Sahara desert hard cider

[Backwoodsbrewing]

Hoping for some direction here. I went to an orchard this fall and bought 6 gallons of Apple cider. Now I have never made anything apple so this was a first for me.i found a recipe here at home brew talk and it called for 8 pounds of table sugar.I Put in 7 it fermented well started at 1.106 and finished at .996. I have had it on raisins for two weeks and toasted oak chips and yet it has very little apple flavor. This is one of the driest brews I have done yet I don't mind the alcohol but I was hoping for a little sweeter at this point I am not really sure where to go with this any help would be appreciated

 

[FuzzBeckersHB]

You could just back sweeten. Take a small jug of store bought cider or apple juice, freeze it and then take it out of the freezer, remove cap and turn upside down. This will yield pure apple sugar from jug. Take concentrate and add to batch or glass until desired sweetness is reached ...

 

[FuzzBeckersHB]

Once cold crashed you should be good on the referment. What yeast did you use?

 

[tx-brewer]

Hoping for some direction here. I went to an orchard this fall and bought 6 gallons of Apple cider. Now I have never made anything apple so this was a first for me.i found a recipe here at home brew talk and it called for 8 pounds of table sugar.I Put in 7 it fermented well started at 1.106 and finished at .996. I have had it on raisins for two weeks and toasted oak chips and yet it has very little apple flavor. This is one of the driest brews I have done yet I don't mind the alcohol but I was hoping for a little sweeter at this point I am not really sure where to go with this any help would be appreciated

You should backsweeten. You will need to add potassium sorbate and campden to prevent further fermentation from adding sugar. Then add in something to sweeten to your taste. Honey, frozen apple juice concentrate, etc. You will probably want to age something that strong for a few months to let it smooth out

 

[Randzor]

You could add apple juice concentrate and pasteurize. or add sugar when you drink it.

 

[Backwoodsbrewing]

Once cold crashed you should be good on the referment. What yeast did you use?

i used champagne yeast red star I think in a yellow packet I racked it off of the yeast or what yeast had settled to the bottom.there is probably still some in suspension do you think at this point it would be possible to carbonate this or would the yeast that's left eat up any sweetener I put in. I was toying with the idea of putting in an artificial sweetener

 

[FuzzBeckersHB]

i used champagne yeast red star I think in a yellow packet I racked it off of the yeast or what yeast had settled to the bottom.there is probably still some in suspension do you think at this point it would be possible to carbonate this or would the yeast that's left eat up any sweetener I put in. I was toying with the idea of putting in an artificial sweetener

Yes the yeast would chew on the sugars/sweeteners you added and create co2, the question becomes how much is too much..

You could do 1 oz. sugar to every gallon for carbing and use artificial sweeteners for taste...

Or kill yeast, sweeten with apple concentrate, keg carb, or carb tabs for bottles..