Apple Cider?.... Probably Wine

[sponge]

Hey

So I just tried my apple cider which has been bottled for 11 days now just to see how it was turning out.

Well.... for one, it was not very carbonated. I'm not sure why, but when i feel the bottles (im using PET) they still feel quite soft (not just the one I tested, but all of them), unlike my bottled beers which are all very firm to the touch. I'm not sure why this happened, as I used the same amount of sugar for the cider as I did the two beers. Anyone have any ideas what has happened there? Would the cider kits use a different yeast to the beers, meaning that more sugar would need to be put into the bottles to carb up??

Also.... the cider is VERY very (yes, TWO very's) dry. I'm not surprised by this with an OG of 1072 and FG of 1004 (gives a potent ~9% cider/wine). I used 2x 2.4L of apple and pear juice (pres. free), 2kg of white sugar, and 4 peeled granny smith apple as the fermentables. Instead of using 2kg of white sugar, would it be possible to use say, 1kg LME, 250g of lactose, and 750g of white sugar, just so retain some body and sweetness and keep the alcohol down a little, or is this not advisable for a cider?

All thoughts would be much appreciated.

Sponge


P.s I mainly made this cider for the women drinkers which we have over, but this is no chick-drink. I could get away with calling it a wine, but I'm not too happy aobut the way this cider turned out.

 

[Adamt]

What yeast did you use? Quite possible that your yeast can't handle any higher than 9% alcohol, which is why it won't carbonate. With a proper yeast I wouldn't be surprised to see the FG below 1.000.

Might be hard to fix it... you won't be able to add champagne yeast or the like to the bottles - you can't be sure how much further it will ferment (you don't want gushers/exploding bottles).

Not sure about putting malt/lactose in ciders, I've never made one.

You could always mix with half lemonade; this will up the fizz, halve the alcohol content and add sweetness.

 

[sponge]

I only used the yeast which came with the kit, so I wouldnt have a clue. If it's any help, I used a BlackRock cider kit incase anyone knows what sort of yeast they use

If i was to make another one, would it be worth my while using an ale yeast so that it doesnt dry it out so much?

 

[tcraig20]

Dont panic about carbonation yet.

I bottled a batch of cider (pure juice with S04) a few weeks ago. The missus cracked one open the other night and it was only slightly carbonated. Maybe ciders just need a bit more time to carbonate?

We probably wont bother trying another one for a month or two now, that should sort it out.

 

[NRB]

Given how long ciders take to ferment, I wouldn't be surprised if they take a while to carbonate too. Are you sure it finished at 1.004 sponge? With all the fermentables coming from simple sugar (kit concentrate, 4.4L juice and 2kg white sugar) I would expect it to drop below 1.000 and be in the 0.990s. Lucky they're bottled in plastic.

 

[sponge]

well I let it ferment for about 14 days, and the FG stayed constant over the last 3 so I assumed that they were ready. I'll leave them for a month or so and see how they end up in terms of carbonation

Just still wondering if the addition of malt and lactose to the brew would prevent the cider from being too dry?