I have to backsweeten apfelwein...after its been bottled!

My first batch of apfelwein has been in bottles for 6 months. I never tried apfelwein before, I just went with the recipe and thought it would get better after it aged a bit. I opened a bottle and decided that it definitely needs back sweetened. I bought a wine conditioner to do the job. This is my first time using a wine conditioner ever. Is there anything I should be aware of lest I ruin 5 gallons? I should say 10 gallons because I have another 5 ready to bottle as well.

For the batch that is already bottled I think an easier solution would be to mix it with a little 7-up. Adds some carbonation and sweeten it a bit.

Beernip said:

For the batch that is already bottled I think an easier solution would be to mix it with a little 7-up. Adds some carbonation and sweeten it a bit.

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x2 mix with a little sprite or seven up to get a little sweeter in there

One other question I have. When I bottled my first batch, I didn't add any campden tablets because the recipe didn't say anything about adding it. Should I add some campden tablets before adding the wine conditioner?

The wine conditioner is made so that it adds sweetness without fermenting, so there's no need to.

Yeah, the only reason why you would need to add campden tablets would be if you added sugar to the batch (more than 4 oz).

shanecb said:

The wine conditioner is made so that it adds sweetness without fermenting, so there's no need to.

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I would still add campden prior, wine sweetener only contains k-sorbate, which will stop yeast from budding or restarting metabolism, but will not stop fermentation by still metabolically active yeast

its not much extra work to add and adds an extra layer of protection

ryane said:

I would still add campden prior, wine sweetener only contains k-sorbate, which will stop yeast from budding or restarting metabolism, but will not stop fermentation by still metabolically active yeast

its not much extra work to add and adds an extra layer of protection

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Oh ok.. cool. I didn't know it only had k-sorbate.

In that case, you'll want to pitch a campden tablet 48hrs in advance, otherwise the k-sorbate isn't as effective (I can't remember exactly what the campden has to knock out first for the k-sorbate, I'll look it up if interested).

ryane said:

I would still add campden prior, wine sweetener only contains k-sorbate, which will stop yeast from budding or restarting metabolism, but will not stop fermentation by still metabolically active yeast

its not much extra work to add and adds an extra layer of protection

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You don't need to add campden if you're buying wine conditioner and using. It's a mix of sorbate and sulfite, and sugar, so you're fine.

Campden doesn't kill yeast anyway- I wish that myth would die. Sorbate is the important part of inhibiting refermentation.

For a wine that's already bottled, I'd add Sprite to the glass. I would NOT mess with adding wine conditioner, sweetening, and rebottling. No way. That's a huge undertakign.

Thanks for the help. Everything turned out good. I just added the wine conditioner to the apfelwein in the bottling bucket and it tasted alot better. The difference is so great I'm going to take on the task of conditioning the 5 gallons thats already bottled.

YooperBrew said:

Campden doesn't kill yeast anyway- I wish that myth would die. Sorbate is the important part of inhibiting refermentation.

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Quoted for truth!

YooperBrew said:

You don't need to add campden if you're buying wine conditioner and using. It's a mix of sorbate and sulfite, and sugar, so you're fine.

Campden doesn't kill yeast anyway- I wish that myth would die. Sorbate is the important part of inhibiting refermentation.

For a wine that's already bottled, I'd add Sprite to the glass. I would NOT mess with adding wine conditioner, sweetening, and rebottling. No way. That's a huge undertakign.

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I thought wine conditioner only contained sorbate, Ill have to look next time to the lhbs

I agree that campden doest kill all yeast, it will take out a large chunk but a portion can still become active given time, I think adding the campden prior to sorbate (which will stop budding and restarting of metabolism) is a good way to ensure that you knock down as much yeast out of active metabolism that you can

ryane said:

I thought wine conditioner only contained sorbate, Ill have to look next time to the lhbs

I agree that campden doest kill all yeast, it will take out a large chunk but a portion can still become active given time, I think adding the campden prior to sorbate (which will stop budding and restarting of metabolism) is a good way to ensure that you knock down as much yeast out of active metabolism that you can

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My understanding is that campden doesn't kill yeast, period, unless you use such a large dose that it would make the cider unpalatable for a long time. In the "doses" winemakers use, 50 ppm, it doesn't kill yeast. Sorbate doesn't either, of course, but sorbate inhibits yeast reproduction. Wine yeast is quite tolerant of sulfites- that's why we can use them together.

When I'm really looking to knock out some yeast, I always use campden 48 hrs before the sorbate. Not because the campden stops the yeast, but because it inhibits the blah blah that makes the sorbate less effective (or causes on off-flavor or something). I say blah blah because I still can't recall exactly what it was (I THINK it was malic acid...), but this was a rather common practice in mead making. I really don't know if it would be as neccesary for making beer, but it wouldn't necessarily hurt anything.

I haven't been making mead for like a year, and I wish I remembered the specifics but I know there's something. Sorry