Ok, I'm new at making cider but have successfully made several batches of beer that all turned out fairly well. I found a great cider recipe and proceeded to make following the directions. I used 'organic' apple cider, no preservatives. I let it sit for 24 hours (with a fermentation lock) and then pitched the yeast as the directions said to. There was very vigorous activity within the first day so much so that I had to use a blowout tube. The activity continued for almost 10 days and was fairly exhausted by the time I bottled. The alcohol content was around 7% at time of bottling.
So now all of that's said my question is this:
Is it possible to over ferment cider so that it results in a very tart, dry cider instead of a sweet cider? The recipe had a lot of sugar in it so I assumed it would be sweet. When I tasted my cider it almost tasted like a dry, white wine...something that would go well in fondue, but I really wanted to make a sweet hard cider. Is this a matter of bacterial contamination or simply too much fermentation? Are their any recipes that anyone knows of to make a hard sweet cider?
I'm kinda bummed about it because I've had such great luck with beer, but I want to try again and need to know what might have gone wrong. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!
So now all of that's said my question is this:
Is it possible to over ferment cider so that it results in a very tart, dry cider instead of a sweet cider? The recipe had a lot of sugar in it so I assumed it would be sweet. When I tasted my cider it almost tasted like a dry, white wine...something that would go well in fondue, but I really wanted to make a sweet hard cider. Is this a matter of bacterial contamination or simply too much fermentation? Are their any recipes that anyone knows of to make a hard sweet cider?
I'm kinda bummed about it because I've had such great luck with beer, but I want to try again and need to know what might have gone wrong. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!