Increasing alc % in cider / general newbie question

[Bribie G]

I'd repeat my suggestion of doing a dry cider then sweeten in the glass with Bickfords.
Turns out as good as many of the ciders that seem to fill the display cabinets in the bottlos nowadays.

 

[Bunneez]

Thanks for the advice

 

[manticle]

Keep in mind that 1053 will ferment right down to 1000 or even lower so abv without sugar additions will still be up around 6%.

 

[Bribie G]

As my mate found out when he made a batch and ended up in hospital after falling unconscious and inhaling a fair bit of it :unsure:
Shouldn't have smoked all that hootie with it, of course.

 

[Blind Dog]

There's still pubs where I grew up (Somerset) that will only serve you more than a 1/2 pint of the local cider if they know you - mind you if they know you, they might not serve you it at all.

If you want a sweeter cider (and it still wont be sweet like the industrial flavoured shit) then pick a low attenuating yeast like WLP 720, or one with a low alcohol tolerance so it dies off before all the sugar has been consumed (can't think of one that'll drop before 9 or 10%, although there might be one). People often use white wine or champagne yeasts, a cider yeast or a neutral ale yeast, but they'll all end up dry as the apple juice is pretty much all fermentable sugars. Malolactic fermentation, which happens naturally but slowly in a lot of traditional ciders, also lessens dryness as malic acid is converted to lactic acid, but I doubt you'll get much of it happening with the juice you have.

The simplest way to sweeten though is to follow Bribie G's suggestion and brew the cider as is and back sweeten as required with fresh apple juice or cordial in the glass or even in the keg if you're kegging (if the keg is cold the yeast will still be working, but very slowly).