back sweetening queston . first cider.

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BLACKBEARDNY

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just made my first cider. fermented just fine for 5 weeks. it has been in the keg for 4 days now on 10psi @40F in my fridge. my question is , i would like to back sweeten this cider. is it still possible to do so? If possible what would be my best bet to use. There is 5 gallons of it, it is super dry and tart. i don't like too sweet but i have to sweeten it up some otherwise i just wont drink it. thanks for any help.
 
Check out some of the cider recipes. Many use apple juice to back sweeten. I use artificial sweetener but usually because I never know if I'm going to bottle one keg. I usually don't drink my cider for 6 months. I usually make it in may or June for the holidays. Don't know why I associate it with cold weather. I have found this site helpful.
http://www.howtomakehardcider.com/making.html
 
say i were to use 3 cans of frozen concentrate and a half gallon of juice ( its whats available as of right now in my house ) . how would i prepare this to add to the already finished keg?
 
Just dump it in. If you can keep it at 40ºF you should be ok. But don't take the keg out of the fridge to "make room" for something else and let it warm up. It will start to ferment again.

I'd start with the half gal of juice and a can of concentrate. Taste it...and if its still not sweet enough add the rest.

If it takes you more than a few weeks to drink it, just give the keg a burp once in a while to make sure it hasn't started fermenting in the fridge.
 
Assuming the cans and half-gallon are all sealed, you should be able to just spray them down with sanitizer, open and pour into your keg (gentley to avoid oxygen exposure). Then seal the keg back up and flip it over a few times to mix thoroughly. One note, if you've already carbed the cider it may foam up when you pour the concentrate in, so be aware if your liquid level is close to the top of the keg.

I'd advise adding in stages and tasting in between so you don't oversweeten! I'm sure you're aware but once you backsweeten you can't pull the keg out of the fridge, as it will start fermenting the added sugars if you let it get back to room temp.

I'm doing my first cider now, let it ferment down to 1.008 over 12 days, and just kegged it last week. Before sweetening it tasted almost like vino verde, pleasant but not the cider taste I was looking for. I backsweetened with 2 large (16 oz) cans of generic apple juice concentrate. That seems like a pretty good sweetness level to me, though you might want more if you let it ferment further down or if you like it sweeter. I can't comment on the value of long aging though many recommend it. Mine tastes good already uncarbed, though there is a very slight sulpher smell at first (disipates quickly) that I think I've read may mellow with age. I also tossed 3 teaspoons of malic acid in mine to give it more of a "sour apple" flavor -- I gather that pressed cider has more of that than the Motts juice I used, but have also read that more apple character comes back with months of aging. Not planning on letting this first batch hog a slot in the kegerator for six months though, so I won't be finding out this time around!
 

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