So I am doing my first cider and I decided to be dumb and leave my bucket unattended with my 3 year old for about 15 seconds and he dumped about 3 extra pounds of brown sugar in my 5 gallon batch. I have diluted it down to what I can without risking the entire lid exploding off. the OG is 1081.
it was supposed to be
5 gallons juice
1lb brown sugar
5tsp energizer
5tsp nutrient now 5tsp in 24hrs
Nottingham yeast
coming in about 1058-1060
Am I screwed or is this just going to be a really really really boozy cider or apple wine now?
do I need to pitch more yeast with it?
no idea. please help.
It will come in at somewhere between 8 and 9% ABV, somewhere between a strong cider and a weak apple wine. A whole package of yeast should still be OK for 5 gallon, but a second pack wouldn’t hurt and might make you rest easier.
I wouldn’t advocate throwing it out now. Let it ferment and see how it tastes. It may take some time to mellow out, but you should be able to get an idea after it is fermented and had a few weeks to clarify.
+1. You can always blend it as well. Put a few bottles away for the kid’s 21st!
I like the 21st idea for sure
Our first is due on August 16th. I may brew a higher ABV biere de garde or maybe even a Barley Wine to shelf for two decades.
Now if I were a real man, I’d find someone with a still and source a barrel…in fact…maybe there’s still enough time…
So… I pitched an extra packet of yeast into it and it is fermenting up a storm had to set up the blow off assembly because it was throwing all the star san out of my bubbler. It has a reddish amber haze going in it now, but smells awesome. now to wait a week or so and take a gravity reading and taste…
so its officially done with primary fermentation FG 0.998. I tasted it and its definitely on the wine-y side of things, but I am going to backsweeten it with probably some xylitol after its done in secondary for a while. What amount(s) or other products are recommended for this boozy cider wine?
Do you want this to be still or sparkling? If still, you could stabilize with 5 campden tablets and some sorbate, then sweeten with apple juice to taste. If sparkling, artificial sweeteners are probably your best bet, but I couldn’t give advice on how much.
Either way, give it some time to age in bulk and drop most if not all of its sediment before trying adjustments. A month or two at minimum, more if it needs it.
my goal with this is sweet and sparkling. The stuff I’ve read says I should sweeten with xylitol (when its time) and use something like a can of frozen juice to use to carb it in the bottles.
I also decided to try it this evening and it is tasting like vinegar right now.
I’m gonna let it sit now for a while and see what happens to it.
[quote=“drdyancey”]my goal with this is sweet and sparkling.[/quote].
That is a hard thing to achieve, but your plan sounds like one of only two good options. The other being classical champagne method, but that takes a year minimum in the bottles before you disgorge and sweeten.
Not good, and unlikely to get better if it really is vinegary. Did fruit flies get into the juice?
Not good, and unlikely to get better if it really is vinegary. Did fruit flies get into the juice?[/quote]
No fruit flies got into it so I don’t know if it is just a matter of my palate kind of sucking and I need it to sit for more time before becoming discouraged.
I may just try to sorbate and backsweeten this weekend and just let it sit in bottles so I can just let it do its thing and make something else.
Be aware that if you add sulfite and/or sorbate, it won’t carbonate. Sweet, sparkling cider is difficult to do.
the way you do sparkling and sweet is to stabilize with sorbate and campden, force carb in a keg, then add the sweetener at bottling. I had great results doing it this way with my first cider…but it is widely acknowledged that it is just about impossible to get a sweeter cider when naturally carbing.
I just hit it with campden tabs and cold crashing now. Should I let it sit for any longer in the fermenter or backsweeten in a day or 2 and then bottle condition for a couple months?
If you added campden tabs, it won’t carbonate unless you keg it. The campden stop the yeast.
Unless you use Champagne method. But having done both, I’d recommend your way - much easier and far faster.
I figure I’ll just backsweeten and leave it still vs sparkling and see if it turns out in a couple months.
I have great success with getting sweet and sparkling with splenda/sugar mix however watch what the amount you use only need about 3/4 to 2/3 amount that you would normally use to prime.
