How best to sweeten cider?

[durbo]

I have been brewing beer for a while now, I have a decent setup and want to try my hand at cider making for the mrs. I understand from beer brewing that the sugars in the juice will ferment away leaving it quite dry - she will not like this. Is there a process to to make it really sweet post fermentation without having the fermentation start again? Even if you could just point me in the direction of some helpful reading info that would be fine too. Cheers

 

[JuiceyJay]

Don't let it ferment dry back sweeten with more aj, or use frozen applejuice concentrate in the bottling bucket (assuming you bottle) stove top pasturize when carbonation levels are met and let condition for a

 

[thejudge]

All depends if you want still or sparkling. Do let it dry out and then back sweeten with fajc and brown sugar. Look for upstatemikes Carmel cider, great recipe and simple as all get out to do the wife will love it. Also you could try your hand at a apfielwein also very delicious.

 

[roxbob]

Are you set up for kegging? If so, then doing sweet sparkling cider is easy - ferment out the cider, keg, chill, backsweeten, and force carbonate. If you want to drink it from the keg, you're done (assuming you'll keep the keg chilled). If you want to bottle, then bottle from the keg and stovetop pasteurize (there's a great sticky thread on that process that I have followed with success).

I recently did a batch where I stuck it in a bourbon barrel for a month after fermentation, then kegged, backsweetened with maple syrup, carbonated, bottled and pasteurized. Came out delicious!

 

[MarkKF]

Since I already bottle pasteurize all my cider I'm going to backsweeten with brown sugar to taste then bottle. When the test bottle passes the squeeze test I'll pasteurize and see how much sweetness remains.

 

[durbo]

Thanks everyone. Yeah I only bottle. Had a look at Upstate Mikes cider. Looks pretty simple so might give that one a go at a smaller capacity. Don't know much about pasturization either but I'm sure there's something in the cider forum about that. I'm embarrassed to say but I'm going for something with the sweetness of Koppaberg or Rekorderlig. That's all she drinks haha

 

[Kashue]

A good rule of thumb is that it takes about 1/4 cup of sugar to carbonate a gallon of cider. So if you add more than that, and then arrest fermentation when carbonation is complete through refrigeration or pasteurization, any sugar on top of 1/4 cup will remain intact.

I've been sweetening my ciders with 1 tube concentrate and 1/4 cup maple syrup per gallon. The results are VERY tasty if a little sweet. If you scale back on the syrup by about a third, you will produce a very dry tart apple cider with just a bit of complexity. I would recommend concentrate over plain sugar since it makes your cider more apple-ey; using sugar instead will produce a more beery character (and there is nothing wrong with that).

Note that in back sweetening, as in primary, flavors can easily be lost. If you want flavor and not just sweetness, consider adding extracts and essences at this time as well. Vanilla in small amounts is rocking good, as is elderflower.