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Spiced Hard Cider input

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Barrel Char Wood Products
S

spleefy42

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 21, 2008
7
0
0
Hey hey!

I am hoping some of you can give me some input about sweetening up the final product.

I started with
3 Gallons Trader Joes Spiced Cider
2 Gallons Gala Fresh Pressed Apple Cider
3 Cans of Frozen Apple Juice
1 lb Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Molasses
White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen

Unfortunately, when I went to take SG, I found that my hydrometer was missing so I don't have any readings.

It fermented out a bit dry, and I'm hoping to sweeten up the final product. It's sitting in secondary right now and I'm trying to decide whether I should toss in fresh apples, some type of sugar, or concentrated apple juice.

Has anyone had much experience using fresh fruit in secondary?

Thanks!
 
I would think that the cans of apple juice (were those concentrate?) when added to your batch would have left it with plenty of apple aroma and flavor. In that case, sweetening with sugar is the simplest approach.

Before you add any sugars, you may want to stabilize with sorbate and sulfite to keep the yeast from going any further. That strain is rated as medium alcohol tolerance (5-10%), but apple juice usually drives yeast to the upper end (or beyond). Without having some gravity measurements, it is hard to tell where you are at, though you can do it - run a search for "spirit indication" and you'll find a calculator.

If you add more apple concentrate, in addition to sugar you add a lot of acid and may over-do it. If you sweeten with fresh juice, you dilute your alcohol content down. Using sugar doesn't cause these other changes. If you are happy with the current alcohol level, and happy with current amount of acidity and apple flavor, then using sugar is the way to go.

I hope that helps.

Medsen
 
Great insight! I decided to go with brown sugar and let it sit in secondary for a time. If it ends up being too sweet, I'll pitch more yeast and work from there.

Thanks for the reply!
 
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