Sweet-her Cider Recipe

RedHeadBrew25 · 10-28-2009, 08:38 PM

Ok fellas enough word play, down to business....I have been doing my research on ciders and have come to the following conclusions about a recipe for making a sweet, bottle carb'ed cider for the lady of the house:

5 gals apple juice
1-2 lbs of dextrose
S-04 or Notty yeast
(some sort of unfermentable sugar)

I need your help on completing the final piece of this recipe. From what I understand (which isn't much) I need an unfermentable sugar so that it will retain some residual sweetness after it has finished fermenting and still be able to be bottled carb'ed and not make bottle bombs.

But what should I use??? This is where I get confused.

Thanks in advance for all the help!!

**jezter6** · 10-28-2009, 08:43 PM

Splenda.
Lactose (although that will certainly significantly change the taste of the product).

RedHeadBrew25 · 10-28-2009, 11:07 PM

What about malto dextrine, extra light DME, or molasses?

And what would the effects be of the cider for each of these?

Is any better or worse for ciders?

**dunnright00** · 10-28-2009, 11:26 PM

I believe all three of those are ferment-able.

I use Lactose.

RedHeadBrew25 · 10-28-2009, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jezter6

Splenda.
Lactose (although that will certainly significantly change the taste of the product).

What short of change to the taste should I expect if I use Lactose?

wcarter1227 · 10-29-2009, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHeadBrew25

What short of change to the taste should I expect if I use Lactose?

if you use lactose be careful how much you use. i used lactose in my apfelwein once and as it aged and the apple flavor came back out it started to get almost too sweet.

as for the taste it has kind of the same taste as splenda in my opionion

CvilleKevin · 10-29-2009, 12:23 AM

IMHO, nothing that you use to backsweeten is going to taste as good as the original apple sugar. Cider is more like wine than beer in that it tastes better still and natural than carbonated with additives. If you really want carbonated, think about getting a kegging setup. You can usually find them cheap on craigslist. For example: http://martinsburg.craigslist.org/for/1408987960.html

Also - dextrose is not neutral. It finishes a little beery tasting, which is why beer makers consider it to be neutral. If you want something that tastes more like apple sugar, use 2/3 organic cane sugar (light turbinado) and 1/3 dextrose

RedHeadBrew25 · 10-29-2009, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wcarter1227

if you use lactose be careful how much you use. i used lactose in my apfelwein once and as it aged and the apple flavor came back out it started to get almost too sweet.

as for the taste it has kind of the same taste as splenda in my opionion

Wcarter1227, how much lactose did you use? Or how much would be recommended for a 5 gal batch.

RedHeadBrew25 · 10-29-2009, 01:01 AM

Or to pull a 180, would I better off going with a graff? How far off in flavor and visual appearance is a graff from a cider....just never seen it in a glass?

Anyone got some pics?

wcarter1227 · 10-29-2009, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedHeadBrew25

Wcarter1227, how much lactose did you use? Or how much would be recommended for a 5 gal batch.

i think i used 8 oz for a 5 gallon batch. it was drinkable but is very sweet. i making a hard cider right now, im gonna let it ferment dry and then sorbate it and back sweeten with concentrated apple juice.

Cvillekevin has a post about all of his cider experiments, im thinking about cold crashing my next batch having it still but leaving in the apple sugar to have more of an authentic taste, maybe someday ill buy some cornies and they forcecarb but for the time being i have no space.

you could always sorbate it and then backsweeten with apple juice and then use a carbinator cap to add some bubbles also