My Cider Dilema

So my wife and I were in upstate NY and visited a cider mill. I picked up 4 gallons of fresh pressed cider with no preservatives. When I got home, I added 3 pounds of honey and a pound of Belgian candy sugar. My OG was at 1.077. I used red star champagne yeast and now I am regretting it. From what I have read this yeast takes a long time to drop out and will dry it all the way. I wanted to make this a sparkling sweet cider. What I would like to do is stop the yeasties. If I add some chemical to kill the yeast I cant carbonate it in the bottles. So what I was thinking was to transfer it to a secondary when it gets around 1.02, let it go a bit longer in the secondary. Then I would bottle and let carbonate for a week or so. At that point, I will pasteurize the bottles so the yeast stops working and does not cause bottle bombs. Do you think the time I bottle and carbonate will cause bombs before I get to pasteurize? I am a little worried.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Myers on September 16, 2010 at 9:54pm

Just a thought. If the fermentation hasn't really started yet, perhaps make a starter with a boatload of the strain of yeast that you want. Perhaps it will take over the cider and give you the character you want.

Also, if you do a secondary and add a non fermentable sugar such as maltodextrine, it might cut out the dryness a little bit and add some of the sweetness you are looking for.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Roseman on September 17, 2010 at 8:29am

It already started, its been like 8 days in primary. I am thinking about backsweetening with some type of non-fermentable sugar. The think is unless i let it go in the secondary for a while, there will still be active yeast in the bottles.