Adding apple flavor and sweetening

Cider
1

Hi All,
I lurked around looking at different posts and didn’t see anything that covered both of my questions, so I decided to join and get in on the fun.
Anyway, I’m making my first 5 gallon batch. I started out with some freshly pressed cider and pitched in champagne yeast. It fermented away and I’ve racked it twice. The first time was out of the bucket into the carboy and the second time was to another carboy because of the amount of sediment that dropped to the bottom. I’ve been tasting it as I go along and it is dry and doesn’t have much flavor. Today, I put in some potassium sorbate.

  1. I picked up a bottle of Brewer’s Best Apple flavoring. How much should I add to start?
  2. How much sugar should I add to start to sweeten it?

Thanks!

2

I would suggest adding a can of apple juice concentrate after it has thawed. That is how I back sweeten my cider. This will give you the apple flavor and the sweetness. I add 3 cans per five gals.

3

If you backsweeten with sugar I think that you will find 1.015 to be a decent range.

4

Baratone,
So i should dissolve some sugar and add a little at a time till I get towards that reading and then start tasting?

5

Forgot to say, the S.G. is at 1.0. How much sugar will get it up to the 1.015 range?

6

Should be close to 2lbs.
But, not knowing how sweet your preference is I would start with 1.25lb and go from there.
The apple juice concentrate is a great way to go if it does not have the apple flavor that you are looking for. I would recommend trying it with two cans first before adding a third.

7

What’s nice about the cans of concentrate is that you get both the sweetness and the apple flavor.

I would also concur with starting with 2 cans. My wife likes it sweet so 3 it is!

8

I will give it a try and let everyone know how it goes.