how do i know if its fermented

[jeromeserena]

hi all put on abatch of turbo cider with irn bru.boiled the juice first did not seem to do anything. had a couple of tips on how to get it going. thought i would give it a hydrometer check it is reading 1 or just below. i have not seen any evidence of fermentation at all. no bubbles through the asirlock or anything like that. any ideas as to what is going on only made afew brews so a bit confused. did not take an initial reading of hydrometer. thanks for any info

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

How long has it been on, and how long did you boil the irn bru for?

It's possible there's some preservatives left that are slowing down fermentation.

 

[Brewtrog]

If it's below one, it's done (more than likely), you might not have had a great seal around your airlock, so the gas was escaping by other means (don't worry it won;t have harmed your brew)

 

[evanvine]

If when you drink it you get ******, then you know it has fermented! :grin:

 

[oldbloke]

If it's below 1.000, it must have at least some alcohol in it to counter the flavour compounds that'd push the gravity above 1 even if you magically lost all the sugar somehow. And if you didn't lose the sugar, we must assume it's now been turned into alcohol.
With many of the simpler brews (like TC), the yeast slowly colonises the whole liquid, making it opaque, then when it's eaten all the sugars it sinks and leaves the liquid clear. If this has happened, it's done. If it's not clear yet but looks like it's going to, wait a bit.

 

[jeromeserena]

thanks for all replies.
i did boil the irn bru but i am now thinking not long enough, i had it on about 10 mins. the brew has been going about 2 weeks it is quite clear. so i think with your input it is ready i will try it and see what happens.
got good advice about repitching if presevative left but dont want to do that if the brew is ok.
thanks again