Apple CranRaspberry Cider

[bull3tmagn3t]

I've been working on this cider for a bit, but I'm getting stuck at the end with it being a bit more dry and tart then my liking. I'm posting it here for advise, and for people to try it out, since it might be right up your ally.

5 Gallon Batch

3.75 Gallons Treetop Apple Juice
1 Gallon OceanSpray Craberry/Raspberry Juice
2lbs Domino Brown Sugar
Nottingham Beer Yeast

SG: ~1.06
FG: ~1.01
ABV: ~6.5%
Ferment time approximately 2 weeks at 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Never needed to cold crash or pasteurize on the stove.

The times that I've made this I've been tweaking the brown sugar amount. Originally, it started off at nearly 5lbs of brown sugar. Now it's down to 2lbs. Decreasing the sugar amount has made it more crisp, less "winey", but not as sweet as I would like. After about a week or two in the bottle aging it tastes pretty good, just not as sweet as I'd like, like a production cider like Hornsby's or Strongbow.

Is there anything I can do to make this guy sweeter at time of bottling? Any info or guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Randzor]

Yes, backsweeten and pasteurize. it is that simple...

 

[HopSong]

I did one like this for my first batch of cider except I used M-2 yeast and not as much brown sugar. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the recipe or other data. But, basically, made a 2.5 gallon batch. One gallon of TTAJ and 1G Whole Foods AC along with 1/2 gal of cranapple juice.. also 2 packed cups of brown sugar.. When it was fermented out, it was kinda belch.. so I added a can of frozen raspberry apple juice as a back sweetener and a few drops of bitter apple extract. Turned out quite well. I think the first addition of cranapple juice was lost in the ferment, as was much of the apple flavor. I think that's the nature of the game when things ferment dry. However the backsweetening did a great job. I then pasteurized it for stability. That worked great as well.. but, I did, as posted awhile back, lose two bottles because *I believe* they were filled too much and the liquid expanded to the point that there was no place to go except out... boom. When I pasteurize my next batch, the bottles will not be filled like I was bottling beer.. there will be much more headspace below the cap. Oh, you didn't ask about that

Yes, back sweeten with a sweetener of choice. Sugar will make it more cider/winey as you put it.. but you might try a concentrated fruit drink like frozen AJ or a combo frozen concentrate like Cranapple.. or even sugar substitute like Stevia if you don't want to deal with more fermentation and the arresting of it.

Jus' me two cents.. YMMV

 

[bull3tmagn3t]

For future efforts, I'm not sure if I'm completely off or not, but can you put in non-fermentable sugars dissolved in to the juice and putting it in the carboy? Would that work to make a sweeter result before bottling?

 

[HopSong]

Yep, will make it sweeter. I'd do a test first on a small amount.. say a cup. Add maybe 1/8tsp stir in and taste. Not sweet enough.. add another 1/8 tsp till you get it right. Don't drink much or you change the original amount. Then multiply the number of tsp's by the number of cups in your 5 gallons or whatever you have. If you like ginger, you can also add some thin slices of that to the mix. I happen to like what ginger does.. This will all get you in the ballpark.