can I add apple juice to my already fermenting cider??

Dear all

First time at making cider and for several reasons, I've started off one batch and now have more apples....

Can I add the fresh juice whilst the first batch is still fermenting? Or do I need to start a whole new batch?

The first batch is only about 2.5 gallons in a 5 gallon wine fermenter, so there is plenty of room....

Sorry to be a klutz - next year will be more organised

Linda

hey linda.... i don t think that it s a problem. you ll have active yeast in your cider now. they ll be happy to munch on the sugars of the added juice. it will just take some more time.

but make sure to leave enough head-room so that the foam won t clog the airlock.

good luck and enjoy!
tobias

Yes you can add more juice to your cider mash without any problem.
Do take a sample and use an alcoholmeter to find out what the new dilution reads alcohol content wise so you will know if your yeast is still viable.
Unless you are using a distiller's or Winemaker's yeast with a high alcohol tolerance, you may have already reached the point of yeast kill.
If that's the case, you will need to re-pitch the yeast. If it hasn't gotten to the upper tolerance levels yet, you should be good to go.

I like to use an 18% tolerance wine yeast for cider making. There are distiller yeast varieties that can survive up to 20% alcohol content and one or two that can go to around 22%. That would be very stout apple jack territory.

I love to make an apple brandy and for it I use distiller's yeast that shuts down around 20% alcohol. I get more brandy per kettle fill that way.

Redhawk

Yet another excellent post, Bryant.
John S
PDX OR

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Do take a sample and use an alcoholmeter to find out what the new dilution reads alcohol content wise so you will know if your yeast is still viable.
Unless you are using a distiller's or Winemaker's yeast with a high alcohol tolerance, you may have already reached the point of yeast kill.
If that's the case, you will need to re-pitch the yeast. If it hasn't gotten to the upper tolerance levels yet, you should be good to go.

I would add that apple juice is generally around 10% sugar, so unless sugar/honey/etc. was added, the max ethanol content would be about 5% since roughly half the weight of the sugar gets converted to CO2. Most yeasts (even baker's yeast) should be able able to tolerate that level, but if sugar was added (or concentrated) distiler's or wine yeast may be be needed.

Dear all - thank you so much for replies - really useful!

Linda

Just curious,as a Permie,but in the absence of refined sugar,honey,maple syrup etc,could one just cook down the juice to increase the percentage of sugar? Prior to the pitching of the yeast of course.

William Bronson wrote: Just curious,as a Permie,but in the absence of refined sugar,honey,maple syrup etc,could one just cook down the juice to increase the percentage of sugar? Prior to the pitching of the yeast of course.

Yes and no. If you boil down the cider in a process similar to what is done for maple syrup, then yes, you will concentrate the sugar. The problem is that at about 175F the pectin in cider denatures and falls out of solution, so your final product will be different from traditional cider.

Yes you can add more juice to your cider mash without any problem. The best way to back sweeten cider is to kill off the yeast and then sweeten with sugar or fruit.

From my experience I can advise you that you should start a new batch .This is an advice .thanks apple have full of    Antioxidants

John Wolfram, thanks for your feedback. Can you say, what exact cider manufacturers do you recommend to try and reproduce their flavors and tastes? I've tasted few bottles of somerset cider from Crafty Nectar lately, and I truly love it. Do you think is it worth to try and reproduce that cider taste and flavor in the home conditions?

Usually I take a small bottle of yeast and start it in a liter of apple juice with pulp or mixed with a little flour to make Mead and Apple Wine.
That gives the barrel a good head start.

So what should be the difference if you produce more by adding fresh apple juice?
The yeast will die when the sugar is gone or the alcohol level has reached a for yeast deadly level.

Can you use brown sugar in place of white? In wine.

Iron Angel wrote:Can you use brown sugar in place of white? In wine.

I would leave brown sugar where it belongs to.. Cakes, Molasses and sweet bakery stuff.....

1st you need more brown sugar than white and the color would give it a little of rust water touch. Not very beneficial at all.
2nd the taste would be significantly changing to the bad...

If you really want to do something good and increase the quality of your brew you should go for brewing sugar which is based on or is even dextrose.
That stuff dissolves 100%, does not colorize your wine and the fermentation is beside faster also cleaner than any other kind of sugar.

My Grandpa was a burned child from the WW2 food shortage and even in the 70th still thinking he needed to make his Moonshine, his wine and pickles.
The Cellar was always a hidden secret where he was spending a lot of his retirement days...

I remember that people of the surrounding villages sneaked into his cellar and bought what he had to offer.
Some usual and some very 'exotic' drinks changed the bottle to money.
Cherry Wine, Dandelion Flower Wine, Mead from Bee Honey and his always famous Sloe Wine which had a character that couldn't get any closer to a good red wine as you can get.  

I still see him with his raised indicator Finger, a mimic like a high degree scientist telling me:
Traubenzucker ist das A und O des guten Weines!
(Dextrose is the A & O of a good wine)

I thought by myself: One day I will be getting rich making grandfather's wine...
....Well, at least I can make a great wine and get nicely drunk from time to time

is what your making sometimes called apple jack? or like what they have in bottles in grocery store called apple cider vinegar