Cider Back Sweeting

[HoopsK77]

I'm new to the home brewing game and just tried a cider batch. It's about one week out from finishing fermentation and I want to back sweeten it. Also, I want to bottle condition it to add CO2. I watched a video that talked about stabilizing the batch with potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite to stop the fermentation process before adding additional sugar to back sweeten. This makes sense, but how do I get the batch to carbonate when stabilizer has been added?

 

[bougie1st]

You can't.

If you stabilise and back sweeten that way, the only way to carbonate it is to force carbonate in a keg and then bottle it. If you are new to this, you mightn't have the equipment to do that, though.

Alternatively, if you ferment it out, add sugar to back sweeten and the yeasties are still functional, they will chew up your backsweetening sugar, giving you a dry cider (and possible exploding bottles if they are over-carbonated). You can try to stop them by putting your bottles in the fridge once it is the correct amount of carbonation vs sweetness, but that will really only slow them down and eventually you will have the same problem (unless you drink it quickly).

The last option is to use a nonfermentable sugar to backsweeten, like lactose or an artificial sweetener, but for these it depends on your tastebuds and whether you want to use them (for example, I tried lactose and hate it in cider or ginger beer. Others are ok with it)

 

[McMullan]

You could try pasteurising to kill the yeast before all priming sugar gets consumed when bottle conditioning, but it involves close monitoring (regular sampling ) and some consideration for safety. At this stage, adding a little sugar to taste in the glass just before drinking is fine and avoids artificial sweeteners. Most important thing is to not underestimate the danger of bottle bombs. Make sure the fermentation is finished before bottling and only add enough priming sugar to carbonate.

 

[HoopsK77]

You can't.

If you stabilise and back sweeten that way, the only way to carbonate it is to force carbonate in a keg and then bottle it. If you are new to this, you mightn't have the equipment to do that, though.

Alternatively, if you ferment it out, add sugar to back sweeten and the yeasties are still functional, they will chew up your backsweetening sugar, giving you a dry cider (and possible exploding bottles if they are over-carbonated). You can try to stop them by putting your bottles in the fridge once it is the correct amount of carbonation vs sweetness, but that will really only slow them down and eventually you will have the same problem (unless you drink it quickly).

The last option is to use a nonfermentable sugar to backsweeten, like lactose or an artificial sweetener, but for these it depends on your tastebuds and whether you want to use them (for example, I tried lactose and hate it in cider or ginger beer. Others are ok with it)

Thank you for the info.

 

[HoopsK77]

You could try pasteurising to kill the yeast before all priming sugar gets consumed when bottle conditioning, but it involves close monitoring (regular sampling ) and some consideration for safety. At this stage, adding a little sugar to taste in the glass just before drinking is fine and avoids artificial sweeteners. Most important thing is to not underestimate the danger of bottle bombs. Make sure the fermentation is finished before bottling and only add enough priming sugar to carbonate.

Is there a calculator to determine the proper amount of priming sugar to avoid bottle bombs?

 

[bougie1st]

My other thought was to play with different yeasts. I'm not a cider maker but fermentis has a range now that gives varying results. I'm not sure how sweet the tutti-frutti or sweet ones actually are (and will depend on your substrate, OG, etc).

More information here: https://fermentis.com/en/knowledge-center/expert-insights/cider/exploring-cider-profiles/

 

[HoopsK77]

Thank you sir

 

[McMullan]

@HoopsK77 There are quite a few priming calculators online. It doesn't matter whether it's beer or cider that's being primed.

 

[HoopsK77]

Oh thank you. I'm typically finding priming calculators for beer, so it's good to know that this crosses over to cider as well.