Cider comparison

[The_Dutch]

Hey guys,
I recently bottled a batch of sweet cider and here’s what I found compared to my last batch.

So my first batch:
Yeast S-23 (has it laying around)
OG 1.048
FG 1.002
Took about 3 weeks
I backsweetened to 1.028
About 5 days later I pasteurized and put in the fridge. It was very tasty. A tad sweet but it had some tartness as well.

So I decided to do another batch
Yeast S-04
OG 1.048
FG 1.008
I backsweetened to 1.022
Tried one today before I pasteurize and it was very very sweet almost too sweet

Could the yeast cause this? I read reviews and s04 was a favorite for cider please help

 

[Texconsinite]

Probably the diff is that second batch only dried out to 1.008 vs 1.002 for first

 

[Maylar]

1.022 and 1.028 are desert cider sweet. That's the level of Angry Orchard and the like. Bottle conditioning only consumes 2-3 gravity points, so I'm not surprised that you ended up with really sweet cider.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Excessive backsweetening caused the excessive sweetness

 

[NateBodnar]

Granted I like dry cider, I thought the 1.006-1.008 cider I bottled last night was sweet. 1.022 seems pretty high as the others said above.

 

[The_Dutch]

Excessive backsweetening caused the excessive sweetness

Haha yeah I get it. So like above it’s meant to be a bit sweeter, I actually like the more dry stuff..however the mrs. Doesn’t so that’s why I went with that number she primarily drinks angry orchard. My main question was whether or not the yeast made that big of a difference by extracting different flavors

 

[RPh_Guy]

Fruity flavor and other esters can add perception of sweetness.

With all that sugar I'm not sure how much that comes into play? If you're tasting the lower SG cider as sweeter, then sure!

 

[Chalkyt]

Yep, all of the above.

FYI I had two batches with similar (but not quite the same) blends of our own pressed juice which I am drinking now (started in April). One was with SO4, and the other with WLP773. They were bottled in August (end of Winter) at 1.002 sweetened to 1.005 with FAJC. Both resulted in petillant carbonation and dry with just a touch of sweetness, enough to take the edge off fully dry tartness. The WLP773 is marginally "better" but this could be due to the difference in the blends. The SO4 had Pippins and Red Delicious plus some wild apples, while the WLP773 was Pink Ladies and Pippins with a few wild apples.

So, then point of the story is that next time around if I want a bit more sweetness, the plan is to bottle at around 1.010 then stove top pasteurise at something like 1.005

I have found that anything in the range 1.005 - 1.010 is plenty sweet enough for the "ladies".