Cider Digest #0112

Published in

· 7 months ago

Subject: Cider Digest #112 Thu Feb 13 18:00:07 EST 1992 
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 18:00:09 EST 
From: cider-request@expo.lcs.mit.edu (Are you SURE you want to send it HERE?) 

Cider Digest #112          Thu Feb 13 18:00:07 EST 1992 
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues 
Jay Hersh, Digest Coordinator 

Contents: 
  Sweet mead/cider (Chuck Coronella) 

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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 92 13:41 MTS 
From: Chuck Coronella <CORONELLRJDS@che.utah.edu> 
Subject: Sweet mead/cider 

A question about making sweet ciders/meads.  Since yeasts will tend to 
ferment out the compounds which bring about sweetness, I see only three 
possibilities for making a sweet final product:  

1) Add honey (or other fermentables) in high concentrations, to achieve a 
very high OG, >1.150, depending on the particular strain of yeast.  

2) After fermentation is complete, add a "stabilizer", or preservative, 
such as sodium benzoate (?), (recently mentioned by Aaron Birenboim.)  Then 
add additional fermentables, such as raw apple juice, or honey, or even 
malt extract.  

3) (Similar to the previous)  Add apple juice (or another), containing a 
preservative, directly to the finished product before bottling.  

I like #1 because it seems more authentic and more "pure".  OTOH, it seems 
risky; it would be difficult to predict the level of sweetness beforehand. 
I don't know much about the effectiveness or the taste consequences or even 
the availability of #2. I just thought of #3 off the top of my head; I 
don't know if the amount of preservative in a small addition of AJ would be 
enough to stabilize an entire batch.  Opinions?  

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--==-  

On another note, let me report the progress of the cyser (apple juice mead) 
I started in December:  

It seems to have finished fermenting.  The OG went down from 1.123 to 1.020 
(or thereabouts, can't remember exactly.)  I racked it into another carboy, 
where it's sitting.  I am in no hurry to bottle it; I have two other 
carboys available for brewing, and I intend to let it age for many months. 
It doesn't seem to matter whether it ages in the carboy or in bottles. I 
tasted it upon racking; wow, I'm not used to alcohol levels like that. 
Pretty strong.  It had no off flavors nor smells.  Just alcohol.  I'm 
hoping it will mellow with age.  

Cheers,  
Chuck  

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