Starting sg - off the scale for wholefood cider

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mgideon

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Hello,
I'm in the middle of 4 1 gallon batches of cider. I went to whole foods and got the cider in the glass jugs.

All four of them had a starting specific gravity of higher than 1.09 - that is as high as my refractometer goes. Has anyone go a good start reading from this stuff? I did not add anything to it.

Batch start sg Yeast ending sg
A 1.09 plus RedStar Chamagen
B 1.09 plus Cotes des Blancs
C 1.09 plus Lalvin 71B-1122
D 1.09 plus Nottingham Ale yeast

I want it sweet and carbonated, so I will back sweeten it, but to calculate the ABV I need a good starting sg.

Do most use hydrometers? I have one for my salt water tank somewhere, but I don't trust it as much and I don't know the scale.

Thanks,
noob here - 1st post, but I've read hundreds

Mike
 
Are you sure you are taking the reading correctly? I've only done 5 gallons of WF 365 but all of them were roughly 1.040 - 1.050 and after adding 4oz of ajc, my highest SG was 1.058.
 
mgideon said:
Hello,
I'm in the middle of 4 1 gallon batches of cider. I went to whole foods and got the cider in the glass jugs.

All four of them had a starting specific gravity of higher than 1.09 - that is as high as my refractometer goes. Has anyone go a good start reading from this stuff? I did not add anything to it.

Batch start sg Yeast ending sg
A 1.09 plus RedStar Chamagen
B 1.09 plus Cotes des Blancs
C 1.09 plus Lalvin 71B-1122
D 1.09 plus Nottingham Ale yeast

I want it sweet and carbonated, so I will back sweeten it, but to calculate the ABV I need a good starting sg.

Do most use hydrometers? I have one for my salt water tank somewhere, but I don't trust it as much and I don't know the scale.

Thanks,
noob here - 1st post, but I've read hundreds

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike, this is actually really interesting. About 6 weeks ago I bought 3 gallons of the whole foods 365 pasteurized and unfiltered cider (comes in the large 1 gallon glass carboy). Using my hydrometer I measured the SG before additives, and it was consistently between 1.050-1.055.

My basic questions for you are, do you have a temperature reading along with your SG reading? You may need to correct your SG for the temperature.

Otherwise, it may be possible that whole foods is supplying different batches of cider to different regions? I got mine in Columbus, OH if that helps.
 
You kegging? Sweet AND carbonated might be difficult without a forced carb setup.

Man I almost bought that cider this weekend..... but holy crap it was 9$ a gallon at my Whole Foods in Colorado. I passed. Since when does 'Organic' = 'Made from Gold'. Screw them. Went with a King Soopers selection that was 5$/gal.
 
Have you calibrated your refractometer recently? You'll want to check the calibration with water and the test solution that came with it.
 
I'm in Monterey by the coast and it is fairly mellow year round. It was probably 68 degrees that day.

I did zero my refractometer. When I was in the local brew store last weekend, I mentioned my refractometer was from my aquarium. The guy said that won't work. I don't understand why. Specific Gravity is specific gravity, right?

I am not kegging. But I did backsweeten and them pasteurize like the sticky explained.

I started with
8/18/13 8/24/13 8/24/13 w 3/4 cup sugar
A 1.09 + 1.01 1.058
B 1.09 + 1.042 1.056
C 1.09+ 1.036 1.061
D 1.09+ 1.42 can't read my writing....

After sweetening , I loved the taste of C and D and bottled them. I let them set for 2 days, then I pasteurized.

Do these readings seem more like an accurate reading?

Thanks,
Mike
 
Refractometers don't measure density directly. They measure the reflection of light passing through a solution and a prism. That reflection angle then translates to a specific gravity.

The refractometer prisms are designed and calibrated for the different types of solutions. An aquarium refractometers are calibrated for aquarium salt water. They will have a disclaimer on them saying the prism is not calibrated for natural sea water. The prism also won't be calibrated for sugar, which is what brewing refractometers are for.

So you are right, specific gravity is specific gravity. But refractometers are not universal.
 

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