New to Cider making looking for some help

[wegchef]

Here's my cider recipe:

3 gal fresh cider
3# granulated sugar
3 pkts dry champagne yeast

SG 1.096
FG 0.096

All seems pretty accurate so far. Fermentation stopped after about 10 days. Appearance is crystal clear with a very slight hint of yellow. My issue is that I wanted a dry cider but this a bit too dry and has very little apple flavor. Ive heard about back sweetening, I'm wondering if someone can elaborate on how to do so. Also is there anyway to add a bit more apple flavor to it? My next move was to dry hop with 2 oz of hops and add some brandy soaked sour cherries(Maybe craisins or raisins might be a better choice. I dont want to bitter this anymore than it already is). Should I adjust the flavor of the cider before moving to the secondary? Thanks for the help.

 

[Mozart]

I am not an expert on cider by any means, but I'll try to answer what I can.

Back sweetening is simply adding unfermentable sugar to the cider after primary fermentation is completed. Unfermantable sugars I'm immediately aware of include stevia and Splenda, but I'm sure there may be others. There may be other backsweetening methods as well, but again, I don't have much cider experience.

As for adding more apple flavor, I haven't tried to make adjustments after primary fermentation is complete, so can't speak to that. What I'd consider trying on my next batch would be to back off on the granulated sugar and substitute with perhaps some frozen concentrated apple juice.

Good luck!

 

[snuesen]

1 packet of dry yeast is sufficient for up to like 7 gallons so you had some overkill there!

Reason for adding hops? If you don't want it bitter then hops aren't of help lol.

Easiest way to backsweeten is let the ferment finish (and you will know this not by the lack of bubbles but a stable gravity reading for 3 consecutive days), then add sorbate and sulfite (plenty of info on them in the forums), then add sugars to taste. It could come from brown sugar, honey, apple juice/concentrate, etc. Making it sweeter can help bring out some of the "apple".

For now, I would let the yeast clean up a bit, then rack, then modify it until it's what you desire. Keep in mind a little can go a long way with some ingredients.

 

[wegchef]

I used 3 packets of yeast because my cider I purchased had sorbate in it. So the 3 pkts of yeast was enough to ward off the sorbate. So I should add more sorbate to kill off the live yeast again. Then add sugar to sweeten to taste am I correct in this?

 

[Redking]

I used 3 packets of yeast because my cider I purchased had sorbate in it. So the 3 pkts of yeast was enough to ward off the sorbate. So I should add more sorbate to kill off the live yeast again. Then add sugar to sweeten to taste am I correct in this?

Do you plan on bottle carbonating? If so, you need live yeast in the bottles. If you want to keg, you can kill the yeast and then force carb. Otherwise, if you want a still cider, just kill the yeast and bottle and voila.