Stopping a cider short?

[Psychomouse]

Hi all,

Rejoining the forum after a long absence and a lost username.

Naturally with the time a lot of us have on our hands at the moment I’ve gotten back into a bit of simple wine and cider making.

The question is; I’ve just started off a DJ of cider consisting of 4l apple juice, 500ml elderflower cordial and a strong tea, and some Wilkos wine yeast, no added sugar or water.

The starting gravity took me a little by surprise at 1.060. If this ferments out that’s going to put it at around 9%, which is a bit strong for my liking.

Is there a way I can stop the fermentation earlyto leave a medium sweet cider whilst leaving some active yeast so I can still carbonate later?

It’s a massive rookie error I admit.

Thanks.

 

[Cwrw666]

No. You could do that for a still cider but not fizzy.

 

[Psychomouse]

Yeah I didn’t think so. Oh well looks like it should be fun to drink anyway haha.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Rejoining the forum after a long absence and a lost username

Do you remember the username and email you used to register i can get you a new password for the old account if you can

 

[Psychomouse]

Honestly no, it was about 10 years ago. Thanks for your offer of assistance though.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

O.K

 

[GerritT]

If it gets too dry, Lidl Cologran artificial sweetner is quite good.

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi @Psychomouse

Is there a way I can stop the fermentation earlyto leave a medium sweet cider whilst leaving some active yeast so I can still carbonate later?

... no, but (not for the faint-hearted) you can bottle early, allow to carbonate to the carbonation level you like, and then "in-bottle pasteurise" to stop fermentation and leave you with a sweet, fizzy cider ... like I say, not for the faint-hearted, but if you may be interested see the "how-to" in the link I posted yesterday over there (link)

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Psychomouse]

Hi @Psychomouse
... no, but (not for the faint-hearted) you can bottle early, allow to carbonate to the carbonation level you like, and then "in-bottle pasteurise" to stop fermentation and leave you with a sweet, fizzy cider ... like I say, not for the faint-hearted, but if you may be interested see the "how-to" in the link I posted yesterday over there (link)

Cheers, PhilB

Hi Phil thanks for the reply.
I think that could work actually, if I use PET bottles and squeeze out as much air as I could to start with there should be a reduced danger of bottle bombs.

I might give this a go if I’m feeling brave enough when it drops to around 1.010.

cheers.