Need help with a raspberry cider batch

I started a 5 gallon batch of raspberry apple cider a little over a month ago. Took a taste today and found that it is extremely tart. I believe that the raspberry puree I used may have been too much, the ingredients I used were:

4 gallons of organic apple juice
1qt. of raspberry puree
1 packet of Red Star Montrachet yeast
2lbs. of brown sugar

Now I have two questions:
1. Was a quart of puree too much for 5 gallons?
2. What can I do to salvage this batch in regards to knocking the tartness down a notch and get it a bit sweeter?

They make a chalk that can be gotten at brew supply places, but I have always had good luck with baking soda. it doesn't take much. I would try it first with a small sample and see if you can get the taste where you want it.

any cider that ferments all the way to dry is going to be tart, raspberries or not. don't know how much a quart is, but it sounds like a very odd measurement; i would avoid it next time and go metric.
sarcastic idiocy aside, my advice, take it or leave it, is: let ir get as clear as you want it to get, rack it off to a bucket. sweeten with something sweet; concentrated apple juice, dissolved+boiled sugar, whatever. add the sweetener slowly, mix very well since it will sink to the bottom even though it's liquid, taste it often, when it tastes how you like it (very sour + a bit sweet makes a great combination imo) bottle it. read and carefully execute the stovetop pasteurizing thread/technique, following the advice carefully so as to avoid blowing your face off, losing all the cider, and feeling compelled to come back on this website and complain what a benjamin dover you've been taking advice from a bunch of apple vinegar soaked boozebags.
another option is let it age for a long time, tart young ciders really do mellow but it takes many months. good luck

With what you listed, it seems you made apfelwein not cider. Albeit they are both made from apple juice I don't think they are the same. With that much sugar you are probably going to have to let it age for quite some time before it mellows out.

My personal opinion would be to rack it into a glass carboy, add an airlock and forget about it for a 3-6 months. And then there's always the option of back sweetening with a non-fermentable sugar and go ahead and bottle it now.

dinnerstick said:

any cider that ferments all the way to dry is going to be tart, raspberries or not. don't know how much a quart is, but it sounds like a very odd measurement.

Click to expand...

Quart is 1/4 gallon. It's measurement is close enough to a liter to be effective. I'm not a metric bigot but since I've started measuring in liters and grams in brewing, I wholeheartedly agree with dinnerstick about its ease of my headaches. Don't let my American friends know so they can't stone me for saying that.

another option is let it age for a long time, tart young ciders really do mellow but it takes many months.

Click to expand...

With my first batch of cider, I sweetened it to taste and bottle conditioned then pasteurized. After a couple of months though as it mellowed the Apple flavor is starting to come back and its almost too sweet for me. Keep this in mind when backsweetening . It's easier to add sweet than to take it out later.

Pickled_Pepper said:

With what you listed, it seems you made apfelwein not cider. Albeit they are both made from apple juice I don't think they are the same. With that much sugar you are probably going to have to let it age for quite some time before it mellows out.

My personal opinion would be to rack it into a glass carboy, add an airlock and forget about it for a 3-6 months. And then there's always the option of back sweetening with a non-fermentable sugar and go ahead and bottle it now.

Click to expand...

Is aging in the carboy just as good as bottling, pastuerizing and letting it age in the six packs

It should age the same either way. I've never pasteurized, so I can't comment on that part. I just choose to keep it all together in a carboy.

yeah, pasteurizing would be utterly pointless unless you had sweetened it, i say if possible age in the carboy (better buffered against change in temp, for one) but really do whichever is convenient, especially if you need the carboy, then age in bottles. on that note, this is more aimed at the original poster, if you have never before taken a sharp nasty young cider and stuck it away for a good few months, i recommend trying it at least once, if you are going to sweeten this cider why not also bottle a few unsweetened and stash them until next autumn's apple harvest time, you will be blown away by how much it has changed.
divi2323- i did the same thing once, sweetened a cherry cider until it was syrupy, now it's horrid. the lesson? don't get pasted before bottling. this sweet stuff goes into my wassail/mulled hot cider with a chopped up orange and some cloves etc.

I'm tempted to take my next batch and mix it and bottle as is, its so sweet. If it was half as sweet, it would be perfect. Have to wonder at what datapoint on the timeline of aging will it stop sweetening or mellowing to be noticeable.

I've made a whole batch that I'm going to bottle and carb dry and tuck it away for a while and see if I can finally kick the sweet tooth.