Question on whether to re-brew (if there is such a thing) Or Dilute???

[damohonda]

Hello,
To cut a long story short My partner and I brewed a batch of cider and added erythritol to sweeten.
Our first batch was great and between us we somehow managed to mis-calculate the amount of sweetner we had to put in on the 2nd batch and it came out too sweet.
Its all bottled but if we open it, in order for it to taste palatable we need to add 250ml Fizzy water to every litre of cider. Perhaps even apple juice.

However I have a question.. Has anybody every tried the following.... Stick all the cider back into a brewing bucket, add 250ml of water or apple juice for every litre plus extra sugar to make up for lost alcohol volume and then some yeast... I am guessing it will have the effect of re-brewing the apple juice + the sugar and the end product would be a lesser sweet version of more or less the same product...

Is this doable do ya think?

 

[CKuhns]

I would think its doable. But much too complex for me.

I would start another batch of cider, drive it dry and blend with your too sweet existing. (Double the fun!)

 

[Transamguy77]

I would just brew another batch and let it ferment way dry and then blend the 2 together

 

[damohonda]

I'm in no position to start anoter batch of cider, we have no apples left...

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I'd be concerned about introducing unwanted items (infection) and/or oxygen to stale the cider.

 

[Transamguy77]

I'm in no position to start anoter batch of cider, we have no apples left...

Just go get a couple of gallons of juice from the store and add some yeast and let it ferment. And then you can blend to taste.

I'd be concerned about introducing unwanted items (infection) and/or oxygen to stale the cider.

It’s not any different then racking into a bottling bucket before you bottle.

 

[jseyfert3]

However I have a question.. Has anybody every tried the following.... Stick all the cider back into a brewing bucket, add 250ml of water or apple juice for every litre plus extra sugar to make up for lost alcohol volume and then some yeast... I am guessing it will have the effect of re-brewing the apple juice + the sugar and the end product would be a lesser sweet version of more or less the same product...

I don’t think I’d add any water and sugar. That will cut the body of the cider. As others have said, I’d try this by brewing a batch of cider to dry (with store bought juice and mixing. Try mixing small amounts to figure out ratios, don’t mix the entire batch.

On second thought since you’ve got this in bottles already mixing with juice in a fermenter would have the benefit of pulling out the oxygen from the existing cider you’re sure to introduce when pulling the cider out of individual bottles. So that is a pro. Downside is you’re just guessing on how much juice to mix in to get the sweetness you want.

It’s not any different then racking into a bottling bucket before you bottle.

Which is the primary way oxygen is introduced into finished cider/beer, usually. By mixing two batches then you’re doing this step twice, so you have the oxygen from the first racking/bottling, plus the oxygen from the second racking/bottling. And probably a lot more on the second, cause getting the cider out of bottles without adding a lot oxygen will be difficult.

A decent number of the beer guys who keg eventually stop racking even into kegs and do closed transfers from fermenter to a keg previously purged of oxygen to avoid oxygenation of beer in this step. I plan on eventually doing this for my beer/cider.

 

[cmac62]

I'm in no position to start anoter batch of cider, we have no apples left...

Since you are going totally dry the juice/cider is less important if you are going to mix, but my first thought was just keep the seltzer handy when you drink it. that would be the easiest thing. Make the corrections on the next batch.

 

[Transamguy77]

So I just reread the OP’s post and I didn’t realize that the cider was already bottled (don’t know how, well I do it was too many stouts....) anyway now I get all fuss about oxygen.

At this point I would just brew the other batch let it finish and bottle it and then since you know how much you need to add just add that amount of the dry Cider to the sweetened cider when you drink it then your not blending and introducing all the oxygen. Downside is your going to have to wait now until the other cider is done. Upside is you could double the batch and then add fruit or something to the other half and experiment a little.