First time brewer fermenting with honey

[dharward]

I had a friend comment the other day that when he sweetens with honey it tends to not all ferment out. Which is kind of what I want to have happen. I want it to be about 6% but still be pretty sweet. I used pure apple juice and about 11oz of honey and other sweeteners.

I have read a lot about people "back sweetening" but I don't want to use any artificial sweeteners or lactose(wife has gluten and lactose intolerance) but we want a sweet cider that is carbonated. I don't have a keg system yet so I am bottling.

What do u guys think?

 

[phug]

If you look at the list of commercial cider sg's can you identify a cider on the list that is the sweetness level you like? That will help us to figure out what your goals are.

 

[WVMJ]

That would really depend on your yeast, what yeast are you using? WVMJ

 

[dharward]

The cider I want to mimic is the Strongbow Apple Honey which is not in that list but I think it might be close to the "Growers honey crisp SG 1.028 5.0%"

I am using the Mangrove Jacks Craft Series M02 Yeast.

The specific gravity of my cider was 1.080, but I see now that my hydrometer says in very small print to measure at 60 degree F and I know that I measured it at ~ 70 degrees.

 

[Maylar]

Correction for temperature is 1.081.

You won't be able to stop fermentation at 1.028. I dunno how far that yeast will go, but you'll likely have a lot more than 6% ABV when it's done.

Some sort of post fermentation sweetening will be necessary. Consider an organic non fermentable sweetener like Xylitol.

 

[phug]

Yeah, sorry to say the honey will not leave you with 28 points remaining. Keep the fermentation cool and slow and then adjust the sweetness to your liking at the end, along with appropriate stabilizing or pasteurization, or refrigeration

 

[phug]

Okay carbonated with no artificial sweeteners and no kegging system. You'll need to either brush up on stovetop pasteurizing, read the sticky, the instructions on the first page have been revised, so read deeper. Or you'll need a tester and lots of fridge space for cold storage until the last has been drunk

 

[DaMonkey]

I had a friend comment the other day that when he sweetens with honey it tends to not all ferment out. Which is kind of what I want to have happen. I want it to be about 6% but still be pretty sweet. I used pure apple juice and about 11oz of honey and other sweeteners.

I have read a lot about people "back sweetening" but I don't want to use any artificial sweeteners or lactose(wife has gluten and lactose intolerance) but we want a sweet cider that is carbonated. I don't have a keg system yet so I am bottling.

What do u guys think?

Honey = Mead. You can make really dry mead. I accidentally made a 14% ABV mead.

The sugar in the honey will completely ferment out, it will leave a honey smell and taste. I have never made a cyser yet so I am not sure how prominent it is.

I agree with phug, if you want it sweet and carbonated you will need to pasteurize at a very specific point. Its complicated and I see people from this forum mess it up and forget to pasteurize at the correct point. 1.081 OG is going to give you 10.61% ABV or more. That's really high for a cider. I would crash cool at a specific gravity (1.034 for 6%) and then sulfite/sorbate. That means it won't be carbonated but you kind put your self in a difficult situation.

 

[D-west]

I used honey on the batch im drinking now. I went all in and got a keg system tho, that made it easier... started at 1.065 with honey and notty ale yeast I got it down to .999, when I racked to secondary I added more cider to top it off (about 1/2 gal) when it got down to 1.01 I added my sulfites and let it sit for 3 days, racked to keg and force carbonated.

Only my 4th cider (technically first cyser) and its got a nice sweet apple honey flavor to it.