No Body

[swimdmb27]

My buddy and I brewed 5 gallons of cider 2 weeks ago and left it in the primary for 12 days and then we racked it over into the carboy for secondary. During the rack we decided to take a little preview and while it was good it wasn't very full and seemed to lack some body. Is this normal or is there anything we can do to try and give it some fullness? This is our first cider so we are still learning. Thanks in advanced

 

[warispeace]

Did you add sugar to the juice when you started? What recipe were you going from?

 

[Yooper]

Hard cider is very thin bodied, like a light white wine.

 

[swimdmb27]

no we did not add any sugar at first. is it too late to do that and if not how much do you suggest?

 

[Teromous]

Using apples that are high in tannin or using an additive like grape tannin will fix this before the brewing process. After the fact, you can try to use oak. The only problem is that not everybody likes oak.

 

[Yooper]

no we did not add any sugar at first. is it too late to do that and if not how much do you suggest?

If you add sugar, you'll boost the alcohol %, but won't change the body. Sugar ferments fully, and it'll be the same except tasting more like wine instead of cider.

If you want a fuller mouthfeel, you could try some maltodextrine. My son used maltodextrine (it's a powder) in his rootbeer recipe. He used too much one time, and made rootbeer jello! Otherwise it works great. It's available in homebrew stores.

 

[swimdmb27]

thanks for all the advice! i am more of a beer guy so we decided to do a cider and a mead over thanksgiving. Hopefully it turns out ok.

 

[Coastarine]

Using apples that are high in tannin or using an additive like grape tannin will fix this before the brewing process. After the fact, you can try to use oak. The only problem is that not everybody likes oak.

So cider made from storebought juice and ale yeast likely benefit from the addition of wine tannin like this? I may have to give it a try.

 

[Yooper]

I use that tannin in several of my wines and ciders. Just a TINY amount, though! It provides the "bite" in wines, and a little tannin is wonderful in apple wines. I forget the amount I use in my apple wine, but off the top of my head 1/8 tsp sounds about right.

 

[SFBEER]

If you brew some strong black tea and add a bit of it to the primary it will give somewhat the same effect as the tannins.

 

[EoinMag]

Yeah a cup of black tea brewed with 3 bags and add in some juiced or grated cooking apples too, bramley variety is great and adds a bit of acid and depth. General consensus on UK forums is 4 bramleys to 5 gallons.

 

[tulsashag]

For your next batch you might look into making some Graff

 

[gregbathurst]

Juice from bitter crab apples adds good tannins, but you have to be careful not to use too much. Most tannins improve with age, they get smoother.

 

[jcobbs]

+1 on the graff, or if you don't want to go that far you can add a pound or so of extra light dry malt extract (DME) to your next batch.

 

[Coastarine]

-1 on the graff. Just one man's opinion. I made it twice, and I much prefer regular dry cider or even better, cider backsweetened in the keg with concentrate.

I have plans to try backsweetening with pear juice concentrate.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

You could also try adding some chopped raisins to add some body. This will darken your cider a bit though. Regards, GF.