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Hey guys. have gotten my hands on a load of mixed apples and hope to juice and press them before the weekend. the last batch of cider I made came out very tart so this time im using about 1kg of honey and some sugar. was thinking of adding some of those artificial sweeteners when bottling up. they wont ferment so should help. would welcome any advice from anyone who has a bit more experience. cheers.

Hi Nigel.

If you add sugar/honey that is going to make the cider stronger, and won't help with the tartness. The honey might leave some residual sweetness, but will take away from the taste of the apples. You can add some splenda or something when bottling, but the best thing is to leave the cider condition for about 6 months before drinking it, and it should be really good then. How long did you wait last time before drinking?

Cheers,
Billy.

Nigel, do a search online for "keeving" or "cuivage".
It's an advanced technique, but it's the way of removing nitrogen so that the yeast hasn't enough nutrients and stops early and leaves some sugars behind. It's the traditional Breton cider makers method of making a sweet cider with very little additives, apart from the stuff used to cause the "brown cap" to form.

Do you have a kegerator ? If you added a natural sweetner such as honey or apple juice to a cornie and then kept the cornie in a kegerator, this should prevent the yeast from fermenting the sugar....I think.

"Diablo":1o9dabbc wrote: Do you have a kegerator ? If you added a natural sweetner such as honey or apple juice to a cornie and then kept the cornie in a kegerator, this should prevent the yeast from fermenting the sugar....I think.[/quote:1o9dabbc]

It won't prevent it totally, it'll just slow it down massively.