Help me backsweeten!

[Clay_J]

I have a gallon of Honeycrisp apple cider sitting in a secondary at the moment. It started a 1.050 gravity and hit 1.000 after 7 days. I then moved it to the second to get it off the lees. It has been in the secondary 15 days. I planned on bottling it after two weeks but have not purchased any non-fermentable sugars. I have read a lot about them and have received several different opinions. Initially, I was going to go with Stevia but I read it has a weird consistency. I have carbonation tablets to use when bottling. I should probably add that I have not tasted it since after the initial 7 days. It was very dry (which I read is normal for ciders) and had a bit of a watery taste but I could taste the apple in it.

What is the best non-fermentable sugar to add?

 

[Chalkyt]

I have successfully used Xylitol to sweeten cider and also added pears because they have higher levels of sorbitol than apples. Both are non-fermentable sweeteners without (IMO) any strange taste issues but have slightly adverse side effects in that some people develop gastric issues with them and Xylitol is toxic to dogs. Others will no doubt chime in with their favourites.

Regular readers of the forum will know that I am a fan of heat pasteurising to stop residual yeast from consuming sugars which lets me make a sweet carbonated cider. This is a bit more work than just popping in a bit of non- fermentable sweetener and some priming sugar or carbonation drops but is controllable to produce exactly the end result that you want.

If you want to find out more about Heat Pasteurising, look at Pappers' post at the top of the forum and the attached paper. It is a bit long and sometimes mildly technical but should give you an insight into this approach.

 

[Cider Wraith]

@Chalkyt is the master however consider .....

... add a a splash of non-fermented, sweet complementary juice at serving ... fail-safe and excellent results

 

[Cider Wraith]

Regular readers of the forum will know that I am a fan of heat pasteurising to stop residual yeast from consuming sugars which lets me make a sweet carbonated cider

Whenever this crosses my mind I picture pieces of bottles in orbit. I understand it's totally known but sounds spooky

 

[Chalkyt]

Yep in the early experimental period, on the odd occasion when things went wrong, the resident cat wasn't impressed. Almost went into orbit itself!!!!!!

 

[Velnerj]

I would definitely rather sweeten at serving rather than use an artificial sweetener. Add some apple juice to a glass and pour over. Or make up a simple syrup (flavored?) and add a bit to a glass.

 

[Beermeister32]

Back sweeten to taste using 3/4 to 1 cup Splenda per 5 gallon batch. Also sample the cider - if the apple flavor has fermented out, add 1.5 to 2 oz Brewers Best apple flavoring. Bottle says up to 4 oz, I’d limit it to 2 oz. These both go into your bottling bucket along with 3/4 cup corn sugar for carbonation. Also I’d skip the secondary next time, it is not needed.

If you want to use up your bottling tablets, don’t add the corn sugar. Age out your cider 90 days, it really improves with aging.

 

[Rockman]

I back sweetening with 300 grams of erythritol per gallon. It turns out good. I might have to give Splenda a try.

 

[DaveC73]

I went on a bit of a spirit quest looking for the best non-fermentable sugar (to me) about a year ago. Most alcohol-sugars (ends in -ol) taste weird/bitter to me. So all of those were out. Splenda and stevia are even worse to me.

Stumbled across Bocha-sweet. It's sugar derived from the kabocha squash. After some research I figured out it was xylose (as opposed to the more easily available xylitol, which it toxic to dogs). I bought one pound (disclaimer: this stuff is expensive, but worth it) and tasted it blind side-by-side with table sugar. I could not tell the difference. Haven't used anything else to back-sweeten since.

Disclaimer #2 - xylose (like sorbitol and most other "artificial" sweeteners) is a natural laxative. About 10 grams in one sitting seems to be my limit before I start an unintended cleanse. You have been warned!

 

[Raptor99]

I use erythritol (Swerve brand). It doesn't seem to have a detectable after-taste.