Lovestojam
Member
Hi All,
I've now made 17 gallons of cider.
Two 5 gallon batches, and seven 1 gallon test/fun batches. The two five gallon batches have been made using Trader Joes Apple Juice, either honey or corn sugar as a sweetener, and either Wyeast Sweat Mead or White Labs English Cider yeast.
The seven one gallon batches have been made using different fresh apples, Mutsu, Winesap, Pink Lady, Jonagold, Macintosh, etc, all of which have been fresh pressed and prepared using campden. For sweetners I've been using corn sugar, honey, blue agave, etc. At no point have I attempted to over sweeten, usually onliy using 1/2 - 1 cup of corn sugar, 1 cup of honey, or 1/2 cup blue agave. For yeast, Wyeast Cider, Lavilin EC-1118, Whitestar Premier Cuvee, etc.
I've made the batches following very basic recipes, have excercised extreme caution in sanitation, and have kept a good eye on fermentation. Each batch has been racked atleast once after fermentation completed, for a minimu of atleast 1 month, generally 2+.
Each of these ciders has cleared as expected based on the defined flocculation. I'm getting the appropriate alch % based on the defined attenuation (sp?). And for the ones I've bottled (74 bottles so far), I've only had one bottle bomb and the carbonation in each bottle is light and similar to what you might find in a Samuel Smith's Organic cider (one of my favorites.
Here's where my question comes in. Though each cider has conditioned to an almost ideal standard based on the notes above, every single one of the damn things are just as dry as can be. They have excellent apple notes, there just seems to be no sweetness. I know this is mainly caused by the fact that the yeast is fermenting out all of the fermentable sugars. However, I'm confused as to what to do to preserve that cidery sweetness. I really enjoy ciders like Aspall, Samuel Smiths, & Blackthorn (Woodchuck 802 too), but my brews are just way to dry. Is there something I'm just blatently missing? This is probably the most enjoyable hoppy I've ever had. I just can't seem to get the ideal sweetness I'm looking for. I know I can backsweeten using a non-fermentable sweetner and continue to bottle carb, I've just read several statements regarding unwanted tastes appearing. As of yet, I'm not quite at that point where I've been ready to start kegging, especially considering I really enjoy creating 1 gallon "special" batches. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
On a side note. I was wondering just how long you can leave a cider in a glass carboy before it has to be bottled?. Idenfinitely?
Thanks,
LTJ
I've now made 17 gallons of cider.
Two 5 gallon batches, and seven 1 gallon test/fun batches. The two five gallon batches have been made using Trader Joes Apple Juice, either honey or corn sugar as a sweetener, and either Wyeast Sweat Mead or White Labs English Cider yeast.
The seven one gallon batches have been made using different fresh apples, Mutsu, Winesap, Pink Lady, Jonagold, Macintosh, etc, all of which have been fresh pressed and prepared using campden. For sweetners I've been using corn sugar, honey, blue agave, etc. At no point have I attempted to over sweeten, usually onliy using 1/2 - 1 cup of corn sugar, 1 cup of honey, or 1/2 cup blue agave. For yeast, Wyeast Cider, Lavilin EC-1118, Whitestar Premier Cuvee, etc.
I've made the batches following very basic recipes, have excercised extreme caution in sanitation, and have kept a good eye on fermentation. Each batch has been racked atleast once after fermentation completed, for a minimu of atleast 1 month, generally 2+.
Each of these ciders has cleared as expected based on the defined flocculation. I'm getting the appropriate alch % based on the defined attenuation (sp?). And for the ones I've bottled (74 bottles so far), I've only had one bottle bomb and the carbonation in each bottle is light and similar to what you might find in a Samuel Smith's Organic cider (one of my favorites.
Here's where my question comes in. Though each cider has conditioned to an almost ideal standard based on the notes above, every single one of the damn things are just as dry as can be. They have excellent apple notes, there just seems to be no sweetness. I know this is mainly caused by the fact that the yeast is fermenting out all of the fermentable sugars. However, I'm confused as to what to do to preserve that cidery sweetness. I really enjoy ciders like Aspall, Samuel Smiths, & Blackthorn (Woodchuck 802 too), but my brews are just way to dry. Is there something I'm just blatently missing? This is probably the most enjoyable hoppy I've ever had. I just can't seem to get the ideal sweetness I'm looking for. I know I can backsweeten using a non-fermentable sweetner and continue to bottle carb, I've just read several statements regarding unwanted tastes appearing. As of yet, I'm not quite at that point where I've been ready to start kegging, especially considering I really enjoy creating 1 gallon "special" batches. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
On a side note. I was wondering just how long you can leave a cider in a glass carboy before it has to be bottled?. Idenfinitely?
Thanks,
LTJ