Sweetening the finished product - Cider

[andyBandy]

Hi Guys,

I attempted to make a large batch or cider this autumn from Discover apples (prob75%) and cookers and some bitters (the rest)

The apples i got my hands on pressed blood red apple juice and i couldnt resist attempting to making a red cider with it.

3 1/2 monthes later its finished, racked clear, polished and ready to bottle. i have a fantastic crystal clear bright red cider and the smell is incredibly floral and taste good but lacking a bit of body from lack strong tanins and bit of acidity. i did add acid when i brewed it but i feel it just needs a lift of sweetness to balance out the dryness.

Any ideas how i can sweeten this with out potentially causing fermentation? literally add to the botlling stage?

i dont have problem with adding juice to it but what i dont want its another round of ferementation (the deadly bottle fog)

does anyone know of any good apple juices which has preservative?

literally want to add sweeness? any ideas gladly welcome


cheers

Bandy

 

[Northern Brewer]

hi Bandy

Maltodextrin is an unfermentable sugar however its only tastes about a 10th as sweet as say sucrose but adds "mouth" or thickness to your brew. Lactose may be the way to go, its added to stout and tastes sweeter than maltodextrin. Maybe a bit of both.

If you add a sweet apple juice with preservative then the preservative will get diluted and you will probably get fermentation.

Cheers
NB

 

[alphacento]

You can use splenda. ALso you could stabilise your brew with campden tablets and then just sweeten it with normal sugar.

 

[Aleman]

Xylitol is non fermentable and has the same sweetening power as sucrose . . . . Available from Holland and Barratt stores . . . Unlike other 'artifical' (aspartame, saccharin) sweeteners it doesn't have a bitter after taste

 

[shocker]

I dont think Campden alone would be enough , potassium sorbate may be nearer the mark....have a look at back sweetening in the wine making section , lots of info there .

 

[Crastney]

I was going to suggest adding aspartame but then remembered reading a thread on ATS (above top secret), and so had to go and find it, here it is.

so the gist is that aspartame is a toxic substance, and makes people ill, (drinking several cans of diet soft drink a day is actually very bad for you) and hardly any realises this.

I would recomend adding CT and pot sorb, to kill off, and neutralise as many of the yeasties as possible, and back sweeten with normal apple juice as you drink it, or if you want fizzy, add sugar of honey to the bottles, without adding the previous chemicals. If you rack enough times, the amount of yeast will be so small that you won't get much fermentation.

 

[shocker]

The gist is that when warmed up aspartame becomes formalin and starts to enbalm you.....apparently :hmm:

 

[evanvine]

I dont think Campden alone would be enough , potassium sorbate may be nearer the mark

I agree with Shocker, Campden Tablets do not stabilise the yeast. You would need 10+ tablets per gallon to inhibit the yeast, at this level not only would you taste the SO2, you would smell it as well.
Potassium Sorbate prevents the yeast cells from dividing and so eventually stops all yeast action.
I personally use "Splenda", but a lot do not care to add artificial sweetners.

 

[RobWalker]

I've never had an issue with k-sorbate and a little campden combined.

Aleman - careful with that - it's also a laxative