cider help

[jordnthoms]

just started my cider by mashing 40lb apples adding KS2O5 and pectic enzyme.
it was about 4 gallons and IMPOSSIBLE to get a gravity on.
I left behind about 1 gallon of applesauce when I moved from bucket to carboy (wanted to change yeast) and now i have 3 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy. The SG reads 1.040 and it is nowhere near done, but tastes like it is anywhere from 4-6% (the sugar makes that judgement difficult).
anyway, i know the yeast will probably carry to about 1.010 and I was wondering what I could do to keep the flavor if I water it down. The esters are already pretty weak (I boiled some of the apples... whoops) and I taste mostly alcohol and bitter in it.
if i added a 1/2lb oats (after a protein and sac rest, maybe a boil?), 2 gallons of water, and 1lb of brown sugar (already put in 2), might the oat factor give the cider some body to mask the alcohol flavor?

 

[CormanoWild]

The alcohol flavor in cider has never been a big factor for me, especially as the cider ages - aging in the primary or secondary seems to reduce the alcohol flavor the fastest, but bottle aging works well, as well.
If you add brown sugar, that'll *increase* the alcohol content, too - obviously.

If you just want to add "body," I might suggest just adding molasses - that's what gives brown sugar the brownness, anyway. Be careful, though, molasses is fairly strong stuff.

Adding straight water - especially 2 gallons of it - to 3 gallons will almost definitely ruin what you have going on, I think.
The oats are probably the best bet of what you've suggested, though .5 lbs for 3 gallons seems like possibly too much. Not a big expert on oats, though.

If you really want to mask the alcohol flavor, I would suggest:
1) Waiting. How long has this been fermenting? If it's not even done yet, it's probably too soon to assume it's ruined. Even when it's done, I've had stuff taste awful in the fermenter and taste perfectly good afterwards.
2) Waiting.
3) Molasses, cinnamon, spices like that
4) Oats

Other possible suggestions:
Make a "Cinnamon extract" by pouring about 10-12 oz of rum into a bottle that you can seal airtight (I use a Mickey's malt liquor "grenade," if you have one around - hooray for wide mouths!) and adding "cidery" spices. Think nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, etc. Once you've got this, you can add to taste, and it can definitely hide "off" flavors. But! It takes 2+ weeks to extract out well.
Try adding oak chips, at the rate of about .1 (weight) ounces per gallon of cider, and leaving for about a week. I've found this can help give cider more "body," from the tannins in the oak.

Above all: Don't throw in water equal to 66% of your cider! I cannot possibly imagine that will be anything less than a disaster.

 

[jordnthoms]

I feel the water will reduce potential alcohol from about 10% to 6% and if I add more brown sugar that will be around 7%. Then by adding this oat, molasses, and oak "water" I can increase body and reduce ABV.

Anyway, central point, I feel I must add the water, or the alcohol will be monstrously overwhelming.

 

[CormanoWild]

You could also try tossing in some raisins, along with the oats and molasses, and simply call it day as having made a kind of "New England-style" apelfwein.

But I guess if you really do have 10% ABV and you want 6%, then there is no real alternative to adding water, haha.

I still find it really hard to believe you could have gotten the OG needed for a 10% cider using just mashed apples alone, though...

 

[Yan]

I got up to 9% on my most recent batch using rather over-ripe apples of very sweet varieties. It can happen, especially with some of the newer types of apple varieties, like fuji or gala. Tarter apples have more flavour in them though, usually.