HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Hello all

I am a complete newbie to home brew.
I recently bought a coopers brew kit and did the kit beer as per the instructions with no added extras.
I have not tasted it yet as it was bottled last 8 days ago. Half PET and half Glass tallies

To keep the missus happy i have put down a brigalow apple cidar.
My recipe as follows as chosen by reading other recipes on here.

Can of Brigalow apple cidar
1Kg of dextrose
2.4L of Berri apple juice
2.4L of Berri apple and pear juice.
cinnamon stick
made to 18L
OG was 1050
It has been fementing for 10 days now and the gravity is at 1000 and has been for 2 days

The problem is that it is very dry and tastes like a champagne.
The question is can I add anything to it now to sweeten it up like lactose to each bottle or to the whole amount.
I will be bottling with half PET and half glass tallies using carbonation drops.

Thanks in advance
Jason

Jason, you certainly can add some lactose at this stage - just dissolve it (say 500g or so?) in some boiling water and gently stir it through your brew with a very carefully sanitised spoon. Leave the yeast to settle back down and Bob's your mother's brother. I've tried this with a very similar brew (Blackrock kit instead, slightly more juice I think) and it definitely wasn't massively dry but it wasn't anywhere near Strongbow sweet cider territory if that's what you think your missus will be after.

An alternative to lactose is just bottling as is and mix with a bit of apple juice on serving. After having used lactose I much prefer this method to add a little sweetness to a dry cider. Should help to fight the champagne taste a little too. Oh, yeah - don't worry about that champagne-y thing - over time it will fade out. If they're not quite good to go after either the lactose or the apple juice just sit on them a bit and it will get better.