When do I back-sweeten?

Should I add unfermented juice when I rack into the secondary or when I bottle/keg?

Probably a silly question, but very new to this...

You can backsweeten then if you want. Just be aware that adding fresh sugar to cider/mead will restart fermentation. If you want to backsweeten, you'll need to use sulfite and sorbate to ensure them yeasties won't restart.

My word of advice for beverages like cider is that a perceived sweetness will come back with some aging, thus backsweetening may not be needed. But, assuming you don't want to wait, just backsweeten and enjoy young.

I am about to start my first cider and I wanted to double check some things before I start. I only have one carboy. I want my cider to be still and fairly sweet and not dry but I am unsure when to back sweeten with one carboy or if this is even possible. If I added an unfermentable sugar into the primary would this result in a sweeter final product? Any help would be much appreciated!

You can backsweeten with an unfermentable (splenda). Wait for your cider to ferment, then backsweeten.

phull said:

I am about to start my first cider and I wanted to double check some things before I start. I only have one carboy. I want my cider to be still and fairly sweet and not dry but I am unsure when to back sweeten with one carboy or if this is even possible. If I added an unfermentable sugar into the primary would this result in a sweeter final product? Any help would be much appreciated!

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Like bhambrewer said, you can use an unfermentable sugar if you like. If you want to use honey, just wait for fermentation to be over (a week or two of consistent hydrometer readings), then add sulfite and sorbate. Wait a week, then add your honey. You should be able to do all of this without another carboy/vessel, assuming you have head space to fit the honey you add in.