Contemplating a Turbo!

From the success of my first batch of Lager (Yes first....)I have been asked by a family member to create some Cider as well as the beer/lager. So as I have a spare FV , was thinking about making a small 1 gallon batch of turbo cider. I'm not a fan of cider as I get headaches with it, but do like a 1/2 pint of Thatchers Gold every now and then.

Few questions:

1. Is a normal 25Ltr FV ok to use for only doing a 4-5Ltr batch?
2. As with anything I want the finished product to be half decent, so should I go Turbo at all or try a full cider kit?
3. If I do a Turbo, does this plan sound ok (researched online and mashed together a 'best' plan):

Ingredients:
4.5 litres of pure apple juice (I'm planning on using top notch cloudy apple juice)
1 packet of cider yeast (5g with nutrient)
50-100g of granulated sugar
1tsp of Malic acid
1tsp of pectolase
1tsp of tannin


Add 3 litres of apple juice, pectolase, tannin and malic acid to the bucket + 1 litre of heated apple juice with the dissolved granulated sugar. Ensure the temperature of the mix is above 18°C and below 24°C and sprinkle the yeast onto the liquid's surface. Seal the bucket with a bung/lid and airlock and try to keep at 18-20°C. After a few days, once the most vigorous fermentation is over and the froth has subsided, top up with the remaining apple juice. Fermentation should take under a week, but may take longer. Once the bubbling of the airlock has stopped, draw off a sample and check the gravity with a hydrometer. It should be around the 1.000 or 0.998 mark. If it's higher than this, say 1.006, leave for a few more days to finish fermenting.
Once fermentation has definitely finished, add 1/2 tsp of sugar + 1/2 tsp of Canderel sweetner to each bottle before siphoning the cider in. For best results, leave the cider in a cool, dark place, to mature for 2-3 months. Serve well chilled.

sounds like a plan matey

Not sure if you can get cider kits that only make 5L, I suppose so - but I would stick with cartons of apple :)

If you're using cloudy juice then you're presumably not bothered if the finished result is clear ? (otherwise I would just use cheapo clear AJ 100% from concentrate.

Not sure how well it would work using a 25L FV with only 5L of cider, I think that might qualify as having too much headspace (ie the co2 from the brew won't properly seal it) - you might just have to make 25L :) It would only cost you another £7 for the extra AJ, and it's pretty foolproof.

I've used various cider yeasts and all come out pretty dry, I now use a cider year with built in sweetener (E950), that takes the edge of the dryness - I get that on ebay

Straight AJ (with a sugar content of around 11g per 100ml) ferments out to about 5.8% abv - so if you're adding more sugar at the start, you'll end up with something a bit stronger - that might explain the headaches

1.2 tsp sugar per bottle (assuming 500ml bottles), would be a bit shy for a decent fizz, I batch prime my TC with around 6-7g per 500ml (over 1 tsp per bottle I think)

Your method is about right, apart from that after bottling, you want to store the bottles somewhere warm for a week or so, for the secondary fermentation to kick in and carb up the sugar that you primed the bottles with. After than, then stick them away somewhere cool and dark, they'll be ready to drink immediately, but will mellow out after a month


Bit of a rambling answer, but feel free to post up again if I'm not making sense (always a possibility !)

good luck

Cheers Roddy, I will invest in a small 5litre tub and have a bash at it. As you say try cheap apple juice and see how it goes!