Noob Cider question

[rtsitler]

I decided to check the sg of my cider today, it's been in the fermenter for 9 days.
OG was 1.057
SG today was 1.014
It seems to be fermenting....

My question is what should it taste like at this point?
Mine tastes kind of like wine... Is that cause it's got very little sugar left in it?
I am partial to sweeter ciders and I'm hoping back sweetening will make it taste sweeter....

Sorry to bother you all with my blithering noob questions....
Thank you.


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[richl025]

I'm in the same spot you are, having made (brewed seems the wrong word) my first batch of cider about a week ago. OG was 1.062 (I added some brown sugar), and after 1 week at 65 degrees it was 1.010. I tasted it and it was a little "thin" already but still apple-tasting, so I am cold-crashing here and will add some potassium sorbate after a few days, with the intent of carbing it back up in a keg.

I've done a fair bit of reading (mainly here) about cider, and even though it seems like a low SG for beer, where you and I are at is actually a bit high still for cider - I've read some people who let their fermentation go to completion will get down to the 0.990s...

It seems that cider has a much higher percentage of fermentable sugars than beer does, so the cider we both have is still "sweet" at this point....

If you are kegging, then you should probably back-sweeten now (if you want it sweeter) and stop fermentation. If you are bottleing, have you read the pasteurizing thread?

Bottom line - (to my humble understanding) you can either stop the fermentation NOW, or let it continue and back-sweeten. If you are bottle-carbonating, you need to to look into pasteurizing when you have enough carbonation.

Did that help or did I confuse you further <g>? There does not seem to be a good book on basic cidermaking like there is for brewing....

 

[rtsitler]

I plan to back sweeten and bottle carb, with stove top pasteurization after the bottles carb up.

I'm just curious if it should taste like wine... I don't like wine..

Maybe I should just let it ferment as far it's going to, back sweeten, and then bottle with pasteurization to follow...


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[phug]

What yeast did you use, and what temp are you fermenting at?


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[rtsitler]

Nottingham

The room the bucket is in is between 66 and 70 degrees...


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