first ever turbo cider

I have been toying with the idea of home brewing but hav'nt got round to it!

One of the reasons I haven't done it is that a friend of mine got me on to aldi's cider..thats 99p and pretty good. When I totted up all the other methods in my head it just didnt make ££ sence!!.

Anyway I had a brain wave when I was doing my weekly shop..high juice, there were two bottles that were damaged up for 10p each and one was apple and mango which is the flavor cider I have always wanted to make.

So I did the weekly shop went back to the van did some reasurch about making cider from cordial. Found out that you can and went back with my best 20p.

My paretents have demijohns coming out of there ears, so thats never been a problem, in fact my mum keeps finding them at the tip!!! She washed and sterilises them ready to go. So one day after work I stoped off at my local wilko and brough yeast, yeast nutrient and pectolase and some air locks.

I wanted to make my apple and mango & summer friuits (as my best friend recons he's alergic to apples!!!) brews a turbo ciderand i wanted it quite strong as we have a few winter surf/camping trips coming in the new year which this would "take the edge off" and a few mates at rugby who are keen on a good strong cider!!!

I had read that to use cordial you need to zap/boil the heck out of the juice to get rid of the preservitives so i did that for both the apple and mango and the summer fruits cordials (about 10-15m) in our 900 microwave. Then I added my sugar (250g) to each let it cool and added 3.5l of water.

Once it was in the in the dj i added a tea spoon of yeast and a bit of pectolase. I was super careful to sterilise anything that was going to come in contact with the process. i added it all together and gave it a good shake then poped the air locks on.

The apple and mango one went crackers almost straight away and still has a good foam on it (prob about and inch deep). I was worryed with my summer friuts one as it never seamed to get going in the first 12 hours so i added some yeast nurtriant to them both(just under a tspn). and that got them bubbleing a little more

Im about 36 hours in, I have noticed that my apple and mango one is bubbleing every 30/40 secs and the froth on the top has remained and inside there is no particular movement

The summer friuts is bubbling every 5-10 secs but the small layer of froth that was on top has dissapierd and its swirling and fizzing in side....it looks crazy in there..my 6year old son is mesmerized by it.."its like a little universe"

I just want to get an idea if Im actualy getting any place with these brews or am I best to start again.

I know my recipie is a bit left feild (cheap and nasty) but if anyone has any experience of using cordial to make cider i would be glad of some any info you have. I have since found a polish shop up the road which has the most amazing range of cordials!!

Thanks

C

If anyone is on instagram look up thegreenrhino and you can see my efforts mentioned above!!

The fermentation seems just fine to me. Try and leave it alone, don't keep opening it up and looking/smelling inside. It will do its thing. Patience is the biggest quality of homebrewing :-)

I think what you will get with these brews may be closer to this:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=30398&highlight=fruit+punch

it may be a bit thin in body but it will be alcoholic and certainly drinkable.

Easiest turbo cider to do is go to the supermarket and buy their cheapest apple juice. Normally in 1litre cartons for about 65p. Bung them in a demijohn. Yeast. And your away.

Have a little look around the cider/wine section and they'll show you how to do it. Alternativly, search "turbo cider" on the youtube and there will be plenty of how to video's on there.

Thanks so much for the vote of confidence it has come through. It's now starting to clear up now!!

I was wondering I had planned to bottle it after two weeks. But the air traps are bubbling every 40-60 secs after 10 days...should I re rack it now or leave for the full two weeks!

Excuse my newbie impatience!!

Thanks again for your help!!

To rack or not is up to you, I would not hardly bother as there were no solids that went in to it, so the sediment will just be dead yeast and I don't imagine there will be much of that at the moment.
You certainly do not want to bottle it until it has stopped bubbling, as you don't say that you have a hydrometer to use, to tell you when it has finished, I would let it stop bubbling and then leave it for a week to be on the safe side before you bottle.