General Cider Question

[Taf]

I have a 5 gallon batch of Cider, made from mixed apples, pressed at beginning of October. Tasted juice at time of pressing and it was lovely and sweet. I sulphited 24 hours before pitching a youngs cider yeast. Got vigorous initial fermentation, and then relaxed ferment until it stopped about a month ago. Didn't take an OG, as was a bit ignorant of the science at the time, and haven't taken an FG, but will do if it's of any benefit to the below quesiton. The cider is very clear and very sharp. Too sharp to drink as is, so added a bit of sugar to a tester glass, to see if it will be drinkable and it's quite tasty. I was hoping for a medium cider, not too dry/sweet, and conditioned/sparkling but not quite sure what to do at this stage? Presume that I should rack it off to another FV, bringing through some yeast, add a sugar soloution to get the desired taste, and then bottle. Am I right in thinking that if there is not too much yeast left, that it can only feed on a small bit of the sugar, creating c02, and the remainder should just be for taste, therefore avoiding exploding bottles?

What do you reckon? Any advise welcome.

Cheers,
Taf.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Youngs cider yeast is a strain of champagne yeast and as such will ferment any sugar that you add to your cider all the way up to about 15% alcohol :drunk:
I would suggest that you use an unfermentable sweetener such as splenda to give you residual sweetness and use either sugar or pasteurised apple juice to prime your cider to give you your sparkle :)

 

[Taf]

Thanks Tubby. Still a bit confused though. If I add the sweetener, that is the taste bit sorted, but then if I add sugar to carbonate, won't I run the risk of that being fermented, or should I sulphate prior to adding the sugar? This is my first attempt at Cider and I am reading Pooley and Lomax, but still not 100% on the whole science part. Will the sugar still add sparkle even if all the yeast is dead, as thought that alcohol and co2 were a by product of yeast eating sugar, or can co2 be produced just via sugar and no yeast?

Cheers,
Taf.

 

[tubby_shaw]

You will still need viable yeast to "naturally" carbonate your cider, so do not sulphite your brew if you want it sparkling.
You are perfectly correct in that the by products of fermentation are alcohol and CO2 and yes the yeast will consume the sugar, but as we can control how much sugar we add we can control how much alcohol and CO2 is produced :grin:
Your yeast won't be dead it's pretty tough stuff and even sulphiting at normal levels only inhibits yeast and doesn't kill it so as long as a small amount of yeast comes across when you bottle we can have sparkle :)
My recommendation would be to use half a level tsp per pint of granulated cane sugar if you want a good amount of fizz ( commercial cider style) or better still after you have sweetened to your liking with splenda or similar use around 50ml per litre of cheap supermarket apple juice to prime this should give a light sparkle with the bonus of a touch of extra nose and flavour