Cider or Cyser. How's it gonna turn out?

[Matrix4b]

Ok, This probably belongs here.

I made a non-alcoholic cider, some say Wassil.

Recipie:

6 gallons of whole apple juice
1 vanilla bean
4 sticks of cinnomon (about 2inches)
1/4 apple stuffed with whole cloves
1 whole nutmeg freashly crushed
Sweetened with about 2 pounds of honey
8 oz of Polmagranite Juice Concentrate.

Process: Mix contents in big brew pot, bring to barely boil and then lower temp to simmer. Simmered for 4-5 hours, then let cool down. Lowered the volume on the simmer by 3 quarts. Simmered until the cinnomon sticks unrolled and started breaking apart.

At this point I was done and it needed to be transported to another's house for warming up and putting on a simmer. When hot, serve and drink. Done in a smaller pot. Leave on simmer and add new juice as needed through out the night.

This was done at a caroling party and is always popular. Here comes the idea for the fermenting:

I have 2 1/4 gallons left. Party turn out wasn't as big as I thought it would be. So My plan is to ferment the rest. Here is what I plan on doing with it:

Put in brewpot and stir in 2 cups of sugar. Then cool and toss in 1 packet of yeast. Areate, toss yeast, switch to a 5 gal fermenter and cap with an airlock. Then wait til the primary stops and switch to secondary. Let sit in secondary to settle out. Then rack to brewpot and put in some sparkloid to clear out. Wait till settles, then bottle. Back sweeten as neccessary.

Now for the quesiton: Will this ferment too dry? Should I make changes to the plan? Add some yeast energizer and nutrient as I do with my mead? IF I want it to be carbonated like a dry hard cider but medium sweet, what do I need to do to avoid bottle bombs? Will it need more yeast and sugar at end for the carbonation?

Thanks, any comments welcome.

 

[ByCandleLightWinery]

I just bottled a batch doing pretty much what you are planning on doing, except I didn't add any more sugar. I'm a tad nervous about it. Read by blog for details about what I did exactly: http://bycandlelightwinery.blogspot.com/2009/12/cinnamon-cranberry-apple-cider.html. There is one follow up post to that the next day. Sorry, I'm just lazy and don't feel like cutting and pasting a whole blog.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

As long as there were no preservatives in the apple juice it looks like it would be good. I would go out and buy three more gallons of AJ just to make it nice even 5+ gallons.
There are a lot of threads here dealing with back-sweetening if needed, and I would recommend doing that.
Usually I use one or to cans of concentrate to back sweeten.

 

[Matrix4b]

Nope, All natrual, no preservitives, honest to goodness opaque whole apple juice, bits still in is what I used. Very tasty hot drink for all. I'll put together the remains tomarrow with the yeast. I think I'll leave out the sugar and back sweeten it. I think that it will turn out good. Next caroling party I can bring the fermented and we can have some to drink to cheer last year's batch too. Still undecided to put in yeast nutrient and yeast energizer.

 

[khiddy]

You may want to check the pH of the mix before you put in the yeast, just to make sure that it's within a good range (yeast prefer it 3.0-4.0). The only reason I say this is that I'm not sure how tart pomegranate juice is, so it might push it lower (though it's doubtful). But if the pH is too much lower than 3, then your yeast will have a tough go.

It never hurts to use yeast nutrient and energizer. You might also consider some pectic enzyme to help with clearing of the beverage, so that it's sparkling clear when you serve it.

 

[Matrix4b]

Check.

Will add a bit of Nutrient and Energizer with yeast. I think I will keep the sugar for back sweetening. I may end up using honey to sweeten. Also some pectic enzyme to work on it prior to the yeast toss is a great idea. I may end up putting in just a touch of lemon juice, like 1 tablespoon. Just to keep good color and look to it and a Little bit of acid adjust. I don't anticipate any problems with it being too acidic.

When it is done fermenting and clearing, how much sugar to carbonate? Or what would be good for it and prevent explosions?