Turbo Cider Recipe

Turbo Cider Recipe

Ok, so here's the basic procedure that I follow every time I rustle up a Turbo Cider from Supermarket Apple Juice. This example recipe is for a single demijohn (4.5litres).

Tools needed:

4.5ltr demijohn
A plastic tumbler (or glass)
A reasonably sized funnel
A teaspoon
Cider yeast (1/2 sachet per demijohn is fine).
A syphon (home brew shops do these, or e-bay)
PET bottles

Ingredients:

4 litres of supermarket Apple Juice (from concentrate or not - doesn't matter)
1/2 litre of Cranberry & Raspberry Juice
200g Brewers Sugar (or caster/granulated/demerera - whatever takes your fancy)
2 tsp Malic Acid (or the juice from 2 lemons)
1 tsp Pectolase*
1 strong cup of tea (made from 2 tea bags)
1/2 packet Cider yeast

* Not always absolutely necessary, but it helps when you are adding real apples, jam or tinned fruit, etc.

Instructions:

Sterlise all tools and the demijohn before adding the ingredients. (The PET bottles and syphon can be left until you are ready to bottle) I have found VWP sterilising power easy to use. Ensure you rinse all tools at least 3 times after sterilising before use. (Some cleaning agents do not need rinsing - check the label).

Mix the yeast in a sterilised tumbler with warm water (around 30-35 degrees or less) cover with some kitchen foil and let it sink. Stir after 10 mins and leave another 10 mins.

Put 2 litres of apple juice into the sterilised demijohn.

Put 1 litre of juice, tea, lemon juice, sugar & honey in a pan & heat VERY slightly to help
dissolve. Pour this into the demijohn.

Add the yeast to the demijohn and give it a bit of shake it to mix the contents.

Cider should be kept at room temperature. It's generally OK to keep between 18-26 degrees.

Depending on popular opinion, the fermentation is finished either when the airlock bubbles less than once every 2 minutes, or when you have a volume of 1.008 or below. Be aware though that some yeasts can drop out as high as 1.019. Environmental changes can also cause flcutuations. Depending on the yeast you use, you may need to add more sugar accordingly to bring up the alcohol content once it's finished.

When it's ready, bottle the cider by adding a teaspoon of sugar to sterilised PET bottles. (or use 2 Coopers drops per 500ml bottle). Ensure the syphon has been sterilised as well. Try to leave the mulch at the bottom of the demijohn when syphoning the cider off.

Mix the cider and sugar solution with a little shake of the bottle and leave the bottles in the
warm room for 3 to 5 days to carbonate and settle.

After 2 weeks it will be ready to refridgerate and drink. It may take longer for the cider
to clear entirely.

Cider can generally be kept in PET bottles for up to 6 months without spoiling.

As part of my therapy, it has been suggested that I write more about my experiences and so I thought I would use one example of a CBT method in this latest post.

So what's CBT?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes and contents through a number of goal-oriented, explicit systematic procedures. The name refers to behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and to therapy based upon a combination of basic behavioral and cognitive principles and research.

- Wikipedia

I have to admit up-front that I was initially sceptical about how CBT would help me in my fight back to "normality" (whatever the hell "normality" actually is).

I'm now 5 weeks into my therapy, and by putting some strategic methods into practice, I am finding that I am now able to manage some of those instances whereby I feel anxious (like on a packed train), angry (like when I'm dealing with idiots) or worried to the extreme.


So if you were asked to imagine mentally placing some (or all) of your problems somewhere out of harms way, where would that be?

I'm told that a good example and a popular method is to imagine placing your troubles into a black bag and throwing it out with the rubbish. Now there's a bit more to it than that, but essentially you have to initially perform the actual act of writing down your problem onto a piece of paper, going out to the bin, putting it in the bin and physically "take the trash out".

I didn't think this particular method was that original, nor very interesting.

So what's MY method, I don't hear you cry...

I imagine placing mine into a glass bottle, throwing it into the ocean, gradually watching it as the tide washes it out to sea. That's the old romantic in me, I guess...

To blog or not to blog....THAT is the question

Well, well, well (3 holes in the ground)...It's been years since I last updated this blog. During this time, my career as a contractor was cut short by the market crash (that's what happens when you line up your market stalls like dominoes), I now have a cat called Ellie, a kitchen that crosses two international time zones, and a mollusc called Dave. (Ok, so I lied about that last bit...his name is Geoff)

During this time, I have discovered the wonders of marriage, kids, cider (and, as a consequence. my ever expanding waistline). The past few years seem to have become shorter as each year has passed, and death seems to feature more prominently in dreams nowadays then it did back then as I enter "middle age". And how is it that you can be happy in your marriage, happy in your social life and yet feel SO unfulfilled? Is this just unique to me, or do other people go through the same?

This blog was supposed to be my attempt at writing an interesting interlude with a view of perhaps doing some creative writing and maybe taking my career on an alternative path. It didn't work, obviously, and yet here I am years later and older, bashing away (at the keyboard, not physically), closer to the end of my journey (I knew I got the wrong bus!), closer to my closest friends and yet none the wiser as to what to do to fix the mess that is the gaping ache that lies just beneath the surface. Whatever happens, will I EVER feel truly "happy", or is THIS what "happy" IS and I just wasn't listening in class when I was 10 years old!

All of this leads nicely into what has occurred between February 2012 and the present. During February, I found myself walking over London Bridge on my way home from work. Now this wasn't the unusual thing, this was a relatively normal process and a route that I followed pretty much every day. what WAS unusual, was finding myself stopping around half-way across the bridge, peering over the side and looking into the murky water thinking "Yeap - that'll do it". Now this was when I realised that I needed help. I had come down with a rather nasty bout of depression, and this has been pretty much my "journey" since.

A lot of good has come out of seeking help, but I wanted to concentrate initially more on the evils. Having found myself write this poem, I was rather shocked at reading it back afterwards:

Depression - fuck depression,
Has no lifestyle or profession,
Drink cheap beer whilst on a session,
Stuck in my own private recession

Depression - fuck depression,
Lightning bolt - devil's possession
Doesn't hide - has no discretion
And each day passes - no progression

Depression - fuck depression,
Comes to rape me with aggression,
Want to die - helpless expression
Suicide is my confession.

Is that how I REALLY felt, or was I throwing in some imagination into the bargain bucket? The journey has begun...

It's all Going West I tell you!

Recently I gave an opinion on the Go West Forum:

http://gowest.yuku.com

My opinion was about their latest album "futurenow". I was a little negative about it and explained why I felt that it was an average album at best. Boy oh boy, little did I know what I was letting myself in for!

Now it would seem that I have got it wrong after all these years. If you are a "fan" of a particular band, then it is COMPULSORY to like absolutely EVERYTHING that the band do or say from that moment on. It was my understanding that you could have an opinion of your own that wasn't necessarily based on those of other similar like-minded individuals - apparently not.

Once I had been suitably chastised, the thread was locked so that I could speak no more!

And so, to those mad Go West fans that insisted I not only had it wrong, but that I would also burn in hell - I say this:

YOU are part of the reason this country is in the state its in today. How do you sleep at night?

It's Late In The Evening....

It's late in the evening, I can't get it right
had a little row with the wife tonight
Now it's late - its late in the evening
It's late in the evening and I ain't got nothing but the blu-ooh-ooes...

I went down the pub to buy me something to drink...
The barman said to me - hey, boy you sure look pink!
I said "I don't see Strongbow on the menu!"
It's late in the evening and I ain't got nothing but the blu-ooh-ooes...

I went down to the Chinese but hey, it was it shut
I went knocking on the door and then they began to shout:
"Get away from there, boy - don't you know that we're closed?"
It's late in the evening and I ain't got nothing but the blu-ooh-ooes...

Because I had a lot of money when I started out
But some dead beat turned and said that I should spend it on snout
It's late - it's late in the evening....
It's late in the evening and I ain't got nothing but the blu-ooh-ooes...

If Someone went and asked me - what are you gonna do?
I will end up shouting "By christ, I need a poo"...
It's late - it's late in the evening....
It's late in the evening and I ain't got nothing but the blu-ooh-ooes...

Bank Holiday Blues

Has it really been that long since I typed away aimlessly at this blog?. Actually, that's a pretty bloody stupid question, as the answer is so obviously yes, so I was wrong to ask in the first place! Forgive me!

Well, it's Bank Holiday Monday which means that the Banks have an official "holiday" and have to close. What that means for the rest of us sorry bunch is that we get a day off work. "Great" I hear you say. Actually, I don't, nor have I ever heard you say "Great" - that would be a little bit spooky!
It's all very well for those of you in full-time employement, but some of us are CONTRACTORS! (Boo, Hiss!)...Yes, I realise that for some of you, this is a swear word, but some of us ARE contracors, so you better get used to it! And that means we have a FORCED day off work (whether we want one or not!), which means that we DON'T get paid!

So, whilst you whinging permies are supping away on your Pimms enjoying your Bank Holiday, spare a thought for the scumbag contractors - yes, we may be rich, but 500 notes is a lot of money for ANYONE!

A Long time ago in a cinema not so far away...

The Star Wars hype hadn’t quite built up just yet around our area, we were always the last to find out about the latest blockbusters. (The ABC in Romford was hardly in the same realm as the Empire Leicester Square). I really had no idea about what was about unfold in front of very eyes.

I was a scared young lad (I was only 6!) and when the lights went out, I cried my eyes out. My father didn't take well to this, and whacked me and then dragged me into the toilets. Presumably, I felt, to give me a good ticking down. However, he just just whacked me, and my ice lolly felt into the urinal as I cried even more.

Eventually, we made our way back to our seats. When the curtain opened and the 20^th Century Fox Fanfare blasted into play, I knew I was in for something special. The Star Wars theme burst into my ears for the very first time. There was an amazing tingling feeling in my arms and I shuddered with excitement. The “Sense-Surround” sound had magnified the volume somewhat, and I very nearly jumped out of my seat – both scared and excited about what was to happen next. Some people had taken the trouble to actually leave the theatre, as they couldn’t stand the volume. I remember reading some years later that people actually had physical damage done to their ears as a result of this new technological wonder of sound. “Sense-Surround” didn’t hang around in that cinema for very long, but it was great while it lasted!

Once the film was over, I cried again. I wanted to see it again, I just had to take it all in once more. In those days, you used to be able to hang around after a film and see the next showing for free. For some reason or another, the ushers never seemed to be in such a rush to clean up the floors as they are nowadays. My dad wasn’t prepared to hang around though, and he dragged me back outside and walloped me as I cried louder.

That was my very first trip to the pictures with my dad.

Many years later, in my thirties when the Special Editions were released in the cinema, I went to see Star Wars again with my wife. Once the lights went down, and the fanfare started, I found myself back in the Romford ABC, 1977. I had to get out. I managed to last about 10 minutes before I felt almost claustrophobic. The dark was overwhelming and closing in on me. It was a very strange feeling and I couldn’t handle it.

In writing this, it’s immediately apparent that it is difficult to understand what someone can learn from all of this. It was my first furore into the cinema, and to this day I still get a kick out of seeing a film on the big screen. These days though, it’s usually me taking my kids to see the latest animated 3D film. We always stock up on Maltesers, Minstrels and a drink before we see the film.

I never buy them ice lollies though….