Get Your Grubby Mitts Off My Lactose!

I swear, no matter what I do, my cider finishes at 1.002 or lower. Amazing! This time, I added half a pound of lactose along with the dextrose, and pitched Forbidden Fruit yeast.

Took SG reading last night, 1.002.

Whatever, it'll still be good cider, and I may try to back-sweeten it somehow, but damn...you'd think that half a pound of lactose would have added SOMETHING. Meh. I like dry cider, just thought it'd be nice to try a slightly sweeter one.

The good news is that the gallon I separated off into another container is nice and pellicle-ey right now. yay lactobacillus!

Was this a five gallon batch? I believe a half pound of lactose only adds about 4 points of gravity in a five gallon batch. Look at the bright side, your gravity probably would have been 0.998 without it.

EVAN! You keg....stabilize and back-sweeten with honey or something. No need to not to if you're not going to bottle carb.

BigKahuna said:

No need to not to if you're not going to bottle carb.

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Huh??? Are we typing too fast or hitting the mead a little early today?

To get my cider a little sweeter last year, I waited until it hit about 1.005, then racked to a keg, added wine conditioner (sweeter plus sorbate), apple juice concentrate, and gelatin to clear it, then crash cooled the keg. It stopped fermenting and was nice and sweet. First couple pours were cloudy, but cleared up quick.

GinKings said:

Huh??? Are we typing too fast or hitting the mead a little early today?

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NO need to keep the yeast active if you're not going to bottle carb...it was a pretty simple statement....COFFEE man...It's not even 10 am!

BigKahuna said:

NO need to keep the yeast active if you're not going to bottle carb...it was a pretty simple statement....COFFEE man...It's not even 10 am!

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Sometime it's the simplest of english statements that confuse us most when sober.

Coffee? Riiiiight, with a distinct aroma of Baileys no less.

yeah, I usually bottle my cider so I can keep it for a long time, but I might just keg this batch. We'll see.

I've added a pound of lactose to 2.5 gallons of hard lemonade and I still couldn't taste it. I want to say the gravity was like 1.006-1.007, but don't know for certain. Stupid sweetness.

Evan! said:

yeah, I usually bottle my cider so I can keep it for a long time, but I might just keg this batch. We'll see.

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BMBF? That's what I'm doing with My Braggot...because I think i'll be a bit low on yeast content to actually carb.

BigKahuna said:

BMBF? That's what I'm doing with My Braggot...because I think i'll be a bit low on yeast content to actually carb.

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Yep, I know. Might do that instead.

I always ferment dry and then back sweeten with bench trials. IMO much easier that way.