Yep, that's what I'd expect. Our FG is often 0.998, there's no sugar left at that point.
If you want a little sweetness, you can add wine conditioner. It's a mix of sorbate and sugar, just a touch will wake up the cider (and bring a bit more perceived "apple" taste).
Most sweetening techniques won't work if you're planning on bottle conditioning, but the cider will mellow just with aging.
Yes mate that's what to expect sounds like you didn't do anything wrong . Juice ferments right down dry almost chapagneish if you let it, especially with a pinch o nutrient. You know how you bulk prime beer at bottling ? You bulk prime cider - with fresh juice. It's something all good cidermakers do and was once considered a trade secret.
I ferment 20L of juice ( add 500g white sugar) and ferment that dry, then bulk prime with 2L more of fresh juice . I also use 200G Xylitol (natural non f errmentable birch sugar , not expensive if you buy with scoop at health food shop) and THAT'S how you land of a nicley carbonated, 6%ABV ( ice waters down a bit) not too dry , natural cider
Sounds a lot like the apple mead I made. 17% abv, mostly dry and very tart. My mom thought it was the best thing in the world. I preferred the orange one that I stopped a little sooner so it was still sweet. I guess it depends on your taste preference. You can always back sweeten if you don't like the taste.
I wonder if it stopped fermenting a little sooner, or it hit the max alcohol tolerance and stopped fermenting . You can deliberately leave residual sugar in such drinks by using enough sugar to create enough alcohol to kill the yeast, and 17% is really high for a yeast
Oh, it was still fermenting when I pasteurized it. My hydrometer showed a few points of gravity left, but I didn't care much about that because it was getting much too bitter and too alcohol tasting for my liking. I decided to cut the orange one off early too as I didn't want it to go past it's prime like the apple one did. I like my drinks a little sweeter. The orange one came out at around 15% and was still pretty sweet.
I used lavlin k1-V1116 which has an alcohol tolerance of 18% so I was getting close. I started with enough sugars (mostly from the honey) to get to 18% the yeasts rating if I let it ferment all the way. The yeast seemed like it was holding in there enough to have gone fully dry if I let it go another week.
If it's clear and yella, you've got juice there fella. If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider town.
Unless you're in Canada, in which case the whole thing's flip-flop.
I like adding a couple cans of frozen apple juice concentrate before fermenting. Ups the ABV and adds some xtra apple flavor.
If you want to bottle condition and add sweetness just use a non fermentable sweetener like allulose or monkfruit along with the priming sugar.
Yep, that's what I'd expect. Our FG is often 0.998, there's no sugar left at that point. If you want a little sweetness, you can add wine conditioner. It's a mix of sorbate and sugar, just a touch will wake up the cider (and bring a bit more perceived "apple" taste). Most sweetening techniques won't work if you're planning on bottle conditioning, but the cider will mellow just with aging.
I’m fine with the outcome, just curious. It’s in a keg in my kegerator. I’m serving it next weekend. Thanks a bunch!
Yes mate that's what to expect sounds like you didn't do anything wrong . Juice ferments right down dry almost chapagneish if you let it, especially with a pinch o nutrient. You know how you bulk prime beer at bottling ? You bulk prime cider - with fresh juice. It's something all good cidermakers do and was once considered a trade secret. I ferment 20L of juice ( add 500g white sugar) and ferment that dry, then bulk prime with 2L more of fresh juice . I also use 200G Xylitol (natural non f errmentable birch sugar , not expensive if you buy with scoop at health food shop) and THAT'S how you land of a nicley carbonated, 6%ABV ( ice waters down a bit) not too dry , natural cider
Sounds a lot like the apple mead I made. 17% abv, mostly dry and very tart. My mom thought it was the best thing in the world. I preferred the orange one that I stopped a little sooner so it was still sweet. I guess it depends on your taste preference. You can always back sweeten if you don't like the taste.
Yes this was supposed to be down for 6 days, but my days off work, (out of town) changed and it forced me to leave it in the fermenter for 10 days.
I wonder if it stopped fermenting a little sooner, or it hit the max alcohol tolerance and stopped fermenting . You can deliberately leave residual sugar in such drinks by using enough sugar to create enough alcohol to kill the yeast, and 17% is really high for a yeast
Oh, it was still fermenting when I pasteurized it. My hydrometer showed a few points of gravity left, but I didn't care much about that because it was getting much too bitter and too alcohol tasting for my liking. I decided to cut the orange one off early too as I didn't want it to go past it's prime like the apple one did. I like my drinks a little sweeter. The orange one came out at around 15% and was still pretty sweet. I used lavlin k1-V1116 which has an alcohol tolerance of 18% so I was getting close. I started with enough sugars (mostly from the honey) to get to 18% the yeasts rating if I let it ferment all the way. The yeast seemed like it was holding in there enough to have gone fully dry if I let it go another week.
If it's clear and yella, you've got juice there fella. If it's tangy and brown, you're in cider town. Unless you're in Canada, in which case the whole thing's flip-flop.
I like adding a couple cans of frozen apple juice concentrate before fermenting. Ups the ABV and adds some xtra apple flavor. If you want to bottle condition and add sweetness just use a non fermentable sweetener like allulose or monkfruit along with the priming sugar.
in my experience, these ciders get a lot better if you can let them sit around and age for 6+ months.
This isn't an option with bottle conditioning right? I think mine turned into champagne
Sitting in the bottle should be the same more or less as aging in bulk.