Sweetening, carbonating, and pasteurizing

[mr_rogers]

Ok so i've finished my first batch of cider. it's been going over a month and i need to bottle to empty that container.

the OG was 1.070
the FG was 1.000

It was sour (how i like it) by a little dryer than i prefer.

I am wanting to carbonate, sweeten, then pasteurize (like the title says)

I'm wondering if you pros can confirm my calculations and maybe give me any advice if you see the need.

Ok so i normally use 4oz (113g) of dextrose to carb my beer.

I would like to use apple juice concentrate to do it to give it an apple boost.
Each can of apple juice has 162g of sugar.

So if I added 1&1/2 cans I would have:
113g for carbonating
130g for sweetening

If I added 2 cans I would have:
113g for carbonating
211g for sweetening


I'm not exactly sure how much sweetness these would achieve but would you say either are something like woodchuck?

 

[LeBreton]

Woodchucks are pretty sweet, so maybe shoot for a SG of 1.013-1.023 (priming with 162g should add ~ 0.003) so between 4-7 cans of concentrate should do it.

 

[Pappers_]

I would backsweeten to taste - the carbonating won't take too much sweetness away. Especially if you are pasteurizing for the first time, you should err on the side of undercarbonated, until you have confidence in your process.

Another method to consider is described in detail at www.makinghardcider.com

 

[Oldnastingham]

A question I have on back sweetening: if you are cold crashing in a keg, do you back sweeten first or after the cold crash? Does it make any difference if the keg will remain in the fridge at 32-35 degrees until it is consumed? Or should I let the batch ferment dry, back sweeten and then cold crash, force carb yada yada?

 

[mr_rogers]

Alright well i didn't have more than 2 cans so i just went with just the two. I tasted the last bit from the bottling bucket and it tasted just a little sweeter than I would like which is perfect because the carbing will take a little away.

It should end somewhere around 1.004 I'll let you all know how it goes in case someone else wanted to go the same route as me.

 

[mr_rogers]

I'm also planning to pasteurize via my dishwasher because it has a super heated wash cycle option that i think will denature the yeasties.

I'll let you know how it goes!