To add or not to add raisins?

[aaevan]

Just made my first batch of hard cider, well in the process. Camden tablets, then yeast, five gallons cider, 2lbs brown sugar in a 6.5 gallon bucket for about a week now and it is bubbling away on the airlock.
Questions:
I plan to transfer to a glass carboy soon. How long should I wait to do this? Should I wait until almost all activity has stopped, or just slowed a lot/ How do you know when to transfer it?

The second thing is that I wanted to also add raisins but not to increase alcohol. I would like some sweetness to my cider in the end, so my feeling is that I should not add more sugar now in fermentation. Is this right? If I add raisins in the second phase, in the carboy, will that make it sweeter, or just increase alcohol too? What can I add at the end to make it sweeter when I bottle? How much for five gallons of cider?

Thanks for any help!

 

[harry_the_face]

There is much debate over using a secondary but I don't think it is necessary. So there is no reason to move it unless you are going to bulk age it for more than 3 weeks. Depending on the yeast you used and the starting gravity it might take 3 weeks to finish Fermentation if you are shooting near 1.000 gravity.

For sweetness in the finished product you can back sweeten with more juice, sugar, honey, etc and then bottle and Pasteurize the bottles to keep the yeast from eating up the sugar. When you Pasteurize depends on if you want still or carbonated cider.
You can also use a sweetener that is non fermentable like lactose or Splenda.

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[aaevan]

I was instructed to move it to the anaerobic phase in the carboy so I still might do that. I am planning to let it go for a month or two in the carboy, at least that was what I was advised to do. I know there are so many ways to do this and I appreciate you advise.

Do I need to wait until fermentation is completely stopped before I transfer? And should I add raisins in the second phase or now? I think I will also add some juice at the end when bottling.

Oh! How do I pasteurize? Do you mean heat them as in processing jars?

Thanks so much!

 

[oregonbrew541]

Just made my first batch of hard cider, well in the process. Camden tablets, then yeast, five gallons cider, 2lbs brown sugar in a 6.5 gallon bucket for about a week now and it is bubbling away on the airlock.
Questions:
I plan to transfer to a glass carboy soon. How long should I wait to do this? Should I wait until almost all activity has stopped, or just slowed a lot/ How do you know when to transfer it?

The second thing is that I wanted to also add raisins but not to increase alcohol. I would like some sweetness to my cider in the end, so my feeling is that I should not add more sugar now in fermentation. Is this right? If I add raisins in the second phase, in the carboy, will that make it sweeter, or just increase alcohol too? What can I add at the end to make it sweeter when I bottle? How much for five gallons of cider?

Thanks for any help!

no don't add more sugar that will just ferment more and raise alc you could ferment out to dryness and back sweetening with stevia or splenda(non fermentable sugars) but so you know by using that brown sugar its gonna have some sweetness left as brown sugar has some unfermentable sugars in it. just ferment it all the way and taste it i bet all it needs is some apple juice added to back sweeten and no need to worry about lowering alc with 2 lbs of sugar for five gals your looking at 9% which is pretty high for hard cider

oh and as for the raisins lol hmm i personally don't use them they are typically used for a yeast nutrient but i use a commercial yeast nutrient and an energizer. i split dosage in 1/3 and use three times throughout, once the day after i pitch, a week in, and two weeks in when i transfer to secondary

 

[aaevan]

Do raisins and or maple syrup also have un-fermentable sugars?

Do I need to pasteurize or do anything after I have bottled so the flavor stays sweet enough? If so, how do I do this?

This is very helpful, thanks!

 

[oregonbrew541]

Do raisins and or maple syrup also have un-fermentable sugars?

Do I need to pasteurize or do anything after I have bottled so the flavor stays sweet enough? If so, how do I do this?

This is very helpful, thanks!

raisins aren't for flavor like i stated previously they're a yeast nutrient substitute I've never heard of them being used for flavor.
Yes maple syrup has unfermentables in it the pure kind is all i know about though. some other like aunt jamimas has high fructose corn syrup and flavoring and i don't recommend that. i really don't recommend maple syrup at all. tried it and just was not happy.
As for bottling it depends on whether or not you want it sparkling or still.

 

[fraychineaudj]

Raisins actually do add flavor and mouthfeel and even color. There are some unfermentable sugars in raisins but its not gonna change the alcohol level too much unless you add a ton. As to how much you should add its all about experimenting and finding out what you desire. If u want to taste the raisins i would probably add them while its towards the end of fermentation so the yeast eat some of their sugars and leaves their flavors behind. That may boost EtOH as well. If you put them after ferment you may just get some nose from them and if u leave them long enough, some color.
Check your gravities along the way to get to your desired EtOH level and stop fermentation.
If you have any way of getting ahold of Seattle cider company New England Style Cider, they brew it with brown sugar and raisins. Try it and u can smell and taste the raisins faintly. You could email them and ask what their raisin ratio is. Their good guys and I bet they'll give you some ideas.
Good luck!

 

[harry_the_face]

If you want still you can add the tabs to kill the yeast just before bottling and the yeast will not eat any of the sugar that you add at bottling.
Or
You can Pasteurize using this technique https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=193295

After the cider is to the carb level you want (or of you want still do this instead of using the tabs.)

That being said i have made 2 batches of the Carmel apple hard cider and have had trouble getting it to carb at all. I think it's because I allow the cider to ferment all the way to 1.000 before bottling and most of the yeast has settled out when I bottle meaning there are only a few yeasties doing the carbing.

I highly recommend that you read the Carmel apple hard cider thread because in the 150+ pages they cover ever aspect of cider making.

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[Pickled_Pepper]

I agree with fraychineaudj that raisins do attribute some flavor. I add raisins primarily for nutrients, but it also contributes some tannins for complexity to a bland juice. I typically boil them in some water to make a tea and then add this right before pitching my yeast.

 

[oregonbrew541]

If you want still you can add the tabs to kill the yeast just before bottling and the yeast will not eat any of the sugar that you add at bottling.
Or
You can Pasteurize using this technique https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=193295

After the cider is to the carb level you want (or of you want still do this instead of using the tabs.)

That being said i have made 2 batches of the Carmel apple hard cider and have had trouble getting it to carb at all. I think it's because I allow the cider to ferment all the way to 1.000 before bottling and most of the yeast has settled out when I bottle meaning there are only a few yeasties doing the carbing.

I highly recommend that you read the Carmel apple hard cider thread because in the 150+ pages they cover ever aspect of cider making.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Home Brew mobile app

You should look into repithcing rates for carbonation. heres a link to a document containing information on re-pitching rates. 2nd page 3rd paragraph down.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/AdvancedBottleConditioning.pdf