Apple Juice as a back sweetener?

[junior]

Hi all,
I have two gallons of apple cider that has fermented to .0996 from OG of 1.050 for 2 weeks. I would like to bottle next week and use apple juice to sweeten and add some apple taste to the cider that was lost in the fermentation. I will be using corn sugar to carbonate. I just would like to confirm that store bought apple juice could be used to back sweeten without the yeast consuming them. I thought I read here that store bought/motts apple juice will not ferment because it contains preservatives.

Cheers

 

[Chris7687]

Not all store bought apple juice contains preservatives, I actually just started fermenting a cider with store bought juice. You can back sweeten cider with apple juice, but with bottling I am not sure how you would do that. You'd have the sugar from the juice and corn sugar and could give you a major possibility of bottle bombs. There are other ways to back sweeten besides juice, but I am not familiar with them. Someone else will have to chime in on that.

 

[ICWiener]

If you use a juice with preservatives, it supposedly stunts the reproductive ability of the yeast. Therefore, in theory, you may not be able to get the bottles to carb up. Even with additional corn sugar. I've never tried it, so I don't know.

Options:
1) Try it! open one every few days until they're carbed, then place the rest in a very cold fridge. Use protective gear when handling the bottles, in case of bombs. If they don't carb, you know what went wrong...Enjoy some still cider.

2) Backsweeten with Splenda or Xylitol, and carb with corn sugar. Drink and enjoy.

3) Put half a can of apple juice concentrate in the cider at bottling. It will prime the cider and add a little bit of flavor. Drink quickly if you want any sweetness, because as it carbonates, those sugars will be eaten up.

 

[bernardsmith]

I agree with ICWiener. If the sorbate in the juice prevents the yeast from fermenting the apple juice then that sorbate will not know to allow the yeast to ferment the sugar just because you want the CO2 it will produce and not the tiny amount of additional alcohol (half the weight of the sugar is converted to CO2 and half to alcohol). But adding sorbated apple juice is a good idea if you want to sweeten cider... and you don't care about carbonation.
I suspect that Motts is sorbate free (I have made cider from Motts juice with no problem - not wonderful cider but that is another story). The kinds of juice that are sorbated tend to be the sweet ciders sold in (our) local supermarkets - unfiltered juice that looks like juice made from pressed apples bought from a farmers market. They are typically sold (here) in chilled sections of the store and not on shelves with national brand fruit juices

 

[junior]

If you use a juice with preservatives, it supposedly stunts the reproductive ability of the yeast. Therefore, in theory, you may not be able to get the bottles to carb up. Even with additional corn sugar. I've never tried it, so I don't know.

Options:
1) Try it! open one every few days until they're carbed, then place the rest in a very cold fridge. Use protective gear when handling the bottles, in case of bombs. If they don't carb, you know what went wrong...Enjoy some still cider.

2) Backsweeten with Splenda or Xylitol, and carb with corn sugar. Drink and enjoy.

3) Put half a can of apple juice concentrate in the cider at bottling. It will prime the cider and add a little bit of flavor. Drink quickly if you want any sweetness, because as it carbonates, those sugars will be eaten up.

IC,
thanks for the reply, as for #2, I want the the taste of apple and sweetness. If I backsweeten with splenda or xylitol, I will not get the apple taste I am looking for. Maybe I will use some frozen apple concentrate and let it sit for a while and then pasteurize, or put in refrigerator and hope I get enough carbonation.

Cheer's

 

[ICWiener]

IC,
thanks for the reply, as for #2, I want the the taste of apple and sweetness. If I backsweeten with splenda or xylitol, I will not get the apple taste I am looking for. Maybe I will use some frozen apple concentrate and let it sit for a while and then pasteurize, or put in refrigerator and hope I get enough carbonation.

Cheer's

Yeah, the artificial sweeteners won't give you a ton of apple flavor. They provide ore of a generic sweetness. But there's usually enough flavor in the cider to mesh together nicely. It's the method I commonly used before I went to kegging. Speaking of...kegging is the best thing I ever did to improve the quality of my ciders. Try and move towards it sooner rather than later if you can.

Be careful with pasteurization. Don't want exploding bottles.

 

[junior]

Yeah, the artificial sweeteners won't give you a ton of apple flavor. They provide ore of a generic sweetness. But there's usually enough flavor in the cider to mesh together nicely. It's the method I commonly used before I went to kegging. Speaking of...kegging is the best thing I ever did to improve the quality of my ciders. Try and move towards it sooner rather than later if you can.

Be careful with pasteurization. Don't want exploding bottles.

IC,

I would have moved to kegging a long time ago, just don't have the room that's why I am still priming in bottles for my ale.

Cheer's

 

[Lumberhoarder]

Don't bother with Bottled Juice and corn sugar. Use frozen concentrate, 2 birds, 1 stone. No preservatives to worry about and you won't dilute your ABV. I did 3 batches last year:

Batch 1: 1 can of Old Orchard AJC and let it bottle carb fully.
Result: Well carbonated and dry with a hint of apple flavor. No residual sweetness.

Batch 2: 2 cans AJC and bottle pasteurized after 2 weeks.
Result: Very bubbly and slightly sweet with a stronger apple flavor.

FYI: I use only antique returnable beer bottles (thick glass) to avoid bombs.

Batch 3 was a cranberry infused champagne style I made for my best friend's wedding. I used 3 cans AJC in a 6 gallon batch, and did the full champagne process; Riddling, disgorging, etc.
Result: This was far and away everyone's favorite. The added acid from the cranberries gave it a nice tartness and the carbonation was amazing (enough to send a cork across the room). The disgorging process removed the yeast sediment and prevented autolyzing, so there was no yeasty aftertaste to obscure the apple flavors. Very clean and very pronounced apple flavor.

The sugar content of the Old Orchard AJC is 13.5g/oz. Equivalent to 3 3/8 tsp table sugar. I don't know that corn sugar comes in at, but the conversion should relatively simple.

 

[junior]

Don't bother with Bottled Juice and corn sugar. Use frozen concentrate, 2 birds, 1 stone. No preservatives to worry about and you won't dilute your ABV. I did 3 batches last year:

Batch 1: 1 can of Old Orchard AJC and let it bottle carb fully.
Result: Well carbonated and dry with a hint of apple flavor. No residual sweetness.

Batch 2: 2 cans AJC and bottle pasteurized after 2 weeks.
Result: Very bubbly and slightly sweet with a stronger apple flavor.

FYI: I use only antique returnable beer bottles (thick glass) to avoid bombs.

Batch 3 was a cranberry infused champagne style I made for my best friend's wedding. I used 3 cans AJC in a 6 gallon batch, and did the full champagne process; Riddling, disgorging, etc.
Result: This was far and away everyone's favorite. The added acid from the cranberries gave it a nice tartness and the carbonation was amazing (enough to send a cork across the room). The disgorging process removed the yeast sediment and prevented autolyzing, so there was no yeasty aftertaste to obscure the apple flavors. Very clean and very pronounced apple flavor.

The sugar content of the Old Orchard AJC is 13.5g/oz. Equivalent to 3 3/8 tsp table sugar. I don't know that corn sugar comes in at, but the conversion should relatively simple.

Hoarder,
Thank's for the reply, will do as you did in batch 2. How big was the batch? I have 2 gallons and planned to use 1/2(6oz) a can of AJC.

Cheer's

 

[Lumberhoarder]

It was a 5 gallon batch. Are you familiar with the pasteurizing process? I learned the stovetop method here on the forums. I placed a water filled bottle with an instant read thermometer in it in the center of each batch of bottles to monitor temperature.

 

[junior]

It was a 5 gallon batch. Are you familiar with the pasteurizing process? I learned the stovetop method here on the forums. I placed a water filled bottle with an instant read thermometer in it in the center of each batch of bottles to monitor temperature.

Lumber,

I have read a few posts on stove top pasteurizing. Great idea with the water filled bottle, will do. Since you used 2 cans for 5gallon's I will use 1 can for 2 gallon's.

Cheer's

 

[Newsman]

It was a 5 gallon batch. Are you familiar with the pasteurizing process? I learned the stovetop method here on the forums. I placed a water filled bottle with an instant read thermometer in it in the center of each batch of bottles to monitor temperature.

Sheer genius! Never would have thought of that! 'Course I keg, so I don't worry about it.

 

[ohiochris]

Ive done the stovetop pasteurization on 2 ,...5 gallon batches so far , put the bottles in at 180 degrees and waited 10 minutes. I did pre warm them in hot tap water first though. After removing the bottles and setting them on the table they remained so hot they were painful to touch for about a half hour or more.....the yeast isnt gonna survive that heat. No real need to wonder if they got hot enough. Doing 4 or 5 bottles at a time ( that does take a while ) , the water in the pot never dropped more than 20 degrees in the 10 minute time period.

 

[frankiek3]

Mott's Apple Juice ferments (It is pasteurized, but not with additives.) It's from concentrate (Takes awhile. Longer than ciders I've fermented, maybe since it is so flat/homogenized with little air in the juice).

I've done stove top pasteurizing before, but I'm going to try the dishwasher method as it doesn't take a lot of effort/time.

Long Time viewer, but First Post

 

[Newsman]

Mott's Apple Juice ferments (It is pasteurized, but not with additives.) It's from concentrate (Takes awhile. Longer than ciders I've fermented, maybe since it is so flat/homogenized with little air in the juice).

I've done stove top pasteurizing before, but I'm going to try the dishwasher method as it doesn't take a lot of effort/time.

Long Time viewer, but First Post

You can always oxygenate like some beer brewers do.