How to make super sweet cider/blending

I can not drink Woodchuck anymore. Now that brew my own, Woodchuck is syrupy sweet to me. I dispose of it by blending it with my dry cider and the blend it really good. I would love to make my own super sweet cider and blend it with dry cider. Dry cider is much easier to make than semi dry cider and I'd imagine super sweet cider is easier than dry cider as well. I could make sweet cider, kill the yeast with cambden tabs, let it age and clear up, then blend it with dry cider (adding yeast to the equation in the process) bottle carb and bottle pasteurize. It sounds complicated but it really isn't. The possibilities are also there to spice one or both blends.
So how do I make a Woodchuck sweet cider? Just add sugar and kill it early? How much sugar and what SG would I kill it at?
Scott

have you ever added campden to an active ferment? it's like taping a gerbil to the tracks to stop a freight

i pasteurize a around 1.020 in 32oz bottles after i back-sweeten with apple juice concentrate. each can of concentrate adds about 0.004 gravity points. i add 2 cans to a 5 gallon batch for a finished gravity of 1.028. that tastes just about like woodchuck.

Nope, never stuck a gerbil on train tracks... I have, however, put camben in a 5 gallon batch that was bubbling away. Granted, it was stuck in the primary and when I put it in the secondary, it came back to life. I'm sure it didn't have much left to ferment, but it did stop it. Consequently, I added a little bit of yeast at bottling and it is my best batch so far.
Regardless... So it pretty hard to stop fermentation, eh? Can you OVER cambden a batch?

So how big of a gerbil did you try... Maybe a guinea pig would increase your chances.

im pretty sure you can oversulfite

not sure what it wuold start to taste like? rotten eggs?


you should just cold crash it, rack it, then try sulfiting

or maybe you can just try to bottle pasteurize?

or maybe you coudl even just bring it up to temp in a pot

i believe your best bet is cold crash when it is approaching the desired gravity, then rack carefully off the lees and hit with sulfite and sorbate

Actually twobrian might have hit on it. One gallon jugs can fit in my stock pot. Could I "bottle ferment" a one gallon jug? Let it sit in the secondary to clear and blend with non-pasteurized dry cider (with active yeast), bottle carb and bottle pasteurize again. I would end up with a clear semi-dry cider.

dusty1025 said:

i pasteurize a around 1.020 in 32oz bottles after i back-sweeten with apple juice concentrate. each can of concentrate adds about 0.004 gravity points. i add 2 cans to a 5 gallon batch for a finished gravity of 1.028. that tastes just about like woodchuck.

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Newbie here... how long do you wait till you pasteurize? Do you back sweeten and pasteurize right away or wait a few hours/days? Would love to know since I want to make a woodchuck clone really bad. TIA!

If you are newbie, I would recommend a dry cider first. You will learn a huge amount from doing a dry cider, it will still be very tasty and then try something more complicated. I finally bottle pasteurized on batch 4. Also keep in mind if you want cider real bad, then brewing your own is not a great idea... it takes 2-6 months.
To answer your question... As soon as you reach your desired gravity, then you will have to bottle carb for a week or two or three and then pasteurize.

sashurlow said:

If you are newbie, I would recommend a dry cider first. You will learn a huge amount from doing a dry cider, it will still be very tasty and then try something more complicated. I finally bottle pasteurized on batch 4. Also keep in mind if you want cider real bad, then brewing your own is not a great idea... it takes 2-6 months.
To answer your question... As soon as you reach your desired gravity, then you will have to bottle carb for a week or two or three and then pasteurize.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips!

I had made a raspberry cider about 2 months ago that I just tried this weekend. It was nice but a bit too dry for my liking. I also have another batch of plain cider which is in secondary. Will be sitting there for another 2 months or so.

I should have better worded my question - how can I make sure I don't end up with bottle bombs if I am bottling before the fermentation has ended as
dusty1025 mentioned in the post above. Should I pop up open a bottle everyday until I am satisfied with the carbonation level and then bottle pasteurize them once I am satisfied? Also is it safe to bottle pasteurize when the bottles are carbonated?

What I am trying for (I have read that its really hard to, but I want to try) is to have a sweet, fizzy cider in a bottle. I can't afford a keg, so I have to bottle for now.

Thanks again for all the help!