I have been searching around the forums and still cant find an answer..

[donjonson]

First of all I would like to thank all of you for your help.. my first batch ever (pale ale) has been in bottles for exactly one week now. I cracked the first one open and woweee Its good. I think it might have some more carbonation to go but it is delicious and smooth.

now on to my question.

My wife wants me to make a cider and I plan to bottle carb it. I have been reading on the forum that if you bottle carb a cider there is no way to make it sweet because most of the apple juice is fermentable and the yeast will eat up all the sugar resulting in a dry and alcoholic cider almost wine. I have seen people talking about it but I havn't found an answer.. Is there a process or recipe that you can brew a cider, bottle condition it and end up with something somewhat sweet like a woodchuck?

One way I imagine could work is to use a very low attenuation yeast and perhaps overboil a portion of the apple juice (I have heard this renders some of the sugars unfermentable) than I might get a cider at around 5-7% alchohol. does anyone have any idea if I am on the right track here? Or does anyone have a better way of achieving this goal?

Thanks

 

[benharper13]

You can cold crash it and secondary and add the sweetness then

Edit: I'd do what the guys below say I don't like it sweet just know for fruity beers you add it to a secondary because the yeast don't eat all the good stuff up

 

[humann_brewing]

I would go check check out the mead and wine forums.

look up Potassium sorbate and some of the others.

 

[mikeysab]

use malt extract instead of sugar. I did this with my last cider, and it's my best one yet. Simple sugars will thin out a beer or a cider. I just took extra runnings from an American Amber I brewed, mixed it with apple juice, and it's awesome. bottle carbed with corn sugar, and tastes great. My next cider is going to be made with apple juice and mashed MO. Can't wait to get this one going.

 

[donjonson]

You can cold crash it and secondary and add the sweetness then

Edit: I'd do what the guys below say I don't like it sweet just know for fruity beers you add it to a secondary because the yeast don't eat all the good stuff up

does cold crashing completely stop the yeast? and If so how do I bottle condition? and if not how do I bottle condition without them blowing up?

 

[benharper13]

It doesn't completely stop them there would still be enough to bottle condition. I just allows a lot of them to fall down to the bottom

 

[donjonson]

It doesn't completely stop them there would still be enough to bottle condition

So if they get going again why wont they eat up all the sugar that is left over in the cider from stopping them before they were done by cold crashing. I dont have a fridge to keep the entire batch of ciders in.

 

[benharper13]

They still might a little just there will be less. Like I said above if you want sweet cider I would probably follow the guys above that have done if before. I just know with fruity beer if I put fruit puree in the primary almost all of the flavor from the fruit is converted to alcohol from the very active fermentation. But when it has died down enough after a cold crash and I add it to the secondary the fermentation isn't as active and I get the fruity flavors I usually only do that for 5-7 days then bottle or keg

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/can-you-use-cane-sugar-sweeten-apfelwein-37405/ this is a good thread about backsweetening apfelwein

 

[wannabwright]

Again, I have also never made this but I have been checking over on the apfelwein and mead posts and they suggest frequently to "backsweeten" or to use a non fermentable sweetener, several suggest splenda? These are just ideas that I have read about, check them out and good luck!
Jill

 

[FoundlingOfDollar]

Lactose perhaps? It works for milk stouts.

 

[roadymi]

Long story short........if you want sweet, bottled, carbonated, cider, you need to pasteurize to absolutely prevent bottle bombs.

 

[yodalegomaster]

The Cold crashing will not work, the yeast will fire backup and create bottle bombs. You can pasteurize the bottles which means that you add a considerable amount of sugar, and bottle then at a week after they are fully carbed then heat them to 180 for 10 min to kill the yeast.

 

[donjonson]

The Cold crashing will not work, the yeast will fire backup and create bottle bombs. You can pasteurize the bottles which means that you add a considerable amount of sugar, and bottle then at a week after they are fully carbed then heat them to 180 for 10 min to kill the yeast.

This sounds interesting imay give this a try

 

[Hang Glider]

another alternative is a little Stevia - it won't ferment but tastes very natural -I've added a little to apfelwein.

it gets sweeter with time, so sweeten carefully - if you sweeten to taste, 3 weeks later in the bottle it may be too sweet.

 

[dvdanny]

I've consider making a semi-sweet cider by steeping with a ton of Caramel Malts. somewhat like a Graff. If too much caramel malts can leave a beer tasting sweet, I imagine that might work for cider as well. Plus, it'll add a nice malty flavor to your cider.

 

[BierMuncher]

I use Splenda to back sweeten my kegs of hard cider. No complaints yet.

 

[Yukmay]

I typically add an excess of concentrate to prime and backsweeten, and then bottle. Check a bottle for proper carbonation every few days. Once the carbonation is acceptable, use the stovetop pasteurizing method stickied at the top of the cider forum.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

 

[73Drvr]

The easiest way, although not the cheapest, unless you already have the equipment, is to use wine conditioner, keg it, and bottle with a beer gun.