything...... &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_eek.gif&quot; title=&quot;8O&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21186 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:12:29 +0000 Hamish 21186@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>You can bottle straight after fermentation has finished</blockquote></p> <p>No not cider, it needs to mature otherwise it will be very harsh. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21182 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:00:15 +0000 Nath 21182@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I mostly use just the lid, the only thing you need to do is &quot;crack open&quot; the lid just a small amount to let co2 escape, the airlock will give you that &quot;bloop bloop&quot; noise but a small crack open on a small lid will be fine.</p> <p>You can bottle straight after fermentation has finished (just make sure you have 2 of the same readings over 24hours from a hydrometer) but sometimes it is beneficial (IMO) to leave the brew for 4-5 days after. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21180 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:04:36 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21180@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Great tip - thanks Nath.</p> <p>A few more questions - I keep reading about airlocks. However, my kit has arrived. The fermenting bin is basically a big bucket with a lid. It seems fairly airtight. So, my potentially stupid question is; does it need any kind of airlock? I thought I could just whack the lid on and yet the yeast do its work!! Is this the case? If so, when does the airlock etc. come into use? I thought that I could bottle it after fermentation has stopped? If so, when exactly does the airlock come in to the equation? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21081 Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:17:00 +0000 Nath 21081@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Just in case you want a larger demijohn Staples are doing a buy one get one free on 15ltr water containers - 7.99 for 2 big ol demi&#39;s </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21079 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:32:31 +0000 Hamish 21079@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>One more thing - you say about moving it to another fermenting bin under an airlock - could I transfer it from the big bin, into separate demi johns - I&#39;ve ordered some 5l ones.</blockquote></p> <p>Yes, just keep them covered so the light doesn&#39;t get to the cider. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21078 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:03:09 +0000 saracen 21078@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Crunchy.<br /> I&#39;ve used a few water bottles but only for holding samples I&#39;ve given away and only with small amounts of sugar for priming. I think they would probably fail if you tried to prime them properly. Best use something stronger. When the 5.0 lt bottles are used as demijohns, there&#39;s no pressure to contend with. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21077 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:48:47 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21077@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks for the tip - already ordered a couple but will definitely grab a few more from Tesco! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21072 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:57:21 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21072@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>OK cheers. I&#39;ll move it at the weekend. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21071 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:56:28 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21071@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Saracen. Good idea ref the Tesco bottles. I was wondering about using some used water bottles myself but didn&#39;t know it they&#39;d stand the pressure; they appear to be a but thinner than the normal Coke / Pepsi bottle. Have you used them ? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21070 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:55:54 +0000 saracen 21070@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Definitely, Crunchy.<br /> It needs to be about 16 to 20 degrees for the fermentation to start. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21069 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:51:42 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21069@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Cheers chaps. I did buy a 2nd hand 12 lt. Vigo press on e-bay before I started and it seems to be OK. I may have to sell some anyway as I can&#39;t supp all that I produce - I&#39;ll be permanently &#39;bladdered&#39; !!</p> <p>My latest batch of perry seems to be doing nothing since the weekend but I put this down to the temperature. It&#39;s in a stable and the evening temp has been down to freezing for the last couple of nights. I may move the stuff indoors. What d&#39;you think ?? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21066 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:42:13 +0000 saracen 21066@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Ryan.<br /> Just a small money saver for you.<br /> If you go to Tesco, their 5.0 lt water bottles are actually the bottles sold as demi-johns, except they are under £1, and that&#39;s with the water. You can make a small hole in the cap, or drill the right size one, and push an airlock through, sealing round it with Blu-Tack. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21062 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:00:57 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21062@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>This is a massive help, thank you.</p> <p>Borrowed a lovely old press from a chap at work - got next week off so going to get it done then!</p> <p>One more thing - you say about moving it to another fermenting bin under an airlock - could I transfer it from the big bin, into separate demi johns - I&#39;ve ordered some 5l ones.</p> <p>Thanks, Ryan </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21048 Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:08:56 +0000 Hamish 21048@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi ryanguevara</p> <p>1. You&#39;ll need to pulp them first.</p> <p>2. Can never have too much. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;:wink:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>3. You&#39;ll need a hydrometer to measure the original gravity. Sweet! hmm, look up keeving or add Splenda at bottling.</p> <p>4. Yes and yes.</p> <p>5. Yes, 24 hours after the campden.</p> <p>6. The garage will be ok, if it stays cool like it is at the moment it will take weeks maybe months to ferment but that is good.</p> <p>7. When you think it has finished fermenting rack it to another fermenter and store it in the garage under an air lock until next summer. For it to be really good it needs to undergo malo-lactic fermentation when the ambient temperature is above 15C. The longer you leave it the better it will be.</p> <p>8. Measure final gravity and bottle with 1 teaspoon of Splenda (cos&#39; you like it sweet) and if not keeving 1 teaspoon of sugar (cos&#39; you like it fizzy) per bottle. There might enough yeast still in solution to carbonate it?.</p> <p>9. You won&#39;t need it. Though you might want to measure and adjust the pH at step 3. To decrease the pH add malic acid, to increase the pH ie. make it less acidic, add precipitated chalk.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-ever-try-help-please#post-21044 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:53:33 +0000 ryanguevara1983 21044@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>My first ever go at making cider! There is a large “free for all” orchard at the bottom of my lane, so I thought I’d give it a go! Here is a very basic plan that I have made from reading this forum, a bit in books and online. Please let me know if I am missing out anything obvious.</p> <p>1. Juicing – not too worried about this – got loads of free apples and borrowing a good old apple press from a mate.<br /> 2. I’ve ordered 2 x 5l plastic demi-johns from the website, but also the starter kit that comes with a 25l fermentation bin – hoping to fill all?<br /> 3. Measure OG – not really sure what this is, I only know that I like a fizzy, sweet cider – not very authentic I know!!!!<br /> 4. Ordered Campden tablets too – do I add them at this stage, do I leave for 24 hours??<br /> 5. Ordered Lalvin Champagne (EC-1118) Yeast – do I add it now??<br /> 6. Leave to ferment. Is my garage OK? How long for? Will it be warm enough? How long does it take?<br /> 7. Measure gravity to find ABV?<br /> 8. Bottling – how long after initial process does this happen? Anything I should be looking out for? Do i add sugar to make it fizzy? If so, how much in a 500ml bottle?<br /> 9. I’ve also ordered Pectolase, when do I add this??</p> <p>Please add anything that you think may be useful - and don&#39;t worry about pointing out any basic errors - I won&#39;t be offended!!<br /> Thank you in advance for your help </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21033 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:20:32 +0000 Hamish 21033@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>If you produce around 1500 gallons you can sell it duty free too...</p> <p><a href="http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?formid=458&amp;record=8o6OW0NM1fE" rel="nofollow">http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?formid=458&amp;record=8o6OW0NM1fE</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21031 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:10:15 +0000 saracen 21031@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You got the basis of a good business there, Crunchy.<br /> If you&#39;ve got the room, you could either find a secondhand cider press, or make one. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21028 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:11:17 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21028@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Saracen / Hamish. Thanks for the advice; I&#39;ll let you both know how things turn out. Ref the party - I still have another 300 - 400 lb of apples and 150 lb of pears to process yet so the party should be a good &#39;un. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21012 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:54:31 +0000 Hamish 21012@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>At 1.002 its about done, although cider can go below 1. I would rack it off the lees into another fermenter and store it under airlock in the garage to mature until next summer. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21010 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:45:21 +0000 saracen 21010@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Crunchy. Nice to meet you.<br /> You need a cider maker along to help you. That&#39;s a lot of booze!<br /> I believe cider can go brown with the action of sunlight, so it needs keeping in the dark, and if you barrel it in plastic, put it in brown barrels. Some sugar in the barrels to prime it would generate the CO2 to protect it.<br /> I think you need to get it off the yeast, so clean bins with a bit of sugar for CO2 production would be sensible. Just transfering to bins without a CO2 layer would allow it to oxidise. The only other option would be to bottle it all.<br /> Only other question is, when&#39;s the party!? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/newby-cider-question-about-racking-bottling#post-21002 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:11:28 +0000 Crunchy Frog 21002@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>It&#39;s my first time making cider, having let my apples go to waste over the last few years. I&#39;ve now got about 18 - 20 gallons of cider and 6 gallons of perry on the go and things appear to be going OK. Having added camden tablets and pectolase, I waited a day or so and added a brewing yeast (Youngs). Initial fermentation lasted about 2 - 3 days (frothing) followed by about a week of &#39;fizzing&#39; and now nothing&#39;s happening. The cider / perry is under air lock in 25 litre fermenting bins / barrels but I&#39;m now wondering what to do next. I have checked the SG and it&#39;s pretty constant about 1002 &#39;ish. </p> <p>Should I leave it as is and let it mature over the winter and then rack off into bottles next spring or rack off now into another &#39;clean&#39; bin until spring. Or, do I rack off into bottles now.</p> <p>Help !! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-21001 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:41:12 +0000 adsheppy 21001@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Many thanks to both of you for the advice. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-21000 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:24:02 +0000 LORDWALNEY 21000@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Adding juice should be fine.</p> <p>If you&#39;re worried about infection you could always add a crushed campden tablet. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-20998 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:16:21 +0000 adsheppy 20998@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Marbles! That is a genius idea!!</p> <p>Would adding more apple juice &#39;ruin&#39; what i have already? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-20996 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:46:05 +0000 LORDWALNEY 20996@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I have a large supply of marbles for exactly that purpose.</p> <p>Must be sterilised completely though of course. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-20983 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:35:02 +0000 Greg 20983@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Top it up with shop bought apple juice. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/seperated-brew-mix-advice-needed#post-20980 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:01:16 +0000 Colin343 20980@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks Saracen. The problem i have is that there is lots of solids on top of the liquid (about 2 to 3 inches), won&#39;t this effect the hydrometer reading? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-demijohn-not-full-what-can-i-use#post-20977 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:37:52 +0000 adsheppy 20977@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi there,<br /> Any help would be much appreciated!</p> <p>I&#39;m making my first attempt of cider with the apples from my Nan&#39;s apple tree, and a lot of the family want to taste the cider when finished.</p> <p>I was syphoning the cider from bin to demijohn and the tubing came out. I now have a demijohn short of cider 2 inches from the neck. I know that too much air can turn the cider to vinegar. </p> <p>What can I use to fill it up to the neck or should I do nothing?</p> <p>Please help.</p> <p>Many thanks in advance </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/seperated-brew-mix-advice-needed#post-20970 Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:16:42 +0000 saracen 20970@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Colin.<br /> The only real way of telling when fermentation is over is to take hydrometer readings. With Wine yeast they should be somewhere around 1.008 to 1.012. Take readings 24 hours apart and when 2 readings stay the same, the fermentation is over. Best to leave it a week after that for the cider to clear more before bottling. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/seperated-brew-mix-advice-needed#post-20964 Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:23:54 +0000 Colin343 20964@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks. I added wine yeast.</p> <p>The &#39;cake&#39; on top is quite thick - looking at the fermenting bucket scale its a quarter of the total volume. How will i know when fermentation is done? I can see any bubble formation due to the &#39;cake&#39; on top.</p> <p>Smelling through the muslin cover it smells quite strongly of alcohol already. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/seperated-brew-mix-advice-needed#post-20936 Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:05:36 +0000 Greg 20936@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I would leave it alone, its probably just the yeast forming. I doubt its mold as apple juice is quite acidic and it would be too early for any mold to be forming.</p> <p>Did you use a cider yeast or rely on airborne yeasts? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/seperated-brew-mix-advice-needed#post-20931 Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:16:37 +0000 Colin343 20931@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi,<br /> I have tried to make cider for the first time this year to use up the glut of apples from our tree this year mixed with blackberry juice. Can&#39;t wait to try if it works :-). I juiced the fruit on a household juicer and put into a fermenting bucket. The juice was more of a pulp but still free flowing. The mix is now 4 days old but can now clearly see the liquid at the bottom and &#39;solids&#39; floated to the top like a cake. On the top of this cake there are little patches which i assume from reading posts are either yeast or mold starting.</p> <p>The advice i&#39;m after is: should i skim off the cake to leave just liquor or do i leave it on until i syphon the liquid off?</p> <p>Any help will be much appreciated appreciated </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-20477 Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:43:21 +0000 HicHaecHoc 20477@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>There&#39;s also a deal of info here <a href="http://homedistiller.org/forum/index.php" rel="nofollow">http://homedistiller.org/forum/index.php</a> on the safety side. Try searching for methanol. I think that partially freezing a brew to leave liquid with a higher concentration of alcohol will also concentrate everything else so you have to be that bit more careful with the process. Particularly where fruit is concerned - a higher temperature ferment, especially in the presence of pectinase, can produce methanol and other nasties. A proper distillation process can remove all these nasties but of course is completely illegal in the UK. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/didnt-add-extra-sugar#post-20083 Sun, 18 Sep 2011 07:58:54 +0000 Greg 20083@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Matt, I&#39;ve never added more sugar and not heard of that method so I wouldn&#39;t but its up to you.</p> <p>As far as storage goes, I would probably still leave under airlock just to be on the save side as it won&#39;t hurt and they may still be fermenting a bit.</p> <p>Garage is ideal. Keep an eye on them and if any molds start appearing (it will be a white film on the top) then just rack into clean demi&#39;s and add 1 campden tablet which should keep in under control. Its fine and won&#39;t do nay damage to the cider so long as you nip it in the bud. You may find you need to do this a couple of times. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/didnt-add-extra-sugar#post-20074 Sat, 17 Sep 2011 18:40:10 +0000 Matthew77 20074@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi all</p> <p>I think my first fermentation has nearly finished from my first batch of home pressed apples so I&#39;m about to test for alcohol content and siphon into glass demijohns. </p> <p>As this is my first attempt at making cider I&#39;ve been looking at a few different recipes over the last few weeks and I thought I&#39;d read somewhere about a second fermentation where you can add honey or extra sugar then do a second ferment which also helps clear the cider a bit more before doing the final racking off to a cold place for 6 months. Is this right or have I made this up along the way?</p> <p> Also I&#39;m confused as to what is the best way to store the cider for 6 months I was going to leave in my garage , but does it still need to be under airlock or do I use the solid rubber bungs. I&#39;m guessing all the fermenting should be over by then so it wold be ok to use the solid rubber bungs?</p> <p>Thanks in advance for your help</p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19915 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:30:22 +0000 Greg 19915@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>There are loads of apples around so it shouldn&#39;t be a problem Matthew. I&#39;ve never seen so many on the tree in our garden. Wished I liked cider more. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19913 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:20:24 +0000 Matthew77 19913@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks guys,</p> <p>I waited between 24 &amp; 36 hours before adding the yeast All is bubbling away nicely especially the one with the added precipitated chalk, its going nuts! </p> <p>So all seems well now.</p> <p>Also this morning I bought some co-op apple juice (not from concentrate)and started a turbo cider brew in the spare demi-john I had. Looks like that has started fermenting pretty well too. </p> <p>Just need to find some more apples for another brew next weekend. Going to be a mission to try and fill that 23ltr glass demi-john I got in my cider kit! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19890 Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:57:52 +0000 Greg 19890@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You can add the yeast after precipitated chalk/pectolase but if you&#39;ve used Campden tablets to kill off wild bacteria then you must leave it for 48 hrs before adding the yeast. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19885 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:13:23 +0000 Hamish 19885@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Not sure to be honest. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19876 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:54:35 +0000 Matthew77 19876@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thanks for the link and info Hamish, that has set my mind to rest. I think as I have 3 demijohns worth of juice I will up the ph on one and leave the other 2 as they are.<br /> Just one more question for now will the precipitated chalk and pectolase I&#39;ve added tonight affect the yeast I was going to pitch this evening, should I wait a bit before pitching the yeast or just go ahead now?<br /> Thanks again<br /> Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19875 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:29:23 +0000 Hamish 19875@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>So I wasn&#39;t being thick then.</p> <p>Matthew, yes you could add some chalk but I think its a bit hit and miss, add 1g per litre then measure the pH again, repeat until you get the target pH.</p> <p>Personally I think raising it to 4.0pH might make it a bit bland.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.cider.org.uk/frameset.htm</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19874 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:23:58 +0000 Matthew77 19874@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>So If I get my ph up closer to 3.9 that will be better for the fermentation? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19873 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:00:53 +0000 Greg 19873@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Ah looks like you might be right Hamish. I&#39;ll amend the error ASAP. I&#39;ve not noticed this before.</p> <p>I&#39;m not an expert in cider making to be honest. Made it a few times with good results but to be honest I&#39;m not that keen on cider. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19871 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:57:15 +0000 Matthew77 19871@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>So should I add some precipitated chalk as I have some of that &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19870 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:56:28 +0000 Matthew77 19870@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hmmmmm...I&#39;m not sure about this but a quick google search of a ph scale would have me believe you are correct Hamish </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19868 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:46:35 +0000 Hamish 19868@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>To increase the PH add malic acid, to decrease add precipitated chalk.</blockquote></p> <p>Now I&#39;m no chemist but...</p> <p>Is that the right way round or is it me being thick?</p> <p>If pure water is neutral, with a pH of 7.0 then solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are alkaline.</p> <p>So, if you want to raise the pH ie. make it less acidic, you don&#39;t add more acid, you add something alkaline like precipitated chalk.</p> <p>Right? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19864 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:20:34 +0000 Matthew77 19864@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>oh ok, thanks Saracen &amp;Hamish I was just going by the cider instructions here <a href="http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/making-cider" rel="nofollow">http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/making-cider</a><br /> which says:<br /> Once the juice has been extracted, measure the acidity, you are aiming for 3.9-4.0. To increase the PH add malic acid, to decrease add precipitated chalk.<br /> If 3.4 is still ok then thats great. </p> <p>thanks for the quick replys</p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19861 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:15:26 +0000 Hamish 19861@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>3.4pH is about right isn&#39;t it?.</p> <p>I was under impression that anywhere between 3.2 and 3.8pH is ok. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19860 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:12:21 +0000 saracen 19860@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Oooh. Technical. Way over my head. Greg is probably the best for this, unless some of the cider experts are around. Try sending him a mail through the link of the shop site. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/malic-acid#post-19857 Sat, 10 Sep 2011 18:06:57 +0000 Matthew77 19857@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Started my first Cider brew yesterday, pulped and juiced all my apples and got 3 gallons of juice all good until I tested for ph and found out I&#39;m at 3.4ph and forgot to order some malic acid? I added campden tablets to the juice last night so have until this evening to get the ph level up before adding the yeast.<br /> I live miles away from any brew shops so is there any alternative to malic acid I could use &amp; will my brew be ruined if it stays at 3.4ph. Also do I have the time to order some malic acid and correct the ph problem after it has finished its first fermenting?</p> <p>Thanks in advance</p> <p>Matt </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-trees#post-19506 Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:28:19 +0000 saracen 19506@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi William.<br /> Did a bit more searching for you and this sounds like it might be the answer.</p> <p><a href="http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Pip-pip-hurray-for-old.5579633.jp" rel="nofollow">http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Pip-pip-hurray-for-old.5579633.jp</a></p> <p>It&#39;s an article about reviving interest in old varieties of Scottish apples by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society who are holding a 2 day event in October.</p> <p><a href="http://www.rchs.co.uk/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.rchs.co.uk/index.html</a></p> <p>They are here but there doesn&#39;t seem to be much info. There is a &#39;Contact Us&#39; link, though.<br /> One other thought. Try your local radio station. They may have a &#39;gardener&#39;s question time&#39; type feature, or they may know a local expert. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-trees#post-19502 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:40:18 +0000 peter 19502@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Try<br /> <a href="http://www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nationalfruitcollection.org.uk/</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-trees#post-19501 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:25:18 +0000 William MF 19501@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thank you so much </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-trees#post-19498 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:26:53 +0000 saracen 19498@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi William.</p> <p>Try this:</p> <p><a href="http://www.orangepippinshop.com/articles/growing-fruit-trees-in-the-uk-climate" rel="nofollow">http://www.orangepippinshop.com/articles/growing-fruit-trees-in-the-uk-climate</a></p> <p>Then this:</p> <p><a href="http://www.orangepippinshop.com/cider-apple-trees" rel="nofollow">http://www.orangepippinshop.com/cider-apple-trees</a></p> <p>Might be a good idea to E-mail them for advice. There are loads of different growth stages, rootstocks and styles they supply, so some might be better than others for your purpose. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/cider-trees#post-19497 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:14:24 +0000 William MF 19497@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hey I just wanted to ask if anyone could help me with regards to planting cider trees.</p> <p>I&#39;m planning on planting them in scotland so what I wanted to know I what sort of apples would be most suitable for a colder climate...any help would be greatly appreciated </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/using-concentrate#post-19493 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:10:24 +0000 peter 19493@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I got it a bit wrong have just looked back at my brew records and the keg I have just done a Geordie yorkshire bitter, was made with 1k enhancer. and I think that is 50% dextrose. First impresion on trying it when first keged was that it was going in the right direction for a beer that is ok for a pint Was rather filling but lacked any real personality. I will try it again later to see what a week has done to it </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/using-concentrate#post-19486 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 10:15:24 +0000 Nath 19486@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I think the main difference is that is has 1 glucose molecule where table sugars tend to be 2 molecule. Only having 1 molecule is supposed to make the wort ferment faster and cleaner </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/using-concentrate#post-19485 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:42:37 +0000 peter 19485@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I dont think I have used anything but Tate and Lyle or Silver Spoon So cant really say if brewing sugar makes a diff </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/using-concentrate#post-19483 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:14:47 +0000 mrjonnyp 19483@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>also i see people say use brewing sugar. whats the difference in using brewing sugar instead of normal sugar? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/using-concentrate#post-19482 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:11:21 +0000 mrjonnyp 19482@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>why do people say not to use juice from concentrate? would the abv not be as strong? or would the taste be affected. or can you use concentate?<br /> thanks john </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-with-my-first-cider#post-18745 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:30:44 +0000 Hamish 18745@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I wish my apples were ready but the pips are still white and they taste a bit sharp. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-with-my-first-cider#post-18744 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:24:29 +0000 thurgie 18744@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>That is what we&#39;ll be doing next time. Unfortunately the wife got impatient and juiced the first lot before we really thought about it! It couldn&#39;t go in a FV because i had one full of Ginger Beer and one full of bitter. We didn&#39;t want to waste the juice so we thought hey ho, give it a go. I&#39;m sure it&#39;ll be drinkable anyway &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;;)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-with-my-first-cider#post-18736 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:24:52 +0000 Mark 18736@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thurgie cut an apple in half and you will see within a minute it has turned brown from a white colour. Normally when juicing apples you are supposed to drink it straight away or freeze it as the juice loses it&#39;s quality.<br /> I cannot say whether the apple juice is ok or not that is in the FV, but if i had juiced it i would have had it in the FV asap rather than a lidded pot. Or waited till the yeast arrived then juice everything.<br /> Let us know with updates how it goes. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-with-my-first-cider#post-18728 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:16:22 +0000 Nath 18728@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>There&#39;s every chance that they were fermenting in the pot over the weekend. All fruits picked will have wild yeasts on them so yep it was probably already fermenting! Just means it will be a bit more pokey than you tough, which is a good thing...... sometimes! Good job with the raspberries, im sure that will taste great! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/help-with-my-first-cider#post-18725 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:03:11 +0000 thurgie 18725@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>We had been collecting apples from the garden for a few days, as well as some raspberries from the allotment, but became impatient while waiting for the yeast to arrive!!</p> <p>We started to &#39;blitz&#39; the apples and ended up leaving the juice in a lidded pot over the weekend until the yeast arrived yesterday. We collected more fallen apples yesterday, &#39;blitzed&#39; them and added the juice to what had been standing for a few days (ended up with approx 2 gallons) and i took a gravity reading. As this was around 1.04 I dissolved 500g of sugar in 0.5L of water and added this to get a reading of 1.05 before pitching the yeast. It seems to be bubbling away nicely, but i started thinking about the process and had a couple of questions.</p> <p>Firstly, when juicing the apples a thick, soft &#39;crust&#39; formed on the top of the liquid, almost instantly. Can anyone tell me what this? (To juice the apples we used an electric &#39;juicer&#39;. Basically blades within a fine mesh filter so only the juice should make it through??). I seived all the juice into the FV, including the crust, and it seem to dissolve back in to the liquid, but has now formed again in the FV.</p> <p>Secondly, would the juice have started to ferment over the weekend while left in the pot? It certainly smelt like it may have done! If this is the case, presumably this would have reduced the OG and probably increased the final ABV??</p> <p>Thanks guys.</p> <p>Oh and the raspberries were &#39;blitzed&#39; in the juicer and didn&#39;t produce a single drop of juice so we removed the &#39;crushed&#39; raspberries and boiled them in a little water for 20 mins or so and added this to the pot (before the weekend). If this tastes half as good as it smelt i&#39;ll be a very happy chappy &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;;)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17937 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:43:03 +0000 jharper 17937@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Yep, misread this.</p> <p>Scrumpy 7% to 15% but not for this recipe. Apologies....</p> <p>Still going to give it a go. Will publish SG/FG/Photos in a couple of months..</p> <p>JH </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17931 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 15:28:46 +0000 Monk 17931@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I make cider purely with apples and it turns out around 6% or 7%.<br /> Adding that much water would bring it down to around 2% or 3% unless you added other fermentable sugars. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17929 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:59:28 +0000 jharper 17929@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>An extract from &#39;Home Brewing&#39; by Kevin Forbes... </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17925 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:30:39 +0000 Hamish 17925@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>Should produce between 7% to 15% depending on the sugar/yeast content of the apples.</blockquote></p> <p>Are you sure?. &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_confused.gif&quot; title=&quot;:?&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17924 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:22:45 +0000 Nath 17924@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>I would use PET bottles for this </blockquote></p> <p>I wonder why???? &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_razz.gif&quot; title=&quot;:P&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Is this a tried n&#39; tested recipe?</p> <p>My old man used to get &quot;proper&quot; cider from somerset (infact the place was shown on james n oz&#39;s thingy). He has been getting cider there since he was at uni (and hes now 65!) but unfortunatly the old boy who made the cider died a couple of yeasr ago. I went there once to pick some up with him and I think rustic came to mind! When we got there he and his brother were &quot;cleaning&quot; the kitchen.....with a cold water hose - just spraying the whole kitchen. Mental! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/scrumpy-without-an-apple-press-or-natural-yeast#post-17921 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:00:56 +0000 jharper 17921@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I would use PET bottles for this &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_wink.gif&quot; title=&quot;;-)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Ingredients</p> <p>3.6KG apples, any type will do<br /> 10 litres of water<br /> 28g root ginger<br /> Juice of four lemons</p> <p>Method</p> <p>1. Cut up the unpeeled apples with a non-metalic knife. <strong>You must not use any metal in<br /> this recipe</strong>. Cover with 9 litres of boiling water preferably in a fermenter.</p> <p>2. Leave the mixture for 2 weeks, returning to crush the apples well now and again. Be careful that mould does not form at this stage.</p> <p>3. Strain the liquid and add the bruised root ginger and lemon juice. Give it a good stir to ensure that everything is thoroughly combined.</p> <p>4. Add 1 litre boiling water and leave to stand for 2 weeks, removing the scum from the top as it rises.</p> <p>5. Strain into resealable bottles and screw on the tops lightly, just to the point where they would need another half turn to fully close them.</p> <p>6. After about 5 weeks, tighten the stoppers and keep ain a cool, dark and most importantly dry place for two months.</p> <p>Should fully mature within a year. Should produce between 7% to 15% depending on the sugar/yeast content of the apples.</p> <p>Cheers</p> <p>JH </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/adding-pectolase-to-turbo-cider-during-fermentation#post-17737 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:57:35 +0000 seamus48 17737@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Just bottled 36 pints of black rock in which we had replaced all the sugar with fresh pressed apple juice. The juice was quite cloudy when it went in. After 7 days in the 1st FV then racked across to 2nd for another 7 days, fermentation has finished but it&#39;s still very cloudy. I don&#39;t mind proper cider anyway and the cloud doesn&#39;t worry me but while dissolving the priming sugar with some of the cider on the hob the cloud disappeared entirely! That made me think about pectin hazes &#39;n stuff so after a quick &#39;chinese parliament&#39;with my brew buddy (my teenaged son) we decided it coudn&#39;t do any harm to add some pectolase that we had hanging about. So... 5 teaspoons of pectolase (for 5 gallons of cider) later, sugar added, the brew was bottled successfully. I have no idea if adding the pectolase at such a late stage will have any benefits at all or whether we just killed our brew but after the first taste, (3 bottles each) of our brand new extract summer ale &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; it seemed like a brilliant idea....</p> <p>I hope we didn&#39;t just screw up &#39;cos it tastes great and is 6.7% abv so will really help those warm(?) summer afternoons in the garden fly by... Hic! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/will-addding-finings-stop-my-cider-from-carbonating#post-17113 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:10:52 +0000 kaptinkurtz 17113@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>bum<br /> that means relying on patience<br /> and thats something I haven&#39;t got much supply of</p> <p>thanks for the answer tho<br /> probably explains why my elderflower champagne went a bit flat as well </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/will-addding-finings-stop-my-cider-from-carbonating#post-17098 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:35:38 +0000 saracen 17098@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi Kaptin. From what I can find out, the answer is; &#39;probably&#39;. The idea of finings is to remove all the yeast from the brew and leave it crystal clear. Most finings recommend you remove all the gas by shaking before using them. If you look here, around step 6 onwards, it pretty much explains it. The bit about adding yeast to condition after the finings have done their job would require a very highly floculative yeast, or a special conditioning yeast I can never remeber the name of.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Brew-Cheap-Cider" rel="nofollow">http://www.wikihow.com/Brew-Cheap-Cider</a></p> <p>It&#39;s also worth noting that most Cider brewers don&#39;t consider finings to be necessary. Just let time do the job. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/will-addding-finings-stop-my-cider-from-carbonating#post-17089 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:52:47 +0000 kaptinkurtz 17089@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>So I made lots of lovely cider which I left to ferment dry, and let it settle, but it was still a bit cloudy. So I added VinClear and left it a week before bottling with 1 level tsp sugar/litre for a little bit of fizz. But after a week, theres still no pressure in the bottles so I was wondering if the finings had stopped the yeast from working? Can&#39;t be too cold for it - lets face it, its been a bit warm recently... </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15890 Sat, 04 Jun 2011 10:27:10 +0000 Monk 15890@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You just accept that it will change with time, becoming slightly dryer and livelier.<br /> Priming sugar will I think all convert to alcohol/C02 pretty easily, but other complex sugars in the brew will convert slowly, and at different temps.<br /> This is why people experience bottle bombs with the elderflower brew I&#39;d say. To get a nice fizz and froth in two weeks, you add enough sugar to make bombs in a month. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15886 Sat, 04 Jun 2011 09:54:51 +0000 beerlover1983 15886@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thats quite intresting.so how can u ever really know the correct ammount of priming sugar to use when there will allways be a some tha remains.Is there a way to work that out after fermentation and adjust acordinly </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15850 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:00:26 +0000 Monk 15850@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I started doing it when I found a few normally primed bottles I&#39;d stashed for a year were frothing over.<br /> I tried catching it right at the end of the main ferment at first, with 48hrs cool in a secondary, But now I happily let the main ferment peter out, 5 days secondary/dry hop, and accept that I&#39;ll have to wait a month for nice condition.<br /> It also minimises bottle sediment. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15846 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:43:12 +0000 Hamish 15846@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>I don&#39;t prime my bottled ales</blockquote> &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_eek.gif&quot; title=&quot;8O&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Some of the bottles I&#39;ve had kicking around for a while are quite lively so I might just use half a carb drop from now on but I must try a few without any priming sugar at all. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15844 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:39:03 +0000 Monk 15844@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>+1 to Hamish. You never convert all the sugars in the primary ferment. I don&#39;t prime my bottled ales, I just give them a month in the bottle &amp; get a nice cask ale type type condition.<br /> Cider will normally carry on slowly for several months. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15842 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:29:26 +0000 Hamish 15842@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Must have been a few fermentables left over for the yeast to nibble. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cider-carbonation#post-15836 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:11:35 +0000 beerlover1983 15836@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Just a quick one ive made another batch of trubo cider again turned out well used tesco value this time.</p> <p>But decided to leave it still intead of carbonating but on opening the first bottle 2 months from bottling i have a slight carbonation how is that possible.</p> <p>Or is it obvious and ive drunk to many &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/adding-pectolase-to-turbo-cider-during-fermentation#post-15738 Tue, 31 May 2011 16:56:19 +0000 YokalJim 15738@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>i&#39;ve been doing cider from mead yeast, fructose, apple and rasberry copella and lots of pressed apple and pineapple juice from sainsburys . . .<br /> I added some pectolase at the start of my current 5 galllon batch, &amp; about a week in; as the first bit wasn&#39;t enough . . . i&#39;ll leave it another week, rack and bottle -<br /> and i&#39;ve drunk my version before - it tastes great after 2/3 weeks </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/adding-pectolase-to-turbo-cider-during-fermentation#post-14916 Sat, 07 May 2011 19:59:37 +0000 Nath 14916@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Ive read that you can add it but as its already started turning into alcohol you may need a fair whack (maximum dose) to do anything.</p> <p>Now Ive only read this and I have no idea so.... the choice is yours.</p> <p>Have a butchers ere&#39; - <a href="http://www.cider.org.uk/part5.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.cider.org.uk/part5.htm</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/adding-pectolase-to-turbo-cider-during-fermentation#post-14914 Sat, 07 May 2011 18:53:09 +0000 sam87 14914@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi guys </p> <p>Got my passion fruit, mango and apple TC in the fermenter bubbling away nicely but was wondering if I can add pectolase a week into fermentation as forgot to do this when brewing</p> <p>Thanks </p> <p>Sam </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-14052 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:31:40 +0000 Nath 14052@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You would add more fermentables to the drink, so you would need to add more sugar and may have to use a different yeast as the pwercentage of alcohol is higher. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-14038 Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:02:18 +0000 I LOVE HENRY WESTONS 14038@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi, going to make some turbo cider how do i make it super strong like 8/9% ???<br /> any help or advice would be AWESOME ! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12741 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:26:21 +0000 beerlover1983 12741@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Cheers that makes sense now i knew the before and after readings but didnt think about sg and then working out from that .Many thanks for the reply. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12739 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:21:49 +0000 saracen 12739@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You need a hydrometer. There are various scales on there and if you have one that does wine as well, which I think nearly all of them do, there will be Potential Alcohol scale on it. If you read the Specific Gravity it&#39;s a rough guide to alcohol content. With Cider, a SG of 1.040 relates to approx 4.0% ABV. To be absolutely accurate you need to take a reading before you start and when the fermentation has finished. The difference between the 2 gives the ABV, but if you want 6.5% alcohol you need to start with a SG of about 1.070. If the juice shows 1.050 then add sugar until you get the reading you want. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12735 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:47:28 +0000 beerlover1983 12735@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>My brains not working how do i get % of the juice before its become alchol to work out if i need to add sugar or not </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12721 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:25:05 +0000 saracen 12721@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Well, it started off a frothin&#39; and a foamin&#39; all the way up the bottle, but when the second half went in it didn&#39;t react anywhere near so violently. Perhaps the alcohol is inhibiting the yeast a bit. Whatever the reason, it seemed a whole lot safer..... and it was suggested in the original recipe to leave some out. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12706 Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:21:05 +0000 Nath 12706@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Why put only half the juice in, as when you add the rest surely this would re-activate the yeast and start fermentation again. Would it not be easier to add the whole lot in one or is that a danger of yeast being spurted out everywhere? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12697 Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:04:54 +0000 saracen 12697@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hello. I made some from 3 lts of apple juice from concentrate and 1 lt of white grape juice and using champagne yeast. All worked lovely. I couldn&#39;t find any clear apple juice that wasn&#39;t from concentrate, so I didn&#39;t have much choice. I don&#39;t remember adding sugar. I mixed the juices together and took a hydro reading which showed about 6.5% ABV (around 1.070) which was enough for me. Best way is to check with a hydro and adjust the sugar to suit. I only put half the juice into the fermenter with the yeast to start with and after a couple of days when the yeast had died down a bit, I put the other half in. I also put a dozen lime leaves into the fermenter. The result was good. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/turbo-cidertropical-advice#post-12681 Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:20:55 +0000 beerlover1983 12681@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Right thoaght i would have a go at something a bit diiferent but got some questions i need help with.</p> <p>The juice i got is from concentrate not pure i hear this can be done but will the 150g of sugars in normal tc recipe still be ok.</p> <p>I only have champagne yeast will this make it dry or will it work at all.</p> <p>And lastly the juice says it has Ascorbic acid will this affect the yeasties or taste ?</p> <p>Help lol </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11860 Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:27:24 +0000 Lol 11860@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>If you don&#39;t manage to get any apples this year, remember it is a seasonal thing, starting around Sept/Oct.</p> <p>I would not want to put you off by 25 kgs will not make much and there is an abundance of apples out there.</p> <p>I don&#39;t know if this will help last year I put a sign out on the road and passed some leaflets out at the local produce show. I was overwhelmed and had enough apples to make over 500 pints! most of them delivered apples bagged to my house!</p> <p>I don&#39;t know if this will help but this group is close to you and very friendly<br /> <a href="http://www.harroldcalvados.com/m1/index.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.harroldcalvados.com/m1/index.shtml</a></p> <p>regards</p> <p>Lawrence </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11827 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:21:14 +0000 saracen 11827@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi there. Lovely to see someone new on the forum. You are very welcome.<br /> Tony&#39;s advice seems very sound to me. Making cider in large quantities is not as easy as it sounds, and some practice would make a great deal of sense. Blending different apples together is a big part of it too.<br /> You could also try asking around the villages for someone who makes cider. There are plenty of them around and usually they are very happy to impart loads of knowledge, in return for a pint or two, of course. You might even be able to borrow some equipment, or do what a friend of mine in Norfolk does. A dozen or so people take all their apples to a guy who makes them into cider and brings it back in barrels! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11770 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:50:22 +0000 Tony 11770@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi<br /> I would imagine that any apples you get at this time of the year will be quite expensive, especially as you don&#39;t want to use the supermarkets. You mention<br /> <blockquote>fresh produce ideals</blockquote><br /> what exactly are they? Supermarkets are full of fresh produce but won&#39;t be sourced locally or even nationally. If I were you I&#39;d spend the next 6 months practicing - first by making Turbo Cider with supermarket apple juice - the cheapest you can find - and then by using fresh apples (small batches up to 10 ltrs at a time), just to get your hand in, do a little experimenting, trying out different brands of apples and mixtures of eating and cooking - and to check your processes and equipment. It&#39;s only 6 months, it&#39;ll soon be apple dropping season again and you&#39;ll have all you need!<br /> Good luck with it! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11765 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:42:09 +0000 Hamish 11765@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>A quick google...</p> <p><a href="http://www.cambridgefruitcompany.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cambridgefruitcompany.com/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.hilaryswholesale.com/contact/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.hilaryswholesale.com/contact/index.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.cofco.co.uk/site/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cofco.co.uk/site/</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.freshproduce.org.uk/membership/52.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.freshproduce.org.uk/membership/52.html</a> </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11764 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:38:34 +0000 Hamish 11764@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>There&#39;s a farm shop by the side of the road as you head for Outwell as you leave Wisbech, he might do a deal on 25kg. There is Leicester wholesale market if you want to travel or fruit and veg suppliers that supply schools, pubs and caterers etc. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-attempt-at-brewing-cider#post-11762 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:25:37 +0000 Hamish 11762@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You could try a wholesale fruit and veg market, where do you live?. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/where-to-buy-apples#post-11759 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:25:22 +0000 smallholders_girl 11759@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Hi, </p> <p>My partner and I would like to make cider, but it&#39;s winter and we&#39;re not sure the best place to buy enough apples. I think we need least 25kg which seems an excessive amount to get from a supermarket, plus it goes against our fresh produce ideals, but having looked on the internet it seems that it may be our only option for this time of year. In the summer we have plenty of friends who will let us pick their fruit, we were hoping that there would be a supplier or a farmers market that could help us. We live in Cambridgeshire. </p> <p>Thank you</p> <p>Alison </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/first-attempt-at-brewing-cider#post-11757 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 11:20:27 +0000 smallholders_girl 11757@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Where do you get 25kg of apples?? Can you buy from a supplier if you don&#39;t know anyone with an apple tree, or do you just go to Tesco??</p> <p>Thank you </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10919 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:54:37 +0000 Steve_K 10919@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>Would removing the water cause the fusel alcohols to be more damaging? </blockquote><br /> Not at all, they are just in much higher concentration. The main culprits are propanol, butanol and amyl alcohol. If you&#39;re interested in this side of things I thoroughly recommend &quot;Understanding Wine Technology&quot; by David Bird - goes into all the details of fermenting, fining, alcohols etc (although it&#39;s a wine book, still applicable to beer). Probably ~£8 second hand on Amazon? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10915 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:17:51 +0000 saracen 10915@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Thank you Steve. We all learn a little more each day. I understood that when distilling it was possible to produce methanol and that was the stuff that does the damage. Would removing the water cause the fusel alcohols to be more damaging? </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10906 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 13:34:48 +0000 Steve_K 10906@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>All it does is removes the water and concentrates the alcohol, so it&#39;s not possible to produce the stuff that makes you go blind.</blockquote></p> <p>Fusel alcohols are produced during fermentation, not distillation; so if the fermentation was made hot and quick, there would be more fusels in the end product regardless of whether it was distilled or stripped of it&#39;s water by freezing. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10897 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:10:47 +0000 saracen 10897@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Yea, though I walk through the valley of Death I shall fear no Evil, for I am the meanest Apple Cruncher in the whole darned valley!!! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10893 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:03:31 +0000 steve300010 10893@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>It&#39;s too late I&#39;m already wanging up the apples in the liquidiser!! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10889 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:50:17 +0000 saracen 10889@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Don&#39;t! You&#39;ll go blind!!! You will! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10887 Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:41:28 +0000 steve300010 10887@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I have 18kg of braeburn apples that have a sort of brown russety skin but aren&#39;t rotting and this idea seems to be the perfect way of using them up!!<br /> Cheers Steve!!! Applejack MUST be good for you surely... </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/how-to-make-dry-or-sweet-tc-cider#post-10798 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:05:54 +0000 Steve_K 10798@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Pressure over ~35psi forces the co2 into the yeast cells and kills them, so if you can sustain that pressure in your container (keg or barrel) for a few days it will carbonate and kill the yeast before it converts all the sugars.</p> <p>But yes, non fermentable sugar is a much easier solution. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/how-to-make-dry-or-sweet-tc-cider#post-10795 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:32:04 +0000 Varnish 10795@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>The only problem there is that you&#39;d have a still cider, unless you force carbonate.<br /> You can add non fermentable sugars such as splenda. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/how-to-make-dry-or-sweet-tc-cider#post-10791 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:42:08 +0000 Steve_K 10791@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You need to stop fermentation before it&#39;s finished to make a sweet cider without adding sugar. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/how-to-make-dry-or-sweet-tc-cider#post-10790 Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:10:00 +0000 Gazz 10790@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Im about to try another Turbo Cider but this time I intend to use apples as well as 100% Juice.</p> <p>My question is, What is the difference between making a Sweet Cider &amp; a Dry Cider without adiing any sweetners after fermentation?</p> <p>My last Cider was a little dry for my liking.</p> <p>Cheers Guys </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10785 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:34:47 +0000 saracen 10785@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>You could always sell it to British Airways. Cut their fuel cost a bit. Probably shorten the journey times as well!! </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10767 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:46:06 +0000 Greg 10767@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>That stuff sounds pretty mental Steve. Are you planning on serving with a mixer? Vodka perhaps to water it down a bit &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_lol.gif&quot; title=&quot;:lol:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10763 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:35:33 +0000 saracen 10763@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Wiki-wotsit says this:</p> <p><blockquote>Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture.</blockquote></p> <p>What Steve is doing is concentrating. All it does is removes the water and concentrates the alcohol, so it&#39;s not possible to produce the stuff that makes you go blind. You can do exactly the same with any alcoholic drink. I believe it&#39;s often called &#39;Crystal Distillation&#39;. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10762 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:20:09 +0000 Steve_K 10762@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Fusel alcohols are mostly produced by fermenting at high temperatures to speed up production and then removed by filtration (10 times for Smirnoff, I will say no more).<br /> While it is technically distilling, only doing it with heat is against the law &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_smile.gif&quot; title=&quot;:)&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10760 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:45:43 +0000 Tony 10760@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>That&#39;s some technique there Steve!</p> <p>Interesting .... I thought all distillation was illegal in the UK? &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_rolleyes.gif&quot; title=&quot;:roll:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Also I&#39;m sure I read somewhere that when commercial distillation takes place there are certain procedures for removing certain dangerous chemicals which can be produced. Sorry for sounding like an old fart, but how much is it safe to drink? &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/applejack#post-10752 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:45:30 +0000 Steve_K 10752@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>I have just finished making my first batch of applejack - very successful!</p> <p>No real recipe I&#39;m afraid - 5gal fermenter filled about half way with crushed apples, topped with water and about 5kg of sugar. High alcohol tolerance yeast (I don&#39;t recall which, it was months ago) took it down to 1005 to give around 15% ABV. After it was filtered and fined, pop the lot into a big tub in the freezer and leave for a few days, stirring occasionally to break up the ice.<br /> I used a big sieve to remove the ice, suspended above the container inside the freezer to allow all the goodness to drain without the ice melting back into the liquid. Repeat several times over the course of a week or two until no more ice forms - bottle and enjoy.</p> <p>I&#39;m not sure about final ABV but it tastes somewhere around 60%. Very intense, pure apple goodness &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10750 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:47:16 +0000 Greg 10750@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p> &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_lol.gif&quot; title=&quot;:lol:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10749 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:43:26 +0000 Varnish 10749@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Before, during and after.<br /> It&#39;s the UK Mongoloid Rally: Put two retards in a 4x4 and point them towards Tehran.</p> <p>Not really. It was a UK to Mongolia charity drive/event thingy. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10748 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:33:27 +0000 Greg 10748@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Is that &quot;UK - Mong rally&quot; on the back of the 4x4? Was that after the Iranian moonshine? &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_lol.gif&quot; title=&quot;:lol:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10745 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:56:21 +0000 Varnish 10745@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Nah.<br /> I don&#39;t think it travels well. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10742 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:49:44 +0000 Tony 10742@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p><blockquote>the old guy at the front had been smoking Morphine</blockquote></p> <p>Bloody hippies! He should get his hair cut, straighten up and fly right! &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> <p>Don&#39;t chuck your cider varnish, keep it back for your next trip to Iran.... &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_eek.gif&quot; title=&quot;8O&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/bb-plugins/default/icon_biggrin.gif&quot; title=&quot;:D&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10737 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:31:51 +0000 Varnish 10737@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>A couple of years back me n&#39; my mate were driving across Iran on our way to Turkmenistan. As you do.</p> <p>Anyway, the POS jeep we were in decided it only liked 3ed or 4th and wasn&#39;t going to play with the others.</p> <p>We managed to find a garage that would fix it after a while.<br /> Anyway, after it was fixed the guys asked if we wanted some beer.</p> <p>Not having had a drink for a while we said &quot;sure&quot;.</p> <p>They brought back a 2L coke bottle full of some kind of clear spirit.<br /> Tasted rough as old boots, and had to be mixed with cola. But we got pretty toasted.</p> <p><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_3cN2NstKR1k/SPDdkJOcR0I/AAAAAAAABtI/cCQozzNEMvY/s640/MONGOLIA%20RALLY%20209.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_3cN2NstKR1k/SPDdta74oXI/AAAAAAAABuA/TZIbIZRk0TY/s640/MONGOLIA%20RALLY%20216.jpg"></p> <p>Ali, the old guy at the front looking into the camera had been smoking Morphine before coming to see the English. </p> http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/topic/so-i-was-thinking#post-10736 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:03:02 +0000 Bazza 10736@http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forum/ <p>Ooooohh...poitin...that takes me back.</p> <p>When I was a student we knew these guys who, if you gave them an empty sherry bottle and £4, they&#39;d have it back to you 3 days later filled with poitin. Rotten stuff, even with all the mixers of the day you would still get that startchy potato-skin-y taste.</p> <p>I remember one night in particular drinking the stuff neat (we&#39;d run out of 7-Up) till 4am. I was on a placement year so had work the next morning. I came staggering into the office singing in full voice. One of my colleagues found me a little while later sleeping in a cubby-hole. Around lunchtime I drank a pint or 2 of water which only served to recirculate the alcohol. The one and only time I&#39;ve been drunk for a full day&#39;s work after a night out.</p> <p>Ah...memories...mermories where you remember not remembering anything....</p> <p>-Barry </p>