Maintain Sweetness in cider

[kegtoe]

What sugar/additive can I add before fermenting to maintain sweetness in a cider? I'd rather not back sweeten if I don't have to. Does anyone know what's in the "sweetener sachet" from the Brewer's Best - Cider House Select kits?

 

[bernardsmith]

Any sugar that is in the must before you pitch the yeast will be food for the yeast. The yeast will not view any simple sugar as off limits. If the sugar is present it is food.
You have three options.
1. You use a yeast that cannot tolerate the total potential alcoholic volume of your cider - so it croaks before all the sugar has been fermented.
2. You can bottle the cider while the active yeast still have sugar to consume and then quickly kill them by heating the cider - and potentially blow up the bottles and so risk flying shards of glass...
3. You can work to ensure that the cider you are fermenting does not have enough nutrient in the must (this is called keeving) and so the yeast die not from alcohol poisoning but because they cannot repair their own cells and cannot reproduce (bud).

 

[schwiz]

Any non-fermentable sugar. So stevia or lactose come to mind.

 

[MindenMan]

b_s, there are many people that successfully bottle pasteurize their ciders without bottle bombs. But, #1 and #3 are viable options.

 

[Maylar]

What sugar/additive can I add before fermenting to maintain sweetness in a cider? I'd rather not back sweeten if I don't have to. Does anyone know what's in the "sweetener sachet" from the Brewer's Best - Cider House Select kits?

You can't sweeten cider before fermenting. Adding any fermentable sugar just adds to the ABV.

My methods have been to either add Xylitol at bottling time, or add FAJC and cold crash when carbonated to my liking.

 

[Cyclman]

I like to ferment my cider dry, then add honey or cane sugar in the glass. That way, you can enjoy it dry or sweet.

 

[natea417]

I read somewhere that you can back sweeten by adding a small amount of conditioning sugars(.25-.5 oz per gallon) after fermentation, and then add in another half gallon to a gallon of cider, and bottling immediately. Replacing the sweetness and giving it a small amount of carbonation.... Does anyone else have a thought on that?. I'm planning on doing that with a pumpkin cider I have that is finishing fermenting now.

 

[Yooper]

I read somewhere that you can back sweeten by adding a small amount of conditioning sugars(.25-.5 oz per gallon) after fermentation, and then add in another half gallon to a gallon of cider, and bottling immediately. Replacing the sweetness and giving it a small amount of carbonation.... Does anyone else have a thought on that?. I'm planning on doing that with a pumpkin cider I have that is finishing fermenting now.

Yes- but you have to pasteurize once it's carbed up (or keep the bottles very very cold) or they will explode since the fresh cider will keep fermenting.

 

[rekoob]

1. You use a yeast that cannot tolerate the total potential alcoholic volume of your cider - so it croaks before all the sugar has been fermented.
QUOTE]

I hadn't thought about this but have done this in a few gallon batches that I've been trying different things with. Basically what the OP is asking.

Now The problem I'm having... the light just went on.

I had a batch of cider that I fermented out and just racked to a secondary, it was pretty high in the sugar content (4c/gallon, S-04 yeast)... I added another batch of cran-raspberry on top of that yeast cake, It didn't take off like I was expecting so I'm thinking the yeast did croak off. I really thought it would just go dormant. I added the must Sunday morning and this morning it was a bubble a minute so maybe enough yeast was alive to SLOWLY kick off.

I'm thinking I should just add some fresh yeast.

Oh, and the 4c of sugar in the gallon of apple is almost to sweet. The wife and daughter like it but said it shouldn't be any sweeter. The other batches are less sugar (2c/gal) and those are pretty dry.

I will try the honey or sugar add per glass and see if it's to their liking. I don't mind it dry.

 

[Sailingeric]

I have done some ciders with the WLP775 English Cider and it has Attenuation >80%, my ciders have come out a nice tarty bite that I like but I think I am going to try a batch using the half bottle of WLP002 English Ale I have, which has Attenuation 63-70% and Flocculation that is very high as that should leave some sweetness and help with the clearing of cider. I really hate adding anything to my cider to try to fix the flavor. I like my ingredients to be cider and yeast.

 

[Yooper]

I have done some ciders with the WLP775 English Cider and it has Attenuation >80%, my ciders have come out a nice tarty bite that I like but I think I am going to try a batch using the half bottle of WLP002 English Ale I have, which has Attenuation 63-70% and Flocculation that is very high as that should leave some sweetness and help with the clearing of cider. I really hate adding anything to my cider to try to fix the flavor. I like my ingredients to be cider and yeast.

But since the sugars in cider are fully fermentable, those apparent attenuation rates don't apply. Simple sugars (sucrose, fructose, dextrose) ferment out, unlike with beer where there are some residual sugars left behind like maltriose.

 

[natea417]

Yes- but you have to pasteurize once it's carbed up (or keep the bottles very very cold) or they will explode since the fresh cider will keep fermenting.

How would you go about moisturizing once it's carbed? Would campden tablets atop the carbonation?

 

[natea417]

Yes- but you have to pasteurize once it's carbed up (or keep the bottles very very cold) or they will explode since the fresh cider will keep fermenting.

How would you go about moisturizing once it's carbed? Would campden tablets stop the carbonation? I guess I'll have to Do some research on that one

 

[Yooper]

How would you go about moisturizing once it's carbed? Would campden tablets atop the carbonation?

hahaha- you have auto correct I see!

No, you'd have to bottle pasteurize to get a sweet and carbonated cider (see the sticky in this forum on how to do that), if you're not kegging.

 

[natea417]

Haha, yeah gotta love that autocorrect... Dang Iphone gets me every time. Not going to Keg this one, I'm still pretty new to home brewing so.this is all a learning process.

Thanks for the pointers

 

[Sailingeric]

But since the sugars in cider are fully fermentable, those apparent attenuation rates don't apply. Simple sugars (sucrose, fructose, dextrose) ferment out, unlike with beer where there are some residual sugars left behind like maltriose.

Thanks for the heads up. I am still going to use the yeast and see how it comes out. That is the great thing about doing 1 gallon test brews to see how different yeast and brands of cider turn out.

 

[kegtoe]

You can't sweeten cider before fermenting. Adding any fermentable sugar just adds to the ABV.

My methods have been to either add Xylitol at bottling time, or add FAJC and cold crash when carbonated to my liking.

LOL, looking for something unfermentable.

 

[kegtoe]

I think I might take a page from wine making. Make sure all the yeast are killed after fermentation and sweeten with "Conditioner" I made a Cider House Rules kit that was extremely close to a commercial cider. Curious what was in their Sweetener Sachet. That was added pre fermenting ( I only added 1/3 packet).

 

[Maylar]

LOL, looking for something unfermentable.

I've used XyloSweet, which is Xylitol. You can find it in any health food isle or vitamin shoppe. Despite its chemical sounding name, Xylitol is an organic sugar alcohol that tastes like sugar and leaves no aftertaste.

Sweetening should always be done at the end, at bottling time.

 

[phug]

I've picked up some Xylitol to try. Got it at bulk barn, and it's supposedly a 1-1 replacement for table sugar. Unfortunately it's $8 per pound.

The company that makes the stuff I picked up says that all of their xylitol is made from Canadian Hardwood sources.

in other locations it may be made with GMO corn cellulose, not that I care.

 

[MindenMan]

There are many non-fermentable sweeteners available; I generally use a blend. There are times in my house where we go super low carb for 2 or 3 months, and in order for some low carb desserts to not "taste funny", we blend different sweeteners. I use generic Splenda 90% of the time for both beverages and baked goods. My favorite for cider is a blend of Equal and Splenda. I hope everyone here had a great day with their family this week, and may the New Year be a blessing to all.

 

[Maylar]

I've picked up some Xylitol to try. Got it at bulk barn, and it's supposedly a 1-1 replacement for table sugar. Unfortunately it's $8 per pound.

The company that makes the stuff I picked up says that all of their xylitol is made from Canadian Hardwood sources.

in other locations it may be made with GMO corn cellulose, not that I care.

Yeah it's expensive. Even on Amazon it's $6 per pound. Fortunately, about 3 TBSP per gallon at bottling time is all I need to take the dryness out of cider. This is the brand that I use -

http://www.amazon.com/Xlear-1-lb-Xylosweet-1-Pound/dp/B000ORXYYS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417296238&sr=8-4&keywords=xylo-sweet

I guess it can be made from Birch trees or corn cobs. Try some in your coffee or tea first.