turbo cider/raspberry.. first attempt

trying something new.. a turbo raspberry cider, followed lots of threads and stole some ideas and have made a version today.. wanted to get something brewing while i wait for my stout to condition. :)

23ltrs of asda apple juice (smartprice 55p a litre)
3 teaspoons of youngs pectolase
3 teaspoons of youngs tannin powder
6 teaspoons of asda stevia sweetner powder
1 sachet of youngs cider yeast

raspberry lowicz syrup for priming/bottling

used starsan to sterilise everything then threw in the ingredients, final gravity was 1.050 so should be a strong cider if it ferments to dry, i may even water it down if it ferments to bone dry as itl make it about 6.5-7%

the plan is too bottle this cider using the polish raspberry syrup to prime to make it fizzy and add a hint of flavour.. hopefully the stevia sweetner will take the edge of it if its really dry, but i did not put too much in as ive no idea how sweet the stevia will make it.. or even if i will like the taste

fementing well after 12 hours and getting faster

cheer geoff

Sounds good buddy,

Keep me posted on how it turns out I'm going to have a bash at something similar but with the polish cherry syrup when I get my hands on a demijon

no probs.. its fermenting like a train now.. foamy head in the bucket :)

Alcoholx, can I ask why you added the sweetener? It's just that I've only heard of people adding it once fermentation has finished.

Pirate_Pete said:

Alcoholx, can I ask why you added the sweetener? It's just that I've only heard of people adding it once fermentation has finished.

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its all a bit fly by night if iam honest

i used the sweetener because i suspect this brew will just ferment to bone dry and iam not a fan of very dry cider and i know the mrs wont touch it if its harsh/dry, i am planning on bottling the cider to get the fizz so any sugar/syrup i add at the end i presume will just ferment and become dry again so i cant sweeten with sugar.

so i thought i would add a little bit of sweetener during fermention so it mixes well with the juice and tannin ect,and i was kind of hoping that if the sweetener has more time in the cider if it has any dodgy flavours they will soften, and i can taste it before i batch prime to get an idea how sweet it will be.... but its total guesswork if iam honest

the other reason was i did notice that you can buy cider yeasts with sweeteners already in them so i kinda thought if they can do it then why not.. :lol:

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/cider-yeast-with-sweetner-p-883.html

time will tell and its certainly not affected the fermention as its going well.. ill post the results as i go along


cheers geoff

OK, I'm only just beginning so mine is guesswork too. My first attempt fermented right out and was dry. That's OK as that's how I wanted it.
Be interesting to see how it turns out adding the sweetener first.

I didn't realise you can use syrup for priming. That's good to know - and this recipe sounds lush!

Looch said:

I didn't realise you can use syrup for priming. That's good to know - and this recipe sounds lush!

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the credit for that would have to go to Roddy from this thread here

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57708

iam quite looking forward to bottling this one... itl be interesting to see how sweet it is once its fermented out.. plus the extra flavours in the syrup

one thing is the sweetener did not seem to affect the fermentation at all

Benmeister said:

Sounds good buddy,

Keep me posted on how it turns out I'm going to have a bash at something similar but with the polish cherry syrup when I get my hands on a demijon

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Do you have a recipe for this? I bought 5 bottles of the Raspberry Syrup last week

for a 25L batch?

fermention finished at 1.004 so it should be about 5.5% i think, maybe a little more.. suprised that it finished early.. tbh expected it to tramp on like the wow wines do, maybe thats to do with using cider yeast i dunno :hmm:
anyway i had about 22 litres so i batched primed with 330ml of raspberry lowitz syrup and all bottled and now just need to wait and see how it turns out :)

interesting, I've not had a cider stop before 1.000, what cider yeast didn't you use, out of interest?

It was youngs cider yeast.. fermented to just before 1.000, I do find the hydrometer hard to read at times but I would say it was roughly 1.004 Maybe 1.002.. when i measure the wort the liquid tends to be kind of concaved on the stem of the hydrometer so iam not 100% sure I read it correctly.. so I tend to take the conservative reading. .. Not sure if thats the right thing to do or not. Lol.

Glad it's not just me who finds it hard to read sometimes. I've also got a DJ of raspberry TC on the go at the moment (inspired by Roddy also!)... Yeast was pitched last Friday and bubbling has slowed down a fair bit yesterday/today. Time for a reading tomorrow.

Have you tried this yet Alcoholx?

My missus likes those flippin kopperberg and similar fruit ciders which are only around 4.5% - 5% so I want to try a raspberry TC for her but most of the recipes I've seen add sugar and will come out too strong,

So I was thinking of

3L value apple juice with 1L water and adding no sugar at all just using the 342g of sugar that is in the apple juice (114g per litre) a little yeast and pectolase and a mug o strong tea and I guess it needs cider yeast or can you use standard wine yeast or maybe sparkling wine yeast?


Does anyone know if lowicz is natural sugar, or has those nasty toxic artificial sweeteners?
Anyone used any other type raspberry sweetener/flavouring?
I've seen cordials which are similar

cheapbrew said:

Have you tried this yet Alcoholx?

My missus likes those flippin kopperberg and similar fruit ciders which are only around 4.5% - 5% so I want to try a raspberry TC for her but most of the recipes I've seen add sugar and will come out too strong,

So I was thinking of

3L value apple juice with 1L water and adding no sugar at all just using the 342g of sugar that is in the apple juice (114g per litre) a little yeast and pectolase and a mug o strong tea and I guess it needs cider yeast or can you use standard wine yeast or maybe sparkling wine yeast?


Does anyone know if lowicz is natural sugar, or has those nasty toxic artificial sweeteners?
Anyone used any other type raspberry sweetener/flavouring?
I've seen cordials which are similar

Click to expand...

Sainsburys do a polish Raspberry syrup for £1 a bottle but you have to go to the ethnic food area.

cheapbrew said:

Have you tried this yet Alcoholx?

My missus likes those flippin kopperberg and similar fruit ciders which are only around 4.5% - 5% so I want to try a raspberry TC for her but most of the recipes I've seen add sugar and will come out too strong,

So I was thinking of

3L value apple juice with 1L water and adding no sugar at all just using the 342g of sugar that is in the apple juice (114g per litre) a little yeast and pectolase and a mug o strong tea and I guess it needs cider yeast or can you use standard wine yeast or maybe sparkling wine yeast?


Does anyone know if lowicz is natural sugar, or has those nasty toxic artificial sweeteners?
Anyone used any other type raspberry sweetener/flavouring?
I've seen cordials which are similar

Click to expand...

no artificial **** in Lowicz that I can tell, although my Polish isn't 100% 😃

my next TC will be around the 5% mark which will be 75/25% aj/water

Which yeast do you use Roddy?

cheers ncf, probably only in their bigger stores same as tesco though I guess

cheapbrew said:

Which yeast do you use Roddy?

cheers ncf, probably only in their bigger stores same as tesco though I guess

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My yeast of choice is the mangrove jacks fella, although for my next one I'm going to try the cider yeast with sweetener that someone had posted about in another thread, supposed to take the edge of the sharpness, let me know if you want a link and I'll dig it out

cheapbrew said:

Have you tried this yet Alcoholx?

My missus likes those flippin kopperberg and similar fruit ciders which are only around 4.5% - 5% so I want to try a raspberry TC for her but most of the recipes I've seen add sugar and will come out too strong,

So I was thinking of

3L value apple juice with 1L water and adding no sugar at all just using the 342g of sugar that is in the apple juice (114g per litre) a little yeast and pectolase and a mug o strong tea and I guess it needs cider yeast or can you use standard wine yeast or maybe sparkling wine yeast?


Does anyone know if lowicz is natural sugar, or has those nasty toxic artificial sweeteners?
Anyone used any other type raspberry sweetener/flavouring?
I've seen cordials which are similar

Click to expand...

Its too early to tell yet as its only been bottled a week, but...

now iam probably not the best critic of cider as iam not a massive cider drinker but i have tried a bottle or two,

its cleared great but it had only partly carbonated so was still quite flat really compared to bulmers ect, but from what i tried it has quite a nice in flavour, it had definately held some sweetness from the added sweetner.. not drank enough to decide if its a fake or real kinda sweetness though, seemed to have a little bit of a yeasty smell at first but hopefully that will fade. you can tell the raspberry is there but its just a hint not in your face, it has a nice tangy aftertaste that makes you smack your lips though, that i liked alot

personally i think it has promise and will come good.. another week or so to carb up and mellow a bit.. then chill in the fridge and pour over some ice and i think it will be very nice and a complely different drink.. at the moment sat in the cupboard its a warm flat cider and tastes like it.. if you know what i mean it needs to carb up some more to give it some spark.


one thing though.. it does have a good cider taste.. not like copperberg or the other alcopop type cider its not sweet enough for that.

cheers geoff