I bottled up my first cider, made from apple juice. It got to 1.001, and I treated and back-sweetened to 1.015. Still a little dry for my taste.
Will it “sweeten” over time?
Also, should I store the bottles on their sides to keep the corks from drying out?
Second attempt was with store bought sweet cider. Did some worrying when I realized there was potassium sorbate in it, but making a starter got it going. When it got to 1.020 I thought it tasted pretty good and added Campden tablets to try and stop the it, but it’s still bubbling merrily away, so I think it’ll end up fermenting dry again.
In a couple weeks the local orchard is going to be doing another pressing, and I’ll be getting 10 or 15 gal unprocessed. I would like to plan it out so it stays a bit sweet, rather than back-sweetening.
Using a 14% yeast like 71B 1122, if I bump the OG up to around 1.125 or so, it should end up at around 1.020 by itself, right?
thanks
jb
Before you backsweetened the first batch, you dosed it with potassium sorbate or something to kill the yeast, right?
Even after you kill the yeast in the fermenter, it will still bubble as CO2 comes out of solution.
The yeast may not stop at exactly 14%, so you can’t necessarily count on getting the residual sweetness right just based on this. It’s likely you’ll end up with some sweetness, though. That’s a really high OG. I’ve never had a 14% cider. If you’re just looking to have a sweeter cider, I’d try either using a nonfermentable sugar or kill the yeast before it’s done. Either way, I’d start with a 1.070 cider or so. If you want a 14% cider, though, go ahead. Homebrewing is all about experimentation.
[quote=“abrown001”]Before you backsweetened the first batch, you dosed it with potassium sorbate or something to kill the yeast, right?
Even after you kill the yeast in the fermenter, it will still bubble as CO2 comes out of solution.
The yeast may not stop at exactly 14%, so you can’t necessarily count on getting the residual sweetness right just based on this. It’s likely you’ll end up with some sweetness, though. That’s a really high OG. I’ve never had a 14% cider. If you’re just looking to have a sweeter cider, I’d try either using a nonfermentable sugar or kill the yeast before it’s done. Either way, I’d start with a 1.070 cider or so. If you want a 14% cider, though, go ahead. Homebrewing is all about experimentation.[/quote]
I tried adding Campden when my current batch of cider was at a pretty tasty 1.020 and 6%, but it kept right on chugging to a dry 1.002 and about 8.5%. Maybe I needed more than 1 tab/gal?
Stopping an aggressively active fermentation can be tricky. Your best bets are simply allow to ferment to dryness and backsweeten or try to push the yeast past its tolerance. If you plan on stressing your yeast, make sure to pitch proper nutrients.
BB, not sure what you mean by pushing yeast past it’s tolerance. Can you explain please?
