Ending Primary

[ram6519]

This is my first batch of Cider. Today is day 18 in the primary and it is as clear as when I bought they apple juice in the store. We tasted the Cider this morning and my wife says it taste like a White Wine. It is a little dry for my taste. So if I add a couple of Campden tablets and a can or two of the Apple juice concentrate (to sweeten it up) and then bottle it up and let it set for a couple of months (if I can wait that long....lol) would I have to worry about carbonation build up in the bottles?

Second question, I used 1 pd of corn sugar per the 2 gallons of Apple juice for this batch. If I use 1-2 pds per gallon on my second batch will it make it sweeter or will it just ferment longer due to the extra sugar?

Thanks in advance,
Ron

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

The yeast will continue to eat the sugars until they reach their alcohol limit and then die in the toxic mix. If you use a wine yeast you'll probably reach 12-14% (or maybe more) before they die off. You may have to resort to sorbating for still cider or pasteurization for carb'd cider if you want it naturally sweetened.

Continuous racking and cold crashing will get you part of the way, but I've never has success with cold crashing to stop fermentation completely. When they sit and age in the bottle, they continue to drop in gravity. (albeit slowly)

 

[WilliamSlayer]

Backsweetening is done by removing or killing the yeast, then adding sugars to increase the sweetness of the brew. Some folks pasturize, others cold crash and rack to remove yeast.

I add potassium metabisulfite and potassium sorbate, which stuns the yeast, and prevents them from reproducing. After they die off, I can add sugars and not have fermentation start up again.

As for the different things out there, folks use whatever they think adds the right 'apple' quality they want. Some examples are: apple juice, cider, frozen concentrate, apple flavoring, just to name some. Other folks sweeten with sugar, honey, splenda, etc.

It's to taste, and I always reccomend pulling a measured sample of you brew, sweetening it to taste with a measured ammount, then scaling up for the entire batch.

Hope that helps!