Using raw cider to backsweeten?

[escher007]

Hey guys, my cider is done fermenting, and i have killed off the yeast with campden & potassium sorbate and have had it on the porch for a few weeks in the cold. Just brought it in last night as it is now in the 20's. I tasted it, and its not really that great. I'm experimenting with different sweeteners to backsweeten it, and was curious if I can use some raw cider that I froze without risk of bottle bombs. From what I've read, I would need to boil the raw cider somewhat before adding it?

(I'd like to bottle this cider and move on to a new batch as this one was my first and had plenty of screwups. I'd just rather not make any more!) Thanks much!!

 

[escher007]

I dont know if it makes a difference, but my specific gravity is at 1.0

 

[bernardsmith]

If you stabilized your cider that means you have um... neutralized the yeast. They cannot ferment any added sugar so why would you need to cook the apple juice you want to add? But that said, you want to add a great deal of flavored water with sugar (AKA apple juice) to back sweeten? That will dilute the ABV (there is about 1 lb of sugar in a gallon of juice- about 45 points of sugar) Simply adding more sugar might heighten the apple flavor and bring it forward as might allowing the cider to age a few months. You don't provide the recipe so it is difficult to offer reasons why it might taste meh...

 

[escher007]

Thanks Benardsmith. (Still learning here) The reason why I asked about cooking the cider, is that it is raw and didnt know if it needed to be done due to the wild yeasts.
As for the recipe, I just fermented about 5 gallons of raw cider/pear juice with ciderhouse yeast. I'm going to bottle a 2 gallons of it with xylitol & a small amount of brown sugar, and put the rest is smaller gallon carboys to age a bit longer. From what I understand, is that if there is a little yeast left, the small amount (1/4c) brown sugar will result in some carbonation, with the xylitol giving the sweetness. (Sound about right?)
With the remaining gallons I'm going to try a few other methods of back-sweetening.

 

[MarkKF]

I backsweeten with juice but I freeze it then let the sugary apple flavor drip into the keg and leave out the ice. Just like adding FAJC.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

I back sweeten with FAJC, works like a charm! Adds sweetness and apple taste at the same time. I use about 1/4 or 1/2 cup per gal. But start small and add if needed.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Yes, you will need to kill the yeast/bacteria in the raw juice. No need to boil - just raise the temperature to about 160F/70C. Are you drinking the hard cider still (uncarbonated)?