McHaven
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone, I've been researching the hell out of cider making, but I want to make sure it all sounds alright to the more experienced around here.
The girlfriend wanted cider. Sweet sparkling cider. So I decided I would make her some.
Since East Texas isn't exactly a land of orchards, I had to use store bought juice. I bought 4 gallons of Musselman's Cider (not from concentrate, pasteurized but no preservatives.) I put this into my carboy, added my Wyeast Cider Activator pack and added a half pound of brown sugar. It has been fermenting for about ten days now. Bubbling has stopped, but I haven't taken a gravity reading yet.
My plan is to put the cider into secondary at the end of the month. I am going to sweeten to taste with Xylitol before I close up the secondary fermenter. I will then leave it in secondary for 2 months. At bottling time, I plan on making a small priming sugar mixture (like I do for brewing) and bottling it that way.
I suppose my questions are:
1. SHould I add more sugar now? Was a half pound not enough at the beginning of fermentation?
2. I planned on using xylitol since its recommended at makinghardcider.com. Is there another nonfermentable I should be using?
3. Is the priming sugar option still safe for cider? Or will even that give me bottle bombs?
The goal cider is a crisp, but sweet, carbonated cider. Sadly, she likes Woodchuck and Strongbow a lot, so I imagine I'll need a big bag of Xylitol.
Thanks
Mick
The girlfriend wanted cider. Sweet sparkling cider. So I decided I would make her some.
Since East Texas isn't exactly a land of orchards, I had to use store bought juice. I bought 4 gallons of Musselman's Cider (not from concentrate, pasteurized but no preservatives.) I put this into my carboy, added my Wyeast Cider Activator pack and added a half pound of brown sugar. It has been fermenting for about ten days now. Bubbling has stopped, but I haven't taken a gravity reading yet.
My plan is to put the cider into secondary at the end of the month. I am going to sweeten to taste with Xylitol before I close up the secondary fermenter. I will then leave it in secondary for 2 months. At bottling time, I plan on making a small priming sugar mixture (like I do for brewing) and bottling it that way.
I suppose my questions are:
1. SHould I add more sugar now? Was a half pound not enough at the beginning of fermentation?
2. I planned on using xylitol since its recommended at makinghardcider.com. Is there another nonfermentable I should be using?
3. Is the priming sugar option still safe for cider? Or will even that give me bottle bombs?
The goal cider is a crisp, but sweet, carbonated cider. Sadly, she likes Woodchuck and Strongbow a lot, so I imagine I'll need a big bag of Xylitol.
Thanks
Mick