opinions for a newb

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
N

NCGrayson

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
212
Reaction score
5
Location
Wlmington
greetings all....

I am new to the cider game, but I want to make something tasty so the gf can enjoy some homemade beverages with me.

Currently, I have my first batch of cider happily fermenting in a 1 gallon jug. It is simply 1 gallon of store-bought, 100% pasteurized apple juice with no additives. Simple champagne yeast per the LHBS's recommendation. Now i'm worried that the champagne yeast will ferment it completey dry, and I know she will want something sweeter.

Heres an idea i have that I would like some suggestions with. I'm going to let it ferment out until completion. After it's done fermenting, I'm thinking of boiling 1 can of concentrate and a cup or two of light brown sugar, and then add it to backsweeten. Then....will 1 campden tablet do the job of killing all the champagne yeast so I can bottle? I know we will want a still cider, so I don't want any bottle conditioning......should I pasteurize or use campden tablets? what's the difference there?

Thanks guys/gals
 
NCGrayson said:
greetings all....

I am new to the cider game, but I want to make something tasty so the gf can enjoy some homemade beverages with me.

Currently, I have my first batch of cider happily fermenting in a 1 gallon jug. It is simply 1 gallon of store-bought, 100% pasteurized apple juice with no additives. Simple champagne yeast per the LHBS's recommendation. Now i'm worried that the champagne yeast will ferment it completey dry, and I know she will want something sweeter.

Heres an idea i have that I would like some suggestions with. I'm going to let it ferment out until completion. After it's done fermenting, I'm thinking of boiling 1 can of concentrate and a cup or two of light brown sugar, and then add it to backsweeten. Then....will 1 campden tablet do the job of killing all the champagne yeast so I can bottle? I know we will want a still cider, so I don't want any bottle conditioning......should I pasteurize or use campden tablets? what's the difference there?

Thanks guys/gals
Click to expand...

First the champagne yeast will ferment out to complete dryness...

Second don't boil your juice or concentrate. Can't recall why, something about the pectins.

Camden tabs will kill your yeast as will pasteurizing, pasteurizing is used when your bottle conditioning, and is a lot more intensive. If you want a still cider, save yourself the headache and just use the tabs.
 
Or, if you want a sparkling cider without the hassle of pasteurizing, you could prime with fermentable sugar as you would beer then add non fermentable sweetener on top (Splenda, saccharin, etc.) to sweeten.

The EdWort Apfelwein threads have lots of advice on backsweetening, and your cider would prob be pretty similar to that (without the additional dextrose he adds at the start)

Or you could just add the Splenda and not worry about carbonating it.
 
A can of concentrate and a couple cups of sugar will be really sweet! But if that's what you are going for then go for it!
 
I ferment dry then add only enough sugar to bottle condition. I still would describe the end result as semi-sweet. Splenda or concentrate or sugar then pasteurize would give a very sweet result in my opinion.
 
Campden tablets will not kill champagne yeast or 99% of commercial yeast for that matter. To in inhibit fermentation you can either pasteurize, or rack/filter off the lees and add sorbates and sulfites (aka campden/Kmeta/SO2). If you stabilize chemically you will not be able to carbonate the cider without a kegging setup.
 
I want a sweet, still cider. So the best thing to do is backsweeten, bottle, then pasteurize to kill all my yeast so I don't carbonate and make bottle bombs correct?
 
NCGrayson said:
I want a sweet, still cider. So the best thing to do is backsweeten, bottle, then pasteurize to kill all my yeast so I don't carbonate and make bottle bombs correct?
Click to expand...

Bingo! Some people even pasteurize the entire batch in a brew kettle before bottling, the result is the same as pasteurizing right after bottling.

steinsato said:
How do you plan on pasteurizing it?
Click to expand...

Stove top pasteurization is a common technique used in cider making. Check out the sticky at the top of this section for a more information.
 
thanks LeBetron, I was curious if i could just batch pasteurize instead of bottle pasteurize. i'm only doing a 1 gallon batch so i should have no problem fitting my 1 gallon glass jug in a pot and pasteurizing.
 

Similar threads

F
Treating cider before backsweetening
Replies
3
Views
481
Fixerman
F
F
A few questions on treating, force carbonating and bottling temps
Replies
4
Views
640
Fixerman
F
adnanthemadman
How I rack my cider without wasting good cider at the bottom
Replies
1
Views
656
bernardsmith
bernardsmith
tcorsetti
Cloudy, yellow cider....Is it contaminated?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Hoppy2bmerry
Hoppy2bmerry
P
Next steps
Replies
9
Views
660
Chalkyt
Chalkyt
Yakima 300

Latest posts

Back
Top