questions from a newbie

Hi. I have questions about cider. I have a recipe for Killer Hard Cider that calls for 1 gallon apple juice, 12 oz. concentrate, 1 c white sugar and uses Champagne yeast.

My question is that it came with 2 ways to make it.
One, you ferment to 1.000., prime with 2 1/2 TB sugar, put it in 2 - 2liter bottles, condition for a week and drink.

The second is exactly the same except you just keep it in its primary for 1 month and then drink.

questions: why would you prime with sugar? Won't that start the yeast again?

How would the second recipe turn out?

I noticed in this forum you talk about putting it in the fridge to condition. And you store it in the fridge. Why?

What do you think of this recipe and which directions would you follow? Any answers to my questions would be appreciated.

thanks!

toularat said:

Hi. I have questions about cider. I have a recipe for Killer Hard Cider that calls for 1 gallon apple juice, 12 oz. concentrate, 1 c white sugar and uses Champagne yeast.

My question is that it came with 2 ways to make it.
One, you ferment to 1.000., prime with 2 1/2 TB sugar, put it in 2 - 2liter bottles, condition for a week and drink.

The second is exactly the same except you just keep it in its primary for 1 month and then drink.

questions: why would you prime with sugar? Won't that start the yeast again?

How would the second recipe turn out?

I noticed in this forum you talk about putting it in the fridge to condition. And you store it in the fridge. Why?

What do you think of this recipe and which directions would you follow? Any answers to my questions would be appreciated.

thanks!

Click to expand...

You are right, if you prime it the yeast will eat that as well. This time though it is sealed in a bottle, and becomes carbonated. If you don't do this it will be still. So at this stage it is entirely up to you whether you want it carbonated or not.

If you prime it and carbonate it, keep it at your fermentation temp. It won't carbonate if it's too cold. Let it go a couple weeks at room temp first.

Which one to follow depends on if you want sparkling or still cider, that's entirely a preference.

If it were me and I didn't know my preference, I'd bottle half of it still, then add half the recommend amount of sugar and bottle the other half. That way I could find out!

Oh! I get it.

What if I wanted to sweeten it alittle. At what point would I do that and would I use wine conditioner?

thanks for your replys.

toularat said:

Oh! I get it.

What if I wanted to sweeten it alittle. At what point would I do that and would I use wine conditioner?

thanks for your replys.

Click to expand...

Wine conditioner contains potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfate, which halts fermentation, and sugar to sweeten. If you add this it will sweeten it with the sugar in it, but it will kill fermentation and you will not be able to carbonate it. If you want it still this will work fine.

If you want it carbonated you will need to add a non-fermentable sugar such as lactose (which I have never tried in cider), or something like Splenda (which I don't recommend putting into anything). Hopefully someone that makes more wines and ciders can help with more ideas on this one.

I'm not an experienced wine/cider maker by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want to sweeten it and bottle it still you could always mix a little in a glass with some seltzer to give it a little bubbles.

so, what if I fermented at alittle higher sugar and transferred before the sugar was all the way down. Then put in bottles and let sit to carbonate and would still have some residual sugar left? Would that work? I would not want to risk bottle bombs.

Is that why they are stored in the fridge?

Also, I understand why for the Splenda, but why does everyone not like it?

toularat said:

so, what if I fermented at alittle higher sugar and transferred before the sugar was all the way down. Then put in bottles and let sit to carbonate and would still have some residual sugar left? Would that work? I would not want to risk bottle bombs.

Is that why they are stored in the fridge?

Also, I understand why for the Splenda, but why does everyone not like it?

Click to expand...

If you add more sugar the yeast will ferment it, which will make it more dry, and will therefore be taste less sweet.

If you refrigerate it, fermentation will stop. So you could add too much, carbonate it, and then refrigerate it to stop fermentation before the sugar is gone. That is a bottle bomb waiting to happen.

Splenda is chemically modified (selective chlorination) sugar. There is a lot of controversy over the safety of artificial sweeteners, but one thing that remains is that it is artificial. There really shouldn't be anything wrong with adding it, and I know a lot of people use it.

toularat said:

so, what if I fermented at alittle higher sugar and transferred before the sugar was all the way down. Then put in bottles and let sit to carbonate and would still have some residual sugar left? Would that work? I would not want to risk bottle bombs.

Click to expand...

This isn't risking bottle bombs, it's virtually guaranteeing it. The only safe way to leave residual sugar behind is to use a lower attenuative yeast or non-fermentable sugar. Fermentation doesn't totally stop in the cold environment of the refrigerator, it just slows drastically - but it's still going a little bit. Those bottles will eventually explode unless you drink them quickly.

toularat said:

Also, I understand why for the Splenda, but why does everyone not like it?

Click to expand...

Some people don't like it because it's artificial, I haven't actually used it in a brew. A friend of mine did, said he didn't like the taste it left, but he also thinks priming with corn sugar will make his beer taste like corn, so I don't know how worthwhile that opinion is. Best thing to do would be to make some cider without it, and add a little splenda to a glass. If you like it, you can keep adding it in the glass and add it to the batch next time. If you don't like it, you've ruined one glass instead of a whole batch.

thanks everyone, for your replies.