HomebrewandBeer.com forum

hi all ..made brew useing just bought juice and yeastand some apple and black current
worked well but gosh its dry/bitter
after 6 or 7 its ok
but would love it to be a lot sweeter
put down last lot with 1k dex mix before botteling would 2 or 3k help in 18 ltr,s
at moment im putting 60ml of cascade b/c juice in it to drink
biggest prob is between new brew and drinking time to see if its ok
thanks all great forum

Dextrose is more-or-less entirely fermentable so dries out the brew. I make cider with just juice and yeast and find that it works well.

Also look at the yeast strain you're using. Cider yeasts tend to attenuate pretty highly, leaving a drier product. I use US-05, which is a neutral ale yeast, and find that there are enough sugars left unfermented to still have some residual sweetness.

If you try those changes and still want it a bit sweeter, try adding 500g of lactose. Lactose is a sugar derived from milk and is just about completely unfermentable, so it adds sweetness to the brew.

I also heard some advice about using artificial sweeteners before bottling.... never tried it because it sounded horrible.

FWIW you might want to try the Wyeast Cider strain. It doesn't go too dry and it gives a nice fruity cider.

thanks all