Turbo Brandy (not turbo yeast)

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper 8)

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tc490225
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Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:57 am

Turbo Brandy (not turbo yeast)

Post by tc490225 »

Hey All,
First I would like to thank everyone that has contributed to the fourm. You are an invaluable source of information.

I started this project with the intention of making a Turbo Cider similar to the following video by secue01, however, I used White Labs English Cider yeast WLP775. Turbo in this case refers to the type of quick/cheap cider making. Using apple concentrate or cheap bottled juice.

Big secue01's method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRltUZZPh-U

also check out, Roy Lake talks Turbo Cider and WLP775
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMY9yd9aiIU

lastly, Chris Smith
https://youtu.be/4tDP1ubIci8

I feel its important to understand a good tasting start is the first step in making a good tasting Brandy. So I would recommend making a few turbo cider batches to see how different juices taste etc. I especially perfer to re-use my yeast as it adds a bready funk that tastes amazing under carbonation and ferments amazingly fast.

My recipe is as follows.. I try for Starting Gravity of 1.080 so we get a bit more than 10% ABV potential alcohol.
Credit to Chris Smith, Northern Brewer Customer Service Asst Manager and award-winning cider-maker:

6 Gallons pasteurized cider
2#-4# light brown sugar
1 tsp per gallon yeast energizer
2 tsp per gallon yeast nutrient
White Labs WLP775 English Cider Yeast

Mix cider and sugar
Add half of total nutrients and aerate
Pitch yeast

After 24 hours add second half of nutrients and stir to aerate and off gas CO2

Once the hard cider has fallen to 1.000 or below. Rack to secondary and check clarity. In my experience I end up with little bits of undissolved yeast nutrient that get siphoned into the secondary but not much more after a week or so in the primary. WLP775 does an amazing job at settling down into a fairly solid lees with little or no fine sediment when siphoning from the primary. Im able to get nearly 100% of the hard cider out of the primary.

We should now have a really good hard cider ready for priming, back sweetning and bottling. I suggest you do so with 1 gallon, since hard cider is so rewarding. I personally prefer a bit of sweetness. I back sweetnen using apple concentrate hydrated with 1 - 12oz can of water. I shoot for 1.010 on the hydrometer just as a gage of sweetness. Not sure what the ABV is at this point, but my guess is around 8-9%. Then, I force carbonate in 16oz plastic water bottles using the following and a CO2 can. Do not back sweeten any cider you plan to use in the still.

Stainless Steel Carbonation Cap with Barb
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FG ... UTF8&psc=1

Luxfer CO2 2.5 LB Aluminum Cylinder Tank CGA 320 Valve
https://www.amazon.com/Luxfer-Aluminum- ... ywords=co2

Kegco KC LH-542 Premium Pro Series Dual Gauge Co2
https://www.amazon.com/Kegco-KC-LH-542- ... VVP9W5RS5R

5/16" Gas Line Assembly - Ball Lock
https://www.amazon.com/16-Gas-Line-Asse ... VVP9W5RS5R

And now the Spirits.

I took the remaining 5 gallons of hard cider I made above and ran a stripping run. I havent had any problems with puking. But, take the necessary precautions here and use conditioner and saddles. I take 1 gallon at a time split between 2 plastic jugs and degas for at least 15 mins. Shake the devil outta the jugs until you stop hearing the hiss from the co2 leaving the jugs when you pop the top. I had about 1/2 inch of foam after the shaking for about 3-4 mins but this would subside and didnt cause any problems in the still. I filled to the full line.

Strip run produced 6 - 750ml wine bottles at 30%. I took a 50ml foreshots cut per gallon here, I figure better safe than sorry. Each gallon took around 2.5 - 3 hours to run.. I learned the hard way, heads = headaches. Dont drink it.

Next, the spirit run. I collected the first 25ml and discarded into my heads container (I know I took too much head). I took the next 150ml out and saved for a heads run sometime in the future and then started collecting hearts. Man, what a pleasure to see the airstill doing the drip, drip, drip, run.... drip, drip, drip, run... just like the big boys on youtube :). I collected 750ml of hearts. I then collected in 100ml increments the next 900ml in glass jars.

I should probably filter through carbon. I have some ideas about making a filter contraption, any suggestions? has anyone had success with homemade filters?

Now, I need help blending. I can tell there are tails in the last 3 jars, but im not sure they taste bad. lol. How do you guys blend? I have another 6 gallons of hard cider ready but I want to refine my process before I begin, any suggestions to my process above?

Was thinking about getting some oak and aging in Mason jars, any suggestions here? Was thinking about apple wood 1/2 inch X 1/2 inch X 6 inches long slightly burned.

Hopefully my ramblings make sense.
Last edited by tc490225 on Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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cranky
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Re: Turbo Brandy

Post by cranky »

I don't understand why it's called "turbo Cider" Around here generally when we see the word "Turbo" used in a ferment it refers to using turbo yeast which is generally regarded as a bad thing. I also don't understand why you did certain things but if you are happy with the results I guess that's all that matters.
tc490225
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Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:57 am

Re: Turbo Brandy

Post by tc490225 »

Hey Cranky,
Thanks for the reply. Turbo in this case refers to the type of quick/cheap cider making. Using apple concentrate or cheap bottled juice. Ill update the subject of the post to remove the association with turbo yeast.
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cranky
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Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Turbo Brandy (not turbo yeast)

Post by cranky »

tc490225 wrote:I should probably filter through carbon. I have some ideas about making a filter contraption, any suggestions? has anyone had success with homemade filters?
Don't do this unless you want to remove all the flavor. Apple flavor tends to be very elusive to begin with and carbon filtering will likely remove all the flavor.
tc490225
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Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:57 am

Re: Turbo Brandy (not turbo yeast)

Post by tc490225 »

Thanks again Cranky. Your wisdom is appreciated.

How about Oak? or Applewood dust/chips/cubes? I have access to both woods since I have trees that feel a few years ago and I have been saving the wood for the smoker.
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cranky
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Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2013 3:18 pm
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Turbo Brandy (not turbo yeast)

Post by cranky »

tc490225 wrote:Thanks again Cranky. Your wisdom is appreciated.

How about Oak? or Applewood dust/chips/cubes? I have access to both woods since I have trees that feel a few years ago and I have been saving the wood for the smoker.
Apple is not the easiest or cheapest thing to start with and an air still probably makes things even harder. I know nothing about them though.

As far as wood, both oak and apple are good to use, there is a lot of info about that here somewhere. A good place to start is here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =4&t=50348
I have used apple, oak and even Japanese maple and a combination of 2 or all 3 of them. They all give good qualities and it's one of those things a person has to figure out for themselves. I also prefer well used sticks as opposed to a stick that is new because the new sticks can overpower the already elusive apple flavor. I would never use dust and chips are hard to toast I personally like sticks like are talked about in the thread I just gave you.
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