Dupuy Draft Cider (version 2)

The Label

This was the second version of Dupuy Draft Cider. I chose this recipe because it involved a boil, while the original recipe, described here, was simply cider and yeast. In this new version, I boiled a gallon of water and added some Dry Malt Extract (DME), brown sugar, cane sugar, and some cinnamon. Once that was chilled I added the apple juice and an ale yeast. After transferring this beer to the secondary I added some corn sugar and more apple juice. Before bottling I added some apple sweetener, which is commonly used when making fruit wine.
Kati helped design this label, since the recipe was for her. The picture has two apples hanging on a Christmas tree, since this was bottled in December.
This batch definitely tasted different than the first batch, but it is still not quite sweet enough. I learned a few lessons from this beer. First brown sugar does not leave a taste, it simply converts to alcohol like cane sugar. Secondly adding sugar in the secondary does not add sweetness, as it is completely converted to alcohol. Lastly I may need to go back to the cider yeast strain used in the first recipe, as beer and wine yeasts make the taste too dry.
For my next attempt at cider I might try to sweeten the cider with a non-fermentable sugar such as lactose, or I may halt the yeast and then add apple juice or cider and force carbonate with CO2. Ultimately I would like use freshly squeezed juice, either directly from an orchard or with a press at home.