Whats are my options

[andy 93]

Hi Everyone, first time at brewing anything. I have 10 demijons of cider bubbling away. I`m unsure as to what to do with it.
I have bottled one demijon i did earlier into swing top bottles with a teaspoon of sugar, left it three weeks then opened one to try. Lovely and clear with a decent level of carbonation but very very dry/bitter, needs to be sweeter.
What to do with this Batch.
1) Is it ok to move to fresh demijon for storage then transfer to swing top bottle with priming sugar a couple of weeks before I intend to drink
2) straight to swing top bottle but with much more sugar so as to sweeten. Would this risk the bottle blowing if left too long?
3) Into fresh demijon then into a pressure barrel with priming sugar. Would have to buy this set up to include barrel/tap/co2
4) any other suggestions?

when transferring at this point do I need to add anything to kill yeast

I feel my next move is crucial, any help and advice much appreciated

cheers
andy

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Don’t add sugar to sweeten, this will just produce more CO2. If you want to sweeten use a non-fermentable sugar such as lactose. You can add both sugar for carbonation and lactose to sweeten.

You can also add apple cordial for a really fresh apple flavour if you want.

 

[An Ankoù]

If you leave it for several months, the sourness will mellow down.

 

[andy 93]

Thanks for the replies.
Last question
should I store in demijons or straight to bottle

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Thanks for the replies.
Last question
should I store in demijons or straight to bottle

I’d personally go to bottle and carbonate. After leaving them in the warm (around 20C) for a couple of weeks to carbonate, store cold until you drink it. I’ve stored cider like this for well over a year and it’s still been really nice.

 

[BrewMeHappy]

I've tried to store in demijohns before and I ended up with mould forming on the surface. I guess the bung wasn't 100% sealed and let air in, but that's not to say you shouldn't.

If you want carbonation, you obviously can't do that in demijohns and will need something else. When I have struggled for storage space in the past I have just used 2L pop bottles or cheapo 2L fizzy water bottles if you need it quick and you can just pour the water away or use for something else.

As for sweetening, I usually use 2 or even 3 sweetener tablets per 500ml bottle and that usually works out nice.

 

[freester]

Unfortunately medium / sweet cider is very hard to produce in a homebrew situation. Adding any sugar will risk over carbonation even months after the ferment has finished. Your options are sweeten with an artificial sweetener, or add a bit of sugar when you pour. There are ways of adding sugar then pasteurizing to kill the yeast but it's a lot of faff.

Others have commented it will mellow with age but it will be dry. Sharpness will mellow a bit in the spring if there is a malo lactic fermentation. But it may also be due to the mix of apples - if you have a large proportion of cooking apples the cider will be very sharp / acidic.

As for storage I personally store a lot in carboys / DJs and bottle as required. Simply because I don't have space for 100+ litres of bottles. Occasionally I will get a white film yeast form on the top of the cider but a campden or two usually sorts that out. I will bottle a carboy at a time (23 litres) as / when required.