nukinfuts29

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My Recipes: Drunken Emu Hard Cider, Drunken Emu Mississippi River Water
The Jack Keller Collection

AZ_IPA

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I've neer heard of any recipe that backsweetens without 1) killing the yeast (usually by fermenting dry, then adding campden and potassium sorbate), 2) pasteurizing, 3) cold crashing and keeping cold, 4) using something non-fermentable, or 5) cold crashing & filtering to remove yeast.

Adding more sugar straight to a 6% ABV beverage with still active yeast that tolerates 10%+ ABV is going to result in additional fermentation.

Maybe we're crossing signals with the terminology, but backsweetening is raising the FG without additional fermentation...

nukinfuts29

Recipes 

I'm aware of what it means. At 28 days in the primary, and 14 in the secondary, fermentation should be done (see the FG above). I can't be responsible if someone bottles it early. Sorbate is optional, unless they plan to let it sit around for a long time. Mine never lasts more than a month, though.

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My Recipes: Drunken Emu Hard Cider, Drunken Emu Mississippi River Water
The Jack Keller Collection

AZ_IPA

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fermentation is done, but you have yeast that are sitting around doing nothing and then you add a can of concentrate that is full of sugar....the yeast will eat that new sugar....

Can you show me another recipe that backsweetens using fermentables without doing anything to prevent the live yeast from eating the new sugar?

nukinfuts29

Recipes 

Sure. The first one I ever brewed is actually very close to mine, I just made a few tweaks. I looked it up, and turns out they list it as optional also.

Hard Iced Tea Time - WinePress.US Winemaking and Grape Growing Forum

Here's a hard lemonade, no talk of sorbate there either

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/extra-hard-lemonade-187035/

Don't get me wrong, if I'm doing something wrong I want to know it. It's just that the brew log has about 60 gallons of this since June and I haven't seen a single issue.

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My Recipes: Drunken Emu Hard Cider, Drunken Emu Mississippi River Water
The Jack Keller Collection

AZ_IPA

Recipes 

You're not doing anything wrong, I just don't think you're using the term backsweetening correctly.

You're using 1 can of concentrate for five gallons, correct? If so, it is fermenting, you're just not really noticing it.

Backsweetening is done to raise FG to whatever level; and it can only be done by making sure the yeast don't eat the new sugar (using the methods I mentioned before), or by using non-fermentable sweetners.

The OP in your non-HBT link says when asked And, the HBT linked recipe doesn't include any backsweetening.

I just want you and others to know that adding more fermentables after the fermentation is "done" (without doing anything else) is going to restart fermentation. So, if you end up bottling immediately, you could wind up with bottle bombs (note: like I said before, it shouldn't be an issue with one can of concentrate per 5 gallons).


Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to be critical, and I'm gonna try this recipe

nukinfuts29

Recipes 

You know, I never actually read his thread LOL. I will add a note to the OP to adjust accordingly for smaller recipes. I always brew it at 5 or 10 gallons, explains why I never had any bombs.

In the future, including the current batch, I will probably add sorbate now that I know.

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My Recipes: Drunken Emu Hard Cider, Drunken Emu Mississippi River Water
The Jack Keller Collection

LoneTreeFarms

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any pictures? do you typically bottle this in beer bottles or wine bottles?

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Hangovers are the wrath of Grapes!

nukinfuts29

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Wine bottles cannot handle carbonation, they will explode.

I'll have some pictures of the current batch soon.

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My Recipes: Drunken Emu Hard Cider, Drunken Emu Mississippi River Water
The Jack Keller Collection

LoneTreeFarms

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right i understand that, but if you're doing the campden and sorbate addition, the way i understand it is that you cannot carb the drink afterward. maybe i'm wrong.

so you typically carbonate this when you make it?

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Hangovers are the wrath of Grapes!