I am considering brewing up a cider recipe for SWMBO, however she is not a big fan of that dryness offten associated with something 100% fermentable like apple juice.(correct me if I'm wrong) I have heard of back sweetening with lactose, or splenda, but don't know how the process works. When do you ad your unfermentable's like lactose, or whatever else you would use, and are there other options as far as unfermentable sugars?
Back sweetening???
- Thread starter moorerm04
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Hi Mo - there is a cider forum here on HBT, where you might enjoy poking around. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/
Cider is different than beer, in that the yeast will always eat through all the available sugars, so the cider will go to dry, as you know. But that also impacts the issue of whether the cider is sparkling or still, and if sparkling, will you be using force carbonation or bottle conditioning.
If you want to do a semi-sweet sparkling cider in the bottle, I'd suggest you look at two places. First, www.makinghardcider.com is a great resource for new cider makers. She gives great instructions for backsweetening with xylitol and also adding some natural apple flavoring.
A second option is to use a stove-top pasteurizing method, to stop the fermentation in your bottles when they are at the right level of carbonation and dry/sweet. There is a sticky in the cider forum about this at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/ and you can read a brief explanation of how I make a light semi-dry sparkling cider at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Apple-Cider.html
If you are doing a still cider, then its much easier. I recently made a nice pomegranate apple cider, still, semi-dry and corked in wine bottles. I used a backsweetening method - let the cider ferment dry, stop the yeast with additives, and backsweeten with 100% pomegranate juice.
You can see more about it at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Pomegranate-Apple-Cider.html
Cider is different than beer, in that the yeast will always eat through all the available sugars, so the cider will go to dry, as you know. But that also impacts the issue of whether the cider is sparkling or still, and if sparkling, will you be using force carbonation or bottle conditioning.
If you want to do a semi-sweet sparkling cider in the bottle, I'd suggest you look at two places. First, www.makinghardcider.com is a great resource for new cider makers. She gives great instructions for backsweetening with xylitol and also adding some natural apple flavoring.
A second option is to use a stove-top pasteurizing method, to stop the fermentation in your bottles when they are at the right level of carbonation and dry/sweet. There is a sticky in the cider forum about this at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/ and you can read a brief explanation of how I make a light semi-dry sparkling cider at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Apple-Cider.html
If you are doing a still cider, then its much easier. I recently made a nice pomegranate apple cider, still, semi-dry and corked in wine bottles. I used a backsweetening method - let the cider ferment dry, stop the yeast with additives, and backsweeten with 100% pomegranate juice.
You can see more about it at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/Pomegranate-Apple-Cider.html
jpar345
Well-Known Member
Just bottled my first batch which is apple cider. Mixed a cup and a half of Splenda before bottling, turned out ok. Hoping it clarifies and ages well in the bottles.
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