Beer Forum

So, I've managed to get my hands on 3 gallons from the last pressing at a local orchard. It's sitting in my fridge right now as is the yeast. I've got yeast nutrients as well. So, I bought the cider on a whim while checking out with my ingredients for this weekend's brew day since I had an extra carboy sitting downstairs unused and my wife likes hard cider then I figured I'd give it a shot. I could use some tips. I am thinking of adding about 2-3lbs sugar to up the alcohol content based on what I've read, however, I haven't found an authoritative source on the subject so I'm completely unsure of that part. I keep hearing horror stories about bottle bombs but I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if I ended up with a dry hard cider instead of semi-sweet.

Tips? Direction? Help a brewer out?

Adding sugar is fine, it won't affect bottle conditioning as you'll be fermenting it out first anyway. Keep in mind that bottle conditioned sweet sparkling cider is impossible. You can do sweet still, or dry sparkling, but not both (or risk bottle bombs). I'm assuming that your cider has not been chemically treated by the orchard, so it might be a good idea to sulfite it if you don't want to have wild yeast working on it. I'd also add pectic enzyme and some nutrients, but taste it to see if it needs any sort of acid or tannin additions. I'd also take a grav reading before adding more sugar, find where you are at first.

I wouldn't add any sugar up front at all. The juice itself will ferment to 6-7% alcohol without adding any sugar. If you'd rather have an apple wine that will knock you on your ass, then by all means go for it. But I've tried that and I prefer "normal" strength cider.

Also, it is possible to have a sweet sparkling cider, but it takes a little skill and a little luck. Or, you can cheat by adding lactose or maltodextrin, which are non-fermentable sugars. Ferment the cider to dryness, which will probably take the specific gravity <1.000, then add up to a pound of nonfermentable sugar per 5 gallons and prime as you would normally for beer. It takes longer than usual to carbonate -- maybe a month instead of just 2 weeks. But it's so worth it.

To sanitize, add 1 Campden tablet (metabisulfite or "sulfite") per gallon, then wait 24 hours, then add your yeast. And that's all there is to it. Addition of yeast nutrients and pectic enzyme is optional, but not a bad idea. I haven't bothered with such additions this year. So my cider turned out cloudy. Oh well, who cares.

Fermentation will take longer than you expect. Where you can ferment a beer completely in 1 or 2 weeks, cider takes more like 1 or 2 months. So be aware of that.

Best of luck to you. You're already on the right track by getting the real deal sweet cider from a real orchard. You're already miles ahead of many many other novice cidermakers who mess with store-bought juice, which can cause all sorts of issues. You won't have such issues.

Thanks for all the info. I will take a grav reading tonight before I run out to the store to buy some sugar. 6 or 7 percent sounds about right where I want it. Nice to know it's not that complicated, just takes longer.