Cider and Fruit in the secondary... gravity high?

Other Fermentables
1

First off… I’ve been brewing beer for about 5 years but am brand new to ciders. This is my second cider and the first with fruit. Here it goes…

I fermented 2 gallons of store bought juice with WLP 775. The OG was 1.058. FG was 0.998.

I racked the above into secondary. Secondary I have 2 pounds of dried apricots that I re-hydrated and pasteurized in 3 quarts of unfermented apple juice. I assume 2 pounds of dried apricots is probably equal to 4 pounds of fresh fruit. I though the cider that I fermented would start up fermentation again in secondary but I just sampled it (still in secondary fermenter) and its very sweet. I put on my refractometer and it is at SG 1.055. Here are my questions…

  • I’ve never made beer or cider on fruit… should it have fermented out or should I expect it to be very sweet?
  • Should I just wait longer (its been in secondary for a week) and see of the gravity goes down?
  • Should I add yeast to the secondary to see if it ferments more? Maybe all of the yeast dropped out of it n primary?

As a side note… I’ve got 2 more gallons of juice i’ve been fermenting. I can always use this to blend and bring down the sweetness.

Thanks for any help!

2

Refractometer is not at all accurate in presence of alcohol.  It tends to read way higher than it really is.  Use a hydrometer.

Added fruit will take at least another month to ferment out.  Patience.

No need to add more yeast.

3

I am on my second cider as well; both have included fruit. I simply added the pureed fruit with the juice at the beginning then let them ferment together. I backsweeten with one can of concentrated juice.