Apple Cider Gone Wrong.

[Hanna Anderson]

Hello.

This was my first attempt at making Apple cider - the problem is that it's completely dry with a way higher ABV than I wanted.

These are the steps I took.

I sterilized a 5 gallon fermentation bucket with star San.

Added two gallons of Mott's Apple juice and added 4 lbs of sugar.

I hydrated the yeast as the packaging recommended. The yeast I used was EC-1118. I added the whole 5g pack.

What I found strange is that after about nine days the activity slowed to a complete crawl and after 14 days it would seem that it was done. I had assumed this would take a month, I then cyphered into another 5 gallon sterilized bucket.

The problem: It's completely dry, no sweetness whatsoever and the alcohol would seem to be at 15% or higher (I have a hydrometer on order) so I can't be sure but it's way stronger than what I wanted.

I wanted something about 8% ABV with some sweetness. Do you think I may have added too much yeast or sugar?

I can add sugar and more juice after the fact but I'm afraid that fermentation may start again after I bottle, which leads me to another question, will two crushed Campden tablets completely stop fermentation so I don't have to worry about my bottles blowing up?

What about Bedonite, is this something that I should also order, I've also got a wine whip on order for degassing..

Thanks for any tips or tricks you can offer, I probably should have started out with a kit I think... I believe this will may a great hobby when I get the right equipment and learn the fundamentals..

Thanks again.

 

[MarkKF]

You added sugar of course the alcohol is too high. No added sugar will give you around 6% ABV. It is next to impossible (for a newbie) to stop apple juice fermentation before dry. If you want sweetness add FAJC or sugar afterwards.

 

[bmd2k1]

Try a yeast like S04 that cold crashes well & has lower alcohol tolerance - 10%

2nd the FAJC rather than sugar....more apple flavor & much less harsh [emoji106][emoji111]

 

[MarkKF]

I forgot to mention yeast selection. Some stop less dry. Also some strip away apple flavor - leaving a more dry taste. But unless you plan on putting your fermenter in a fridge cold crashing isn’t as important.

Also read this top to bottom twice -

 

[MarkKF]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/cider-for-beginners.508303/

 

[dmtaylor]

With 4 lbs sugar added, you've made something close to apple flavored prison hooch. Add just a few ounces of sugar next time if desired... or none at all, which is my preference.

You seriously might just want to water this batch down, or blend with a new unsugared batch, to bring the alcohol level down.

Campden will NOT stop the fermentation. I repeat... Campden will NOT stop it.

I do not advocate the use of any chemicals or bentonite in cider. Just is not necessary. The one additive that I do recommend...

Use xylitol to sweeten. It is sweet and tastes exactly like sugar, but it will not ferment. Just be careful with xylitol as it is lethal poison to pets. In high amounts it can cause diarrhea in humans, but if just having one or two glasses of cider with xylitol, personally I have never had a problem. I just keep it away from the dogs.

 

[jrgtr42]

If you add Campden (in sufficient quantity - I think a tablet a gallon) during to fermenting cider, it will stop what's going on.
However, the second you add more yeast, it'll start up again. You'd end up with still cider.
The biggest issue is the amount of sugar you added - that is major boost to fermentables and therefore Abv.
There are some sugars that are not fermentable - zylitol, as someone mentioned above, Lactose is often used in brewing for this as well - just make sure there are no dairy allergies around - and a couple others. Don't use artificial sweeteners - yuck.
As others have said, either water this batch down or call it a learning experiment and lost cause and dump it.
Personally I prefer my cider really dry - I feel like it's more like apple juice if it's too sweet.

 

[MarkKF]

If you add Campden (in sufficient quantity - I think a tablet a gallon) during to fermenting cider, it will stop what's going on.

This is just not true. Camden alone inhibits reproduction for a short period of time. Active fermentation will not stop. Even complete fermentation will restart if more sugar (juice) is added.

 

[Hanna Anderson]

Thanks for all of the help. Looks as though I really over did it with the sugar - I chose two cups perhaps we because my brother had made a gallon of blackerry wine some years back, I believe he just crushed the berries and added a cup of sugar and let the wild yeast do it's thing, I remember telling him had he added another cup of sugar it would have been awesome so I went with two cups per gallon.

I just read about EC-1118 That seems to be a very agresive yeast known for producing ABV of up to 18% which I would guess is what I have, didn't realize that yeast types were so different. Live and learn.

If the Campden doesn't kill all of the yeast, is pasteuriseing the only way to do this? I don't want to have exploding bottles..

Again, thanks for all of your help.

 

[1GallonNoob]

There is a huge difference between blackberry wine and cider.

When you make berry wine, you can easily add 2 lbs or more of sugar to one gallon, for a number of reasons.
When making berry wine, you will be adding a lot of water to the must. There is not a lot of sugar, but lots of flavour and acidity occuring naturally in the berries. So you need to dilute the flavour and acidity with water, and add sugar so there is something for the yeast to make alcohol from. The must is probably 60% water or more, that needs sweetening, less than 40% berry juice.

The cider must is pure apple juice, and will have much more sugar naturally.

You write that you brew two gallons in a 5 gallon container.
That leaves a lot of air in the container, which can spoil the produce.
You can probably do a primary fermentation in it for a couple of weeks, but I think you should rack in into two 1 gallon containers for the secondary fermentation.

 

[bracconiere]

i add 4lb's of sugar to 10 gallons of juice......

 

[bracconiere]

so I went with two cups per gallon.

cups or lb's?

 

[blasterooni]

My 2 cents: Rack it to secondary using two sterilized 1 gallon jugs, add 1 campden tablet to each and let it rest for a week or two, with an airlock. Then, I would use a bottle conditioning calculator to calculate how much priming sugar to add for bottling (you can use FAJC instead of sugar, just do the math to equate the amount of priming sugar to the amount of sugar in the FAJC. Using FAJC will give your cider the apple flavor you'll want; works great) . I also use CBC-1 yeast for bottle carbing. I also like my cider at 2.5-3 vols of CO2. When you bottle your cider, fill one screw top plastic bottle, and put the rest in glass bottles. I like using flip top growlers, or 750ml bottles than accept a crimp cap. Once the plastic bottle is hard, your fermentation is complete and your cider is carbonated, and in my experience it will have a little sweetness as well (you could add xylitol at bottling as well if you like for added sweetness, I used it once and didn't care for it). Then, you can pasteurize your bottled cider to kill off the yeast and stop fermentation. I haven't had any bottle bombs yet, and I don't pasteurize, however, we drink it up pretty quickly.

Another thing you can do, is when you transfer to secondary, you can dry hop it with say citra hops. I found that citra added a nice fruity sweetness to my dry cider. The hoppiness doesn't seem to stick around for a long time though, but I like it. I add more than what is recommended, maybe I just like it strong.

Some one said "dump it." DON'T DUMP IT. Another option is you can also add FAJC to your glass of dry cider, mess around with amounts of FAJC, or any other sweetener for that matter.

Nota Bene: It is important to have and use a hydrometer so you know just how much sugar is in your cider when it comes to bottling.

Cider is a lot of fun, because, even though you may think you messed it up, there are so many ways to fix it; its very forgiving in my experience, a mess up often turns into a happy accident as Bob Ross would say

Happy Cider Making! (technically, we cider makers, don't "brew..."

 

[madscientist451]

The problem: It's completely dry, no sweetness whatsoever and the alcohol would seem to be at 15% or higher (I have a hydrometer on order) so I can't be sure but it's way stronger than what I wanted.

Hi Hanna, thanks for posting on HBT.
I've been making cider for a while now and have had my ups and downs....
here's what I would do with the cider you describe:
dry, not much flavor, high alcohol.
-get some half gallon glass jugs or recycle some 1.5L screw top wine bottles, siphon the cider in and let it sit about 6 months. You can add sulfites, or Campden tablets at racking, or skip it, your high ABV will deter spoilage.
The cider will clear on its own and time will help soften any harsh alcohol notes.
If its still harsh in 6 months, lay it back and come back to it in a year or longer.
After aging, use your cider as a cocktail ingredient. Add carbonated flavored waters like berry or orange, mix with frozen apple juice concentrate or other fruit juices and even try putting a few ounces into a light lager beer like Bud Light.
In the future, skip the Mott's apple juice and try to find some fresh pressed juice at a local orchard or look for "Simply Apple" at your supermarket. Basically, start with the best ingredients you can get your hands on.
Avoid adding sugar, if you want to boost ABV, use frozen apple juice concentrate.
Wine yeast will generally produce a very dry, sometimes tasteless cider.
I like Brewer's Best Cider House Select yeast or WL 002 beer yeast.
Good Luck!

 

[MarkKF]

If the Campden doesn't kill all of the yeast, is pasteuriseing the only way to do this? I don't want to have exploding bottles..

Again, thanks for all of your help.

Yes - It is the the best method. If fermentation is done and cider has cleared you can treat with K-Meta and Sorbate to prevent a restart. But that doesn't work with a lot of yeast still in suspension. See the sticky for stove top pasteurization - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-with-pics.193295/