Airgead
Ohhh... I can write anything I like here
- Joined
- 6/4/05
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All my ciders are too dry. How do I make them sweeter? I'm sick of adding a shot of apple juice to the glass when serving.
Sweet cider is hard. The easiest way is to learn to enjoy the complexity of a traditional dry cider and forget the lolly water they sell as cider in the shops.
But its for my missus. She likes sweet stuff.
Sure it is…
Are you going to help me or not?
OK. OK. Sweet cider. To get a sweet cider you can either add sweetness to a finished dry cider or stop the fermentation before it finishes.
What’s easiest?
Neither. There are significant challenges with both. But sweetening a finished cider is probably a little bit easier.
OK. Lets do that then.
The problem you have is that most sweeteners are fermentable so when you add them, you risk kicking fermentation off again which will give you a dry cider again (and potentially bottle bombs). So the challenge is to prevent re-fermentation.
So how do I do that?
The easiest way is to use a non-fermentable sweetener. Artificial sweeteners are one option…
Yech. They taste foul.
… but some people find the taste unpleasant so they may not work for you. Another option is an unfermentable natural sugar. Lactose is the usual one but some people are allergic and its not very sweet anyway so all it can do is take the edge off a little. It won’t give you anything really sweet.
None of that sounds very helpful…
I told you it wasn't easy. The other way you can add sweetness is to stop the yeast from working. That way you can sweeten using whatever you want and you will be fine.
Great! How do I do that then?
Easiest way is temperature. If you can keep the whole batch cold, you will stop the yeast from working. This is easiest when kegging – just stick the keg in the fridge and force carb. With bottles, you need to leave the bottles warm just long enough to carbonate but not long enough to explode and then keep them cold until you drink them.
What happens if I let the bottles get warm?
The yeast kicks off again and you end up with a dry cider… and they will probably go boom.
I don’t have kegs… is there another way?
Yes. You can stop the yeast from fermenting. Good news is that this works for sweetening after fermentation or stopping fermentation while still sweet.
Great! How does it work?
Couple of ways you can do it. Sterile filtration is one. That physically removes all the yeast but it does require some slightly pricey equipment.
Humm… I’m on a budget. What else?
Well, you can use chemical methods.
Like what?
Potassium sorbate (also known as sorbistat) is the usual way. Sorbate stops yeast from reproducing. What you do is let the cider ferment out dry then clear. Then you rack the clear cider off the yeast cake and add sorbate. That way when you add the sweetener, there isn't enough yeast left to ferment it out and it stays sweet. It will ferment very, very slowly as the remaining cells will stay active, they just won’t increase in numbers. You can also add some sulphates to kelp kill off the remaining yeast and further reduce the number of viable cells.
Sounds great!
But there is a catch…
*sigh*. What’s the catch
No viable yeast means you can’t bottle carb. You will need to force carb which probably means kegs. Didn't you say you used bottles? By the way, that’s a catch for sterile filtration as well.
Yep. Damn! So what else will work?
Well… there is bottle pasteurization…
Will that let me bottle condition and leave things sweet?
Yes… but…
*Sigh* What’s the catch?
Well… it works like this – you take your cider and either add sweetener or bottle while still sweet. Then you cap and leave them to carb, but not long enough to explode. Then you take the bottles, which have an unknown pressure rating, and contain an unknown pressure, then you bung them in boiling water which raises the internal pressure to a higher but still unknown amount.
That doesn't sound very safe.
It isn't. Bottles go foom and spray glass and boiling water all over the place.
But don’t commercial operations do it that way?
Yes.. but they aren't using random second hand bottles. They know the exact engineering specs for the bottles they use. They also have their process down pat and know exactly how much pressure is in each bottle. So they can do it safely. You can’t.
Damn! Any other options?
Well.. there’s Keeving which is a traditional process that strips out the nutrients from the juice and intentionally stalls the fermentation, but that requires you to be using fresh apples and its not a totally reliable technique. The instructions I have seen list about a dozen ways it won’t work and the solution is always “let it ferment out dry and bottle as a dry cider”.
Anything else?
Well… there’s the simplest way of all.
What’s that?
Add a shot of apple juice in the glass when serving.
That sounds like a plan.
Sweet cider is hard. The easiest way is to learn to enjoy the complexity of a traditional dry cider and forget the lolly water they sell as cider in the shops.
But its for my missus. She likes sweet stuff.
Sure it is…
Are you going to help me or not?
OK. OK. Sweet cider. To get a sweet cider you can either add sweetness to a finished dry cider or stop the fermentation before it finishes.
What’s easiest?
Neither. There are significant challenges with both. But sweetening a finished cider is probably a little bit easier.
OK. Lets do that then.
The problem you have is that most sweeteners are fermentable so when you add them, you risk kicking fermentation off again which will give you a dry cider again (and potentially bottle bombs). So the challenge is to prevent re-fermentation.
So how do I do that?
The easiest way is to use a non-fermentable sweetener. Artificial sweeteners are one option…
Yech. They taste foul.
… but some people find the taste unpleasant so they may not work for you. Another option is an unfermentable natural sugar. Lactose is the usual one but some people are allergic and its not very sweet anyway so all it can do is take the edge off a little. It won’t give you anything really sweet.
None of that sounds very helpful…
I told you it wasn't easy. The other way you can add sweetness is to stop the yeast from working. That way you can sweeten using whatever you want and you will be fine.
Great! How do I do that then?
Easiest way is temperature. If you can keep the whole batch cold, you will stop the yeast from working. This is easiest when kegging – just stick the keg in the fridge and force carb. With bottles, you need to leave the bottles warm just long enough to carbonate but not long enough to explode and then keep them cold until you drink them.
What happens if I let the bottles get warm?
The yeast kicks off again and you end up with a dry cider… and they will probably go boom.
I don’t have kegs… is there another way?
Yes. You can stop the yeast from fermenting. Good news is that this works for sweetening after fermentation or stopping fermentation while still sweet.
Great! How does it work?
Couple of ways you can do it. Sterile filtration is one. That physically removes all the yeast but it does require some slightly pricey equipment.
Humm… I’m on a budget. What else?
Well, you can use chemical methods.
Like what?
Potassium sorbate (also known as sorbistat) is the usual way. Sorbate stops yeast from reproducing. What you do is let the cider ferment out dry then clear. Then you rack the clear cider off the yeast cake and add sorbate. That way when you add the sweetener, there isn't enough yeast left to ferment it out and it stays sweet. It will ferment very, very slowly as the remaining cells will stay active, they just won’t increase in numbers. You can also add some sulphates to kelp kill off the remaining yeast and further reduce the number of viable cells.
Sounds great!
But there is a catch…
*sigh*. What’s the catch
No viable yeast means you can’t bottle carb. You will need to force carb which probably means kegs. Didn't you say you used bottles? By the way, that’s a catch for sterile filtration as well.
Yep. Damn! So what else will work?
Well… there is bottle pasteurization…
Will that let me bottle condition and leave things sweet?
Yes… but…
*Sigh* What’s the catch?
Well… it works like this – you take your cider and either add sweetener or bottle while still sweet. Then you cap and leave them to carb, but not long enough to explode. Then you take the bottles, which have an unknown pressure rating, and contain an unknown pressure, then you bung them in boiling water which raises the internal pressure to a higher but still unknown amount.
That doesn't sound very safe.
It isn't. Bottles go foom and spray glass and boiling water all over the place.
But don’t commercial operations do it that way?
Yes.. but they aren't using random second hand bottles. They know the exact engineering specs for the bottles they use. They also have their process down pat and know exactly how much pressure is in each bottle. So they can do it safely. You can’t.
Damn! Any other options?
Well.. there’s Keeving which is a traditional process that strips out the nutrients from the juice and intentionally stalls the fermentation, but that requires you to be using fresh apples and its not a totally reliable technique. The instructions I have seen list about a dozen ways it won’t work and the solution is always “let it ferment out dry and bottle as a dry cider”.
Anything else?
Well… there’s the simplest way of all.
What’s that?
Add a shot of apple juice in the glass when serving.
That sounds like a plan.
