cider question

[Novice1]

I have 4 gallons of apple cider fermented to dryness and racked over to a 5 gallon carboy.
I tasted it and it seemed very acidic. So my tests indicate about 12% alcohol, PH test strip
indicates about 3.6, however the titration test indicates 0.85% acid. Is there anything I
can do to save this? I am considering adding sugar, and maybe 1.5 oz. potassium carbonate.
What do you recommend?
Tom

 

[Deezil]

Do you have a way to cold stabilize it? I'd try that first.
What's the SG? You could back sweeten to balance it out as well

Only try one thing at a time though, so you can understand the impact of each change individually

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

4 gallons of cider that is finished fermenting in a 5 gal carboy is to much headspace unless you are filling it with nitrogen or something else to keep the air out. WVMJ

 

[BernardSmith]

Could you add another gallon of less acidic apple juice and allow the addition to ferment on the cider you have already made? That would also solve the problem of the excessive headroom mentioned by WVMJ above

 

[GreginND]

The acid in apple is nearly all malic acid. I would try ML fermentation. It really reduced the acid and made a more rounded taste in my apple wine. If you have already added sulfites, you will have to wait until your SO2 levels drop.

Or - sweeten it in the end to balance the acid. I don't think I would add carbonate at this point.

Just a point of clarification - you called it a cider but said the alcohol was 12%. Did you add sugar prior to fermentation? If so, it is an apple wine, not a cider. The sugar levels of apple juice would be lower than that of wine resulting in a lower alcoholic beverage.

 

[Novice1]

I sincerely appreciate all the responses! Deezil; WVMounaineerJack; BernardSmith; and GreginND. I added a gallon of apple juice and a little water to bring it up to the neck space in the carboy. It appears to be slowly fermenting, again. The SG prior to that was 1.000. Besides the book on cider (I have a book on wine making also and have a few bottles of plum wine aging) I have gotten information from many sources. Some not so great advice in the past. I probably confused the target SG of wine with my cider and I did add sugar to start fermentation with a SG of 1.100. Now with your help I understand that for cider I should be happy starting with a SG of about 1.060. I do not know what Cold Stabilizing is, but at any rate I do not have a way to refrigerate it at this point. Is there a way to test the SO2 levels? Thank you all for your clarification/education/support and advice. I will let you know how it works out and what else I do as it progresses.

 

[GreginND]

Cold stabilization is irrelevant for you as it won't drop any acid. It is used in grape wines that contain tartaric acid and the potassium bitartrate precipitates out of the wine when it is chilled (cold stabilized). It will do nothing for dropping acid out of apple juice as the acid is primarily malic acid.

 

[Deezil]

Yeah, I was off with the cold stabilization tidbit..

 

[Novice1]

FYI- the fermentation has slowed almost to a stop. the SG is now 0.992. I titrated again and the acid is 0.75%. still tastes excessively dry or acidic. I racked off a gallon and added 4 oz. of sugar. It initially foamed up a lot and is still to dry/acidic to taste. I am now considering adding the potassium carbonate to cut the acid. Any recommendations?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Some of the acidity might be due to the CO2, did you degass before you did you test? Age might be your best bet. WVMJ

 

[Novice1]

No, I did not. How does one degas?
I was wondering if I should add sugar?
Rack off into gallon jugs or wine bottles and seal them to age?
Try Pot. Carb. in one jug to see what develops?

 

[Arne]

Did you stabalize the gallon before you added the sugar to it. If not, it will probably referment for you. Try just drawing a glass, add a little sugar, taste. Add a little more and taste. Do it again, see if it gets where you like it. Adding to the glass you are ok, if you add to the batch you have to stabalize or itwill most likely take off again. Stabalize with and addition of k-meta and sorbate. Arne.