About to bottle my Cider. Carbonation and back sweetening questions

[paddyb]

My Cider is ready to bottle and I want to carbonate it and add a little back sweetener.

Last year I cabonated with white sugar and back sweetened with Xylitol, which seemed to work well.

I have two questions:

Is there any other type of sugar/sweetener that I can use for carbonation instead of white sugar that would add a little flavour/texture etc? I have some Dark Muscovado (Unfefined Cane Sugar) in the cupboard that might work?

Can I add Xylitol straight to the bottle or do I need to dilute it first? How much per bottle for slightly sweetened cider?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Maylar]

You can prime with any sugar you want - honey, frozen concentrate, etc, you just need to know the quantity to add for your desired carbonation level. There's a calculator on Northern Brewer's web site for how much sugar, and I've seen here on the forum that one can of FAJC works well for 5 gallons.

When I use Xylitol it's 3 TBSP per gallon for my tastes. That's a bit less than 1 TSP per bottle.

 

[paddyb]

You can prime with any sugar you want - honey, frozen concentrate, etc, you just need to know the quantity to add for your desired carbonation level. There's a calculator on Northern Brewer's web site for how much sugar, and I've seen here on the forum that one can of FAJC works well for 5 gallons.

When I use Xylitol it's 3 TBSP per gallon for my tastes. That's a bit less than 1 TSP per bottle.

Thanks for your reply. Do you dilute the Xylitol with water/cider, or do you just add the power straight to the bottles?

Will priming with honey etc add any extra flavour if its only a small amount for carbonation?

 

[Maylar]

I always rack my cider to a bottling bucket (stainless soup pot) to insure that I leave all the sediment behind. So mixing the priming sugar / sweetener is done in bulk, not by the bottle. I'll put a couple cups of cider in a clean Pyrex measuring cup and mix the sugars well in that and stir it into the pot.

Priming sugar will add very little flavor.

 

[paddyb]

I keep reading about FAJC. Where can I buy this? If I can't get any, could regular pure AJ be used for priming? How much per bottle?

 

[paddyb]

Been to the super rmarket to pick up some sugar. As well as standard white table sugar, I picked up some "fruit sugar" (Fructose) and Agave Nectar (tastes like butterscotch!) Worth a go or will it just ferment out without leaving any additional flavour?

 

[DrBubbles]

I keep reading about FAJC. Where can I buy this? If I can't get any, could regular pure AJ be used for priming? How much per bottle?

FAJC=Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate. You should be able to find it in any grocery store. You can always buy it online too. Amazon sells it. I usually add between 3-4 oz of FAJC per gallon, or 12-16 oz of regular apple juice.

It would be difficult to measure that out into individual bottles. You can mix it in your bottling bucket.

 

[paddyb]

Thanks. I'm only making a small batch and want to experiment a bit, so I might only want to add it to 3 or 4 bottles, so its easier to go by the bottle. So, if I have the calculations right, about 4ml FAJC or 40ml juice per 500ml bottle?

 

[DrBubbles]

Closer to 9 to 12 ml FAJC, assuming you're using 12 oz bottles. Multiply by 4 for regular apple juice.

Oops, i missed that you replied with your bottle size. For 500ml bottles it looks like around 12.5 ml to 16.5 ml FAJC.