Creative way to halt fermentation?

[Earthsun]

We've made maybe eight or ten batches of cider, has mostly come out well, almost always supplement with additional fruit juices. What came out beautifully was four gallons of apple juice and half a gallon of pomegranate juice. ...wow... came out like $20/bottle gourmet cider.

The problem: too alcoholic. The desire: halt fermentation 2/3 to flat dry - less alcohol, semi-sweet. Yes, classic problem

We don't want to ever use any artificial anything or back-sweetening sugar, cloudy/thick cider is fine.

Because we enjoy fruit enhanced ciders, wondering if we can use fruit juice as the mechanism itself to halt fermentation. So, let's say we begin fermentation of four gallons of apple juice, then 2/3s of the way through add half a gallon of lemon juice. Would the citric acid stop fermentation? How about cranberry juice? How about a gallon of either?

What juices that might form a desirable flavor complement with cider might also be capable of halting fermentation? How much would be required?

Thx! -

 

[CGish]

As far as I know, there are only three ways to stop fermentation:
(1) Remove the yeast. This is difficult at the user level and removes any possibility of bottle carbonation.
(2) Raise the alcohol to a level where the yeast cannot work any longer - 21% is a fairly normal goal when fortifying port style wines.
(3) Bottle at the taste you want, let the bottles carbonate (you have to watch carefully), and then pasteurize the bottles to stop the yeast. There are links on this site detailing this procedure.

The best way to do what you want is to let a batch ferment out completely, then rack, sorbate, and back sweeten by mixing in come of your original (unfermented) product to taste. Pearson's square works wonders for figuring out the mixing process. Like 1 (above), this requires a kegging system if you want to carbonate the end result.

Good Luck,
Cody

 

[Maylar]

What juices that might form a desirable flavor complement with cider might also be capable of halting fermentation? How much would be required?

None really. It'd have to be something acidic enough to bring the pH really low.

A better way is to cold crash the cider, rack off the lees, and stabilize with chemicals.

 

[Earthsun]

Thanks for replies... looks like in the future we're going to have to explore the "cold crash" method. In the mean time...

Anybody aware of any type of low-alcohol fermented drink that's simple and easy to make and acceptable for a hot day? (funny question, huh?) We call typical "six pack cider"... we call that "sugar cider" because it's so sweet... but the nice thing is, it's only about 4.6%... on a blazing late afternoon I can drink three "sugar ciders" in five minutes... looking for something thirst quenching but only slightly alcoholic. Thoughts?

Thx!!! ---

 

[Maylar]

A typical cider starting with 1.050 gravity will get you 6.5%. For 4.6% you'd have to dilute it so much that there wouldn't be much apple flavor.

You can dilute it at serving time instead with Sprite or ginger ale and get fizzy and sweet low ABV cider.

 

[Earthsun]

A typical cider starting with 1.050 gravity will get you 6.5%. For 4.6% you'd have to dilute it so much that there wouldn't be much apple flavor.

You can dilute it at serving time instead with Sprite or ginger ale and get fizzy and sweet low ABV cider.

Yes, have tried to dilute at serving time but it becomes a bit of a hassle and ultimately winds up not getting done...

However...... hm..... yeah, what could apple juice be mixed with, besides water, prior to fermentation?... Our pomegranate/apple batch was excellent but high alcohol. What fruit juice would be readily available in quantity and add desirable flavor but little or no sugar effectively "cutting" the apple juice?......

 

[Maylar]

All fruit juice will have sugar. One thing you can try is to ferment the cider first, stabilize it, then dilute with pom before bottling.

 

[Earthsun]

Appreciate the responses and insights.... I'm just going to have to step-up my game and start using some of these more sophisticated techniques... and that's a great idea, add pom (or whatever) after stabilizing... you guys are getting me motivated to start a new batch and give some of these ideas a try... Also, was just given the suggestion of fermenting a batch of hibiscus tea, wonder what that would do... would that be a take-off on something like kombucha?

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Earthsun and welcome.
Fruits generally have more fermentable sugars than beers and so you are not likely to find any good way - short of diluting the flavor, as Maylar says, - to make a fruit wine below about 6% ABV. One possible solution however, is to make a blend of ale and fruit ("graff" for example, is apple ale) but which fruits you use is limited only by your imagination and taste preferences. Pomegranate, apricot, cherry, raspberry, strawberry - the world is your oyster.

A pound of LME (liquid malt extract) dissolved in a gallon of water will give you an SG of 1.036 so, by adding 1 or 2 gallons of ale to a gallon of fruit wine (with no added sugars) you will create a blend that is both "sweet" (given the unfermentables in the grain) and low in alcohol...If you use extracts to make a wort then there is really no issue of devoting five or six hours to a brew day.
I have done this with apples and with honey. The latter is called a braggot. And you can up the ante and (carefully) boil your honey to caramelize some of the sugars (I do this in a slow cooker) to make a bochet (the issue here is to caramelize but not burn the sugars - caramelization of honey produces incredible flavors and aromas - burnt honey is simply bitter) which you can then ferment and so blend with an ale or ferment with the wort in the same primary (you would dissolve say 1 lb of honey in a gallon of water to produce a must with a starting gravity of about 1.035 (very similar to a wort made from LME. Dry malt extract has a higher SG - 1.046, I believe).

 

[Maylar]

There is also of course the pasteurization method. Heat the cider to 140-150 F for 10 minutes when it's at the ABV you want. If you don't carbonate it and pasteurize right after bottling it's quite safe.

But in general, when people want a "session" brew with low alcohol they usually compensate for weak flavor by adding herbs or spices to fill in the gaps. And/or use a yeast that imparts its own characteristics.

 

[Earthsun]

bernardsmith and Maylar, thanks for replies....

So in the past, we've let batches go in carboys for maybe two weeks, then moved directly to a corny keg and carbonated with c02. I'm aware there are some excellent write-ups here on bottle pasteurizing and now with the springtime temps we've lost our free "outdoor fridge" so maybe we'll go to bottling. Think I'll start a new three gal batch and plan to bottle and pasteurize and see what happens. Hope I don't blow-up some bottles getting this worked out.

Any insights making the decision when to bottle? Taste testing alone? My guess would be might be about right after about four/five days of vigorous fermentation so might plan for that and see how it works.

Yep, I'll go carefully read some of the existing documentation on this. Thanks highly -

 

[jrgtr42]

Using juice won't work to stop fermentation - all you're doing is giving the yeast more food (sugar) to work on.
Someone mentioned letting it go and back-sweetening - that;s probably the most common way to go.
I've heard of people using campden tablets to kill off the yeast. I haven't tried it personally, but I gather it's 1/2 - 1 tab per gallon, then you have to let it sit and off-gas before doing anything else, or there's an aftertaste that will go with it.
The hard part in using any method is to carbonate if you want sparkling. If you have a kegging rig is about the only way to do it without then risking fermentation starting back up and blowing through the rest of the sugars.

 

[MarkKF]

Ferment dry. Stabilize then backsweeten with more juice. You get semi-sweet & lower ABV. But you'll need to keg to carb.

 

[JimRausch]

bernardsmith and Maylar, thanks for replies....


Any insights making the decision when to bottle? Taste testing alone? My guess would be might be about right after about four/five days of vigorous fermentation so might plan for that and see how it works.

Yep, I'll go carefully read some of the existing documentation on this. Thanks highly -

When you bottle, do one in a soda bottle, squeezing the air in the headspace out before capping. When that bottle is turgid, the rest are carbonated as well.
The simplest method of pasteurizing is this: Place your bottles in a cooler and fill with hot tap water (to preheat). In the meantime, heat 4-5 gallons of water to 170. Drain the tap water, add the 170* water and put the lid on. Either drain in 10 minutes, or just let it cool naturally. Voila- pasteurized. I do this with my graf each year, and it really works. I like my graf slightly sweet and lightly carbonated. This way you can backsweet to whatever level you want after fermentation is complete without worrying about bottle bombs.

 

[Earthsun]

Thanks for replies

So in the cider making "flow chart" there are at least these two major schools of thought - 1) Ferment to dry then back flavor 2) Use one of several methods of halting in mid-fermentation.... And - 1) Bottling 2) Kegging

What might this be like: 1) halt fermentation 2) add juice or other natural flavorings to taste 3) bottle 4) immediately pasteurize w/out allowing bottles to naturally carbonate (eliminate the possibility of exploding bottles and learn to enjoy non-carbonated cider) 5) if desired, carbonate small quantities with c02 tank and something like a miniature keg ("man can")

 

[BILTIT]

Thanks for replies... looks like in the future we're going to have to explore the "cold crash" method. In the mean time...

Anybody aware of any type of low-alcohol fermented drink that's simple and easy to make and acceptable for a hot day? (funny question, huh?) We call typical "six pack cider"... we call that "sugar cider" because it's so sweet... but the nice thing is, it's only about 4.6%... on a blazing late afternoon I can drink three "sugar ciders" in five minutes... looking for something thirst quenching but only slightly alcoholic. Thoughts?

Thx!!! ---

This is my go to for low alc. and good drinking. You can tailor the sweetness to your liking and its super easy to make (i keg so even easier).

https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Cider_House_Select_Cherry_Cider_Kit_p/cider-chs-cherry-cider.htm