Adding apple juice after primary

[chadcossette]

I want to back sweeten, and carbonate a one gallon jug with apple juice. Will my left over yeast eat up all my sugar to carbonate, and leave me with a carbonated result that's not sweet? I'd like to sweeten with an apple taste. In other words, if I add apple juice to my fermented cider, will I lose my apple taste during the carbonation process? I'm using a small plastic pop bottle to feel out my carb levels. This is my first batch.

 

[LeBreton]

When back-sweetening for a sweet, sparking cider you should add more juice to taste, then take a hydrometer reading. Next add about 0.003-0.004 points more juice to account for what the yeast will consume during carbonation. Bottle as normal and fill your soda bottle midway though. Once the soda bottle is nice and firm, it's time to either coldcrash your bottles in the fridge until you want to drink them, or pasteurize the bottles on the stove. This way you have a nice level of carbonation and your sweetness is right where you originally wanted it to be. If you don't crash, pasteurize, or halt the yeast in some way you will end up with over carbonated, dry cider at best, and bottle bombs at worst.

 

[chadcossette]

Perfect. so in a nutshell, you're saying that carbonation will cost me about .003 to .004 points and the rest will leave me with a sweet after taste?

 

[LeBreton]

Exactly.