Ok so turns out that the cider in the two quart jar is cleared. This is what I will be using to determine what to do with the rest of the cider that is in a keg, and by now, fully carbonated to typical beer 2-2.5 volumes CO2.
I am planning to back-sweeten the cider, and possibly, add some "wine tannins" or "acid blend". I am wondering if I should use the carbonated cider to do the blending and tasting as the carbonation could affect the final flavor.
I am wondering if there are any suggested sweetening rates to start at, or suggested initial doses to add of the tannins or acid blends. I also have some hoptech isoalpha and their extracted essence (cascade) which can add bitterness and hop character (like dry hopping they claim) respectively that I might tinker with.
Once I figure the amount of sweetening and other additives I like, I am planning to upscale the dose(s) and add directly to the keg and let is dissolve. I have a suspicion that I might be better off to pre-dissolve in some cider poured from the keg into a bowl, then add back to keg. Either way, I am going to end up with oxidation. After that I am planning to bottle after adjusting the carbonation level for a day or two if I get significant CO2 release while adding everything into the keg. I am planning to pasteurize the bottles after they've been capped.
Is there a recommended pasteurization temperature and time to process? I did my sons rootbeer batch for 10 minutes at 180º. two bottles broke. Seemed like excessive heat. Would like to process at a lower temp for longer time - the idea here is to kill off whatever was causing the pellicle, and prevent fermentation of the back-sweetening sugar.
I realize that I could use Splenda or stevia to sweeten and skip the pasteurization step, assuming whatever was causing the pellicle cannot ferment them. With my immersion sous vide device, maintaining the pasteurization bath is actually very easy however so its not a big problem to do.
Thanks!
TD
Yes, carbonation does change the flavor/mouthfeel but you can still get a pretty good idea of how it will be by judging it while flat. The carbonation does add a wee bit of "tingle" acidity, so maybe go low on the acid blend at first until you determine it needs more.
Levels of sweetness are 100% personal preference, though. I like my cider dry, or up to about 1.004 at the highest (still pretty dry!) but I have the opposite of a sweet tooth. I can't eat or drink anything sweet at all, and have been off of sugar/honey/sweeteners for years. I don't even eat ketchup, because of the sugar, so I'm an extreme example.
One thing that you could do is take some of the cider and set up a "tasting table".
Make one at 1.006, one at 1.010, and one at 1.012 (as an example) by adding simple syrup in as little water as possible. See which one you like best, and then sweeten the whole batch to that SG.
Oxidation isn't an issue- make the simple syrup with water (as little as possible), and boil it up and add gently to the keg.
I can't help with pasteurization as I keg and don't bottle ciders. And the wines I bottle I don't sweeten (except just by stabilization with campden/sorbate) or pasteurize.
If you don't have an issue with campden/sorbate, you could do that. Stabilize the cider in the keg, sweeten to taste, and bottle with a beergun (or the homemade 'Biermuncher Bottle Filler'). Then you could skip the pasteurization step completely.