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Apple Cider II

C

crwright2020

About 3 weeks ago I made a 5 gallon batch of hard apple cider.  It is about a week from clearing up.  I tasted it today and it is dry apple wine not cider like at all.  My guess is that I left the cider on the champagne yeast to long.

Is there a fix for my problem.

Is it as easy as sterilizing another gallon of fresh cider and adding it to the existing fermented cider?  If this is the solution,  should I leave the fermented cider on the yeast and add another gallon of fresh cider for a couple of days. 

I am planning on carbonated cider so I am not to worried about the sugar added by the fresh cider.

Thanks

Cw
 
I believe 1.068, I do not have my laptop here.
That's why it tastes like wine.  If you added minimal sugars to it you'd have had a SG closer to 1.040 and a taste that was less "hot".

Cider is a weird animal, somewhere between beer and wine.

I am planning on carbonated cider so I am not to worried about the sugar added by the fresh cider.

I would be worried.  If you add too much sugar your bottles will turn into glass grenades, and I'm not quite sure what would happen if you kegged it but I'm positive it wouldn't be pretty.
The only way to have residual sugar is to either kill or max-out the yeast.  That is unless you want to use chemicals.

I recall reading something by a guy who would bottle condition his hard cider with residual sugar.
Before bottling the stuff he'd add sugar to taste, then bottle it like beer.
After a week he'd start opening one a day, and when he had the desired carbonation he'd kill the yeast with heat.
Basically he'd take an empty bottle, fill it with water, plug it with something with a hole for a thermometer, then immerse it with his cider bottles in some sort of Pateurization rig.  When the thermometer read 120 (most yeast dies at 110) or so he'd pull the carbonated semisweet hard cider bottles out and repeat.

That sounds like a lot of work so I've never tried it, but it makes total sense in theory.
As far as kegging goes, I suppose you'd have to filter out the yeast before force carbonation, or the yeast will eat the extra sugar and cause possibly dangerous pressure problems.

Currently I've got a batch of cider going right now, I added a can of apply juice concentrate for sugar and flavor, some tannin and acid blend for astringency and acidity, SG was 1.048, and am fermenting with EC1118.
The plan is to ignore it for a few months, rack it and ignore it for a few months, and at that point decide if I want to bottle it or keg it.

I haven't had good luck with cider, and I attribute most of that to impatience.
I started this batch this past weekend and don't anticipate tasting it until Summer.
 
Thanks for the insight. 

I am not sure that I will try cider again any time soon.  :-\
I am not sure if I helped my case any or have made a dangerous situation.  ???

I racked the cider for a second time and added another gallon of cider and a cup of sugar.  It sat for 3 more days and started to bubble again ever so lightly.  I put some in a 1/2 gallon jug so I could see what was going on and bottled the rest.

I do not have great hopes, but if time will make things better I willing to wait a while.
 
I racked the cider for a second time and added another gallon of cider and a cup of sugar.  It sat for 3 more days and started to bubble again ever so lightly.  I put some in a 1/2 gallon jug so I could see what was going on and bottled the rest.

Things turned out great!  It has a great apple nose and good carbonation.  It is still a little dry (do to the champagne yeast) but still quite good (and potant).  The next time I will try the White Labs Cider Yeast and compare the two results.

Thanks so much for your help.

Cw
 
just when I thought that everythink was ok, 5:30 this morning the 1/2 gallon jug exploded.  I took all of the bottle and put them in the refrigerator to stop the yeast from continuing to do its thing.  Is this a good idea or am I asking for trouble.
 
crwright2020 said:
just when I thought that everythink was ok, 5:30 this morning the 1/2 gallon jug exploded.  I took all of the bottle and put them in the refrigerator to stop the yeast from continuing to do its thing.  Is this a good idea or am I asking for trouble.
OOPS!
The Fridge will stop the yeast from continuing to carbonate.
Cheers
Preston
 
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