Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts - Bottling

Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts - Bottling

After 11 days fermenting the bread yeast Turbo Cider and

the wine yeast Turbo cider are ready to bottle.

Bottling with a syphon didn't take that long.

Both Turbo Ciders have got down to 1.002 so should be

around 5.1%.

Primed each 2 litre plastic bottle with 100ml apple juice.

Drinking the samples that i had taken to test my hydrometer

in i noticed that the tastes are distinct.

Bread yeast has made for a mellow apple-y taste.

Wine yeast has created a bitey-er more acidic edge.

Enjoyed both and can't wait to see what the final carbonated tastes are like.

smiles

adam

Coopers Bitter - Early Taste

Coopers Bitter - Early Taste

Worried that my beer was going to become infected, i drew off a tumbler full to check it (also to taste before it went bad ... if it goes bad). Ideally you let the beer have 4 weeks in the keg or bottle but i was eager to have some now if later it would be undrinkable.

Came out frothy but quickly cleared and kept a nice head. The taste still starts sweet before going into a beautiful bitterness.

Swirling the beer around my mouth like a fine wine it wakes up ALL the tastebuds.

Even if this beer goes bad i'm still going to do another kit one of these days.

smiles
adam

Turbo Cider Ale Yeast - Yeast Volcano

Turbo Cider Ale Yeast - Yeast Volcano

Turns out that ale yeast, yeast nutrient and

apple juice can have quite a spectacular reaction.

Came home to this slow moving yeast volcano,

the 18.5 litre bottle could not contain the 15 litres of turbo cider.

The yeast was bubbling out thickly, after i cleaned the worst off

it was obvious that more was on its way, so i moved the water cooler/

fermenter into the bath and let it bubble up and over through the night and the next day (took it out when i had a bath).

Then it all calmed down, can't wait to bottle the stuff.

smiles

adam

Turbo Cider Ale Yeast

Turbo Cider Ale Yeast

So with a worry under my belt i slapped a smile on my face and
got back to what i know best (so far)....

Turbo Cider - now with Ale Yeast (and yeast nutrient)


I sanitised my water cooler bottle and a funnel.
Poured the yeast slurry, sprinkled on the yeast nutrient and washed down with

15 litres of Sainsbury's Pure Apple Juice (on offer 8 litre
cartons for £4).

It was all agitated by the pouring so i popped it in my warmest room and felt that i had salvaged something from the day.


smiles
adam

Coopers Bitter - Kegging

Coopers Bitter - Kegging

The beer was ready to keg as it had reached a gravity of 1.006

which should make for a 4.6% beer.

I syphoned the beer from fermenter into my king keg

after placing 80grams of sugar dissolved in 100ml

of boiling water in the keg as priming sugars (to help carbonisation)

Moving 23 litres of liquid took quite

a while but went well.

I also placed a teaspoon of yeast slurry into the keg to aid

secondary fermentation.

Very little disturbance, i sealed the keg a happy man.

*(ominous music)*

I was then informed that an oxicleaner should be followed

by a seperate sanitiser to ensure a good environment

for the beer free from infection.

It was too late to do anything about it now, some said i might be lucky

others said that an oxicleaner could be used as a sanitiser.

With very real fears that i had just messed up my first beerkit

i knew i had to salvage something from the brewing.

Looking at the yeast slurry and thinking of the comforting ease

with which turbocider is made a plan was formed.

So the lesson is that just because something cleans it doesn't mean that it also sanitises.

smiles

adam

King Kegs - The Cleaning

King Kegs - The Cleaning

It was recommended that I use an oxy cleaner on my kegs aswell as thin bleach and a sanitiser that i already had. Obviously you don't use them all at the same time. Headed to town as soon as it opened and picked up the oxycleaners below.

I found the blue one first and think it will be more than adequate but i needed unscented and my nose isn't that great so when the label didn't advertise unscented i went to another store and found the pink one that is unscented, chlorine and dye free. (Investment in sanitising today £3 ... savings on crying over bad beer in the future predicted).

So cleaning the King Kegs is no going to go ahead soonish.

smiles
adam

Turbo Cider Omega - The Tasting

Turbo Cider Omega - The Tasting

Its only had three weeks in the bottle but i chilled one and tried it last night.

Like my Turbo Cider Alpha it is a little over fizzy, bottles need to be opened carefully. I worked out the alcohol content again and it is just over 12%.

The cider is very dry and full of bubbles, leaving it in the glass for a few minutes does let it calm down and then you can taste it better.

The closest cider i have drunk to this in taste and texture is french cider, it has that sulphur like smell but tastes gorgeous.

At 12% it is more one for a little tot of rather than a full evening of drinking.

smiles

adam

King Kegs

King Kegs





Up until now i have bottle my brews in a variety of bottles,
not always sucessfully (see Prison Hooch in a gin bottle).

My beer is reaching maturity in the fermenting bin and i want
to put this one in a keg.

Enter my Uncle who used to homebrew, he sold me two
King Kegs (top tap) that he hasn't used for 10 years.

So here they are, as sanitising is one of the most important things in homebrew, if you actually want your brew to mature into delicious beverages rather than an infected liquid thats going to leave you out of pocket and without a drink.

Between the two barrels i am hoping to get one ready to use, one of the taps is in two pieces and one of the barrels is without a float. As my local brewshop is closed down and i only have one set of seals, getting 1 out of 2 kegs functioning and clean in the next few days is my challenge.

So i am off to get some advice at http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/index.php

an excellent resource for homebrewers online.

smiles

adam

Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts (Day 3)

Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts (Day 3)

On the third day of the battle after bread yeast having a much larger head and taking a strong lead, the colour and smell of the two Turbo Ciders seem to be equalising.

The bread yeast is on the left. You can see how high the head got on this one by the tide marks.

The Wine yeast has been slow and steady, no great head but maybe its saving its party piece for the tasting.

smiles

adam

Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts

Turbo Cider Battle of the Yeasts

Decided to use the same juice and yeast nutrient and pitch (no pun intended)

Bread yeast against Wine Yeast

in the Turbo cider Arena.

Early and patterned start for bread yeast.

3 hours in.

Bread Yeast still ahead 12 hours in.

Bread Yeast really getting to work. 24 hours.

Wine Yeast Struggling 24 Hours.

smiles

adam

Coopers Bitter

Coopers Bitter

Starting with Coopers Bitter kit and Geordie Beer Enhancer,
i took my first adventure into brewing a beerkit.

Sanitised everything i needed (including new tin opener - after
failure of original tin opener in flatmates kit can opening)

Put kit into fermenter, added water and enhancer.

Whisked to a good bubble.

Morning head was impressive.

Head tried to crawl out of fermenter.

Then the head died down.

The beer continues to ferment and already smells gorgeous.

smiles

adam

Fruit Frenzy

Fruit Frenzy

So with two ciders and prison hooch under my belt and not enough bravery to go straight for Tomato Juice, i created Fruit frenzy.

Apple, Orange, 5 Citrus and Exotic Fruit Juices went onto the yeast slurry for its final brew. The resultant potion tasted odd but not bad.

Choosing 5 Alive Berry Burst as a primer added even more flavours to the experimental beverage but i have my fingers crossed for it as a summery drink.

Between Prison Hooch and Fruit frenzy, i learned that an old gin bottle cannot safely contain carbonated prison hooch and the batch took a 70cl loss. Lesson is to use different bottles.

smiles

adam

Prison Style Hooch

Prison Style Hooch


After cider gave me confidence and an active yeast slurry i decided to get a little creative... hearing that inmates in prison brew with whatever they can get their hands on, i decided to make a prison style hooch.





Orange Juice + Yeast





This stuff tasted like tangy orange juice when bottled, it has carbonated since and i'm hoping for a tangy alcoholic fanta like drink when it has rested.





This batch taught be that priming sugars and carbonation are optional and need some thought on.





This brew also gave me thoughts about brewing tomato juice so that i'd have a makeshift bloody mary to go alongside a makeshift screwdriver.


smiles

adam

Turbo Cider Omega

Turbo Cider Omega

After Turbo Cider Alpha i was keen and confident to have a go at something else, a stronger cider in the same vein.

So this time a smaller run of 10 litres instead of 23 litres and the addition of 1kg of Brewing Sugar allowed me to make a cider that is 12%+ and that i think is gorgeous to drink even though its not fully aged yet.

Saving this one for special occasions.

Lessons learnt from last brew to this were... how to use a syphon which meant that these 10 litres were not jugged and hence contain a lot less yeasty sediment inside the bottle.

smiles

adam

Turbo Cider Alpha

Turbo Cider Alpha













The first brew that i made was one called turbo cider.


















Take apple juice add yeast, wait.










And then you have cider. This was an excellent introduction to brewing and the first Turbo Cider (Alpha) came out at about 5.8% tasting like a nice farmhouse cider.

So a success in the beginning leads to greater experimentation.

Below is what i have brewing, conditioning and drinking at the


moment.

Brewing - Turbo Cider, Nutrient and Bread Yeast 4ltr



Brewing - Turbo Cider, Nutrient and Youngs Super Wine Yeast 4ltr



Brewing - Coopers Bitter with Geordie Beer Enhancer



Conditioning - Fruit Frenzy 5ltr

Conditioning - Prison Style Hooch 4.5% 5ltr

Conditioning - Turbo Cider Omega 12% 10ltr

Drinking - Turbo Cider Alpha 5% 23ltr

smiles


adam

The First Post

Adam's Brew Blog is born.

smiles
adam