Sweet Apple Cider

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Flying_Fox

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I want to brew something nice and sweet before the Summer ends. How would I go about making a sweet Apple Cider that has a fairly decent kick? athumb..
 
The way I understand it is to ferment it with as much fermentables to obtain the required ABV then when you bottle/keg add your carbing sugar with non fermentable sweetener to sweeten it up.
 
The way I understand it is to ferment it with as much fermentables to obtain the required ABV then when you bottle/keg add your carbing sugar with non fermentable sweetener to sweeten it up.

I read that if you let it ferment and then use a Campden Tablet?
 
Flat cider you can stop with potassium sorbate, but not if you want it fizzy.

I think the safest way would be to use a cider yeast with sweetener added, or add truvia to taste when primay is finished, then prime and bottle.
 
Flat cider you can stop with potassium sorbate, but not if you want it fizzy.

I think the safest way would be to use a cider yeast with sweetener added, or add truvia to taste when primay is finished, then prime and bottle.

I’m not sure wether I want to do it fizzy or flat yet. I thought priming sugar made it fizzy? With my last batch of TC I used Splenda
 
Making sweet or medium cider naturally is a nightmare. Cider yeast really munches through the fermentable sugars and leaves the cider dry. Any priming sugar you use will be fermented and also leave the cider dry. You've either got to weaken the yeast so much that it doesn't ferment well, or add a non-fermentable sweetener.
Natural sweet or medium cider is made by reducing the amount of nutrient in the apple juice that the yeast needs to do its work. This is achieved by a process known as keeving. Bottling such cider can be a bit touch-and-go, though, as the yeast will eventually find enough nutrient through breakdown of any cells or even autolysis of dead yeast cells.
 
I made sweet still cider but adding potassium sorbate and campden then sweetening with apple juice keeping in the fridge until its gone.
 
I found that adding sweetener and priming sugar doesn't work that well, you get a bit of fizz but not much, my last batch I fermented down to zero, primed in bottle, and will pour over apple juice to get that bit of sweetness, also you can mix with whatever fruit juice you may want to get a 'fruit' cider.
 
Hi al. First post here. I also had this problem last autumn. Wanted to stop my cider before 1.000 or thereabouts. It ended up around 7% and was very acidic! Good apple flavour but really tart! Used campdens and Potassium Sorbate to stop fermentation (or so I thought). Ended up putting 100L into 10 x 10l bag in boxes. All bags then inflated massively and I had to re-do the lot. This year I want to be able to be sure I've stopped the yeast in its tracks before it gets that strong - I'm aiming for more like 5%. And I also want it sweeter. I was thinking of adding pastuerised juice from the same pressing - this could help me bring me ABV down and also being the sweetness?


Any advice on how to get my cider to 5% and make it sweet.

Cheers
 
I've just made my first cider it's fermented down to 1.000 after two weeks and I've put it in SV to age for a few weeks.

It's quite tart right now and I want it sweet and fizzy. Has anyone tried erythritol? I've got a kg of it in the cupboard that I can use. What about carbing with loads of sugar and pasturising the bottles once it's fizzy enough?

I might try a few different methods, a normal primed dry cider, one with sweetener, and one over sugared and pasteurised.

Any thoughts?
 
Hi al. First post here. I also had this problem last autumn. Wanted to stop my cider before 1.000 or thereabouts. It ended up around 7% and was very acidic! Good apple flavour but really tart! Used campdens and Potassium Sorbate to stop fermentation (or so I thought). Ended up putting 100L into 10 x 10l bag in boxes. All bags then inflated massively and I had to re-do the lot. This year I want to be able to be sure I've stopped the yeast in its tracks before it gets that strong - I'm aiming for more like 5%. And I also want it sweeter. I was thinking of adding pastuerised juice from the same pressing - this could help me bring me ABV down and also being the sweetness?


Any advice on how to get my cider to 5% and make it sweet.

Cheers
I did what failed for you before and it was fine, I did put it all straight in the fridge so maybe the campden and sorbate hurt the yeast and the cold stopped it doing anything else. I also used juice to sweeten it and was good.
 

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