Questions on secondary

[reiner]

Can I sweeten at the end of secondary before bottling or will it create a lack of flavor being mellowed with the cider? Also when's the best time to back carb the cider?

 

[dinnerstick]

what?

 

[reiner]

This is my first time brewing. I found all the pages on cider making said to sweeten the cider as soon as its done with primary fermentation. I do not have the sweetener I wish to use so Will sweetening it at the end of secondary cause an issue?

 

[Pappers_]

I'm not sure of your process - whenever you sweeten the cider, the yeast will eat up all the sugars, when you add it doesn't matter.

I recommend www.makinghardcider.com to new cider makers.

 

[reiner]

Yes I've been there. I'm using a sugar alcohol to sweeten it so the yeast will not eat it. I'm just wondering if adding it before bottling will affect the flavor of the sweetening since it's not "maturing" with the cider. Especially since I'm going for a first time im looking for that quick turn around until I have a lot more going at once to allow for aging while still containing my thirst.

 

[weejub]

I'm by no means an expert - after 5 batches - but my advice would be to back sweeten whenever you want after the primary, but you need to monitor the sweetness you want to achieve. I think the wife and I prefer a cider at ~1.04 SG. That means we come in at ~1.05 and bottle condition for a week to get some CO2. I then run the bottles through the dishwasher to pasteurize.

I am going to do a new write up of my current recipe.

 

[reiner]

That's actually a pretty brilliant idea on the dishwasher. But don't you risk creating too much pressure and exploding the bottles from the heat?

Is it common to pasteurize at the end? Even if you're starting with pasteurized cider and have sanitized the whole way?

 

[weejub]

At one week of bottle conditioning (i.e. putting back-sweetened cider in bottles and letting them sit in my basement) I had no issues.

At three weeks, I had a bunch of leakage from the bottles while in the dishwasher. I lost maybe an inch or two of cider in a 22oz bottle that seeped out during the washing, on average. Luckily, I had no blow ups or caps come off.

Also, at three weeks, the cider was SUPER sparkling - more so than any champagne I have seen/tried. It would pour with a huge head and just went nuts - too much for me. It also went very dry while doing that - I think ~1.00 SG

I would suggest either using a secondary and get it to the SG you want or just bottle it VERY near the SG you want and then wash them in < 2 weeks.

 

[Headley_Lamarr]

Reiner - the thought process behind pasteurization in the dishwasher is to kill any active yeast to prevent bottle bombs in the sparkling cider. The original pasteurization of the apple juice is to kill any nasties in it prior to you drinking it.