Elderflower Cider - how to sweeten?

[RobWalker]

Just made an Elderflower Cider with apple concentrate and dried elderflowers. the elderflower taste has come through very well and it's just beginning to settle so it's time to sweeten, but what's the best way to get it nice and sweet? I want it Kopparberg/St Helier sweet, so it'll have to be quite extreme. Will this also be a case of just adding it to the keg, stirring it and leaving it?

 

[MatelotAl]

Haven't made cider this way before (could you post the recipe and method please?) but I guess it'll depend on whether you want fizzy or flat cider. If flat then kill the yeast with a campden tablet and then sweeten to tast with sugar. If fizzy then do NOT kill the yeast, sweeten to taste and then add an extra teaspoon of sugar per 2 litres (assuming you're bottling in fizzy drink bottles like I do). This should make it the right sweetness and allow for 1 tsp of sugar for the yeast to eat as a priming charge for the fizz. You'll need to drink it at the right time though - leave it too long and you'll get very, very fizzy cider that is too dry as the yeast will have used you're sweetening sugar to make more alcohol (at least it'll be stronger!). The only other thing I can think of is to sweeten with non fermentable sugars or with an artificial sweetener - sweetness provided from that and 1 tsp/l of normal sugar to get your fizz.

Please post your recipe though - the flowers are opening up round here so now is the time to get brewing!

 

[k-trips]

Can someone please describe the taste of elderflower to me.
I have seen it around in cordial form and heard of it many times in the last few years but have never got round to trying it - something in me wants to know.

 

[roadymi]

I like to sweeten with concentrated juice. Adds more flavor. When you add sugar you will need to take steps to stop refermentation. Either stabilize or pasteurize. If you are kegging,
Stabilizing would be easiest. If you keg and immediately refrigerate might get by w/o stabilizing but no guarantees.