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parrothead600 · 11-19-2010, 01:12 AM

I'm new to making hard cider. I have a gallon of cider that I'm letting ferment naturally with no added yeast. When it is time to bottle it, I would like to use maple syrup or honey for priming.( Since I make my own maple syrup, I have an ample supply.)
Is this practical?
How much should I use for a 1 gallon batch?

**Bombo80** · 11-19-2010, 12:17 PM

It would be interesting to use maple syrup for priming. The issue is the amount to use. When bottling a 5 gallon batch, one would typically use about 5 oz corn sugar. This translates to about 3/4 cup (I believe). Scaling that down to a gallon would give you about 2.4 Tablespoons of sugar. When you use honey, or maple syrup, you actually would use a smaller amount than you would if you were using sugar. Typically about 25% less. So, with that in mind, for one gallon of cider, primed with either hiney or maple syrup, you would only need 1.8 Tablespoons.

I hoipe this helps.

reubadoob · 11-19-2010, 03:36 PM

I'm somewhat in the simillar situation. I have 2x 1 Gallon batches going right now however, I am using champagne yeast. I've been trying to figure out how I should prime the 1 Liter growler bottles I have. Any thoughs or suggestions?

**Revvy** · 11-19-2010, 04:03 PM

There's a chart of amounts listed in my bottling thread.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/index3.html#post1114892

**Bombo80** · 11-19-2010, 06:21 PM

reubadoob, since there are 3.78 liter to a gallon, calculating that out would give you about 1 1/2 teaspoons for a 1 liter growler. Not very much, so be careful.

reubadoob · 11-19-2010, 07:42 PM

Bombo80,
Thanks a bunch. I was trying to do this number crunching in a pretty large seminar haha! Thanks for helping out. Now, if only the cider would clear up...

parrothead600 · 11-20-2010, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revvy

There's a chart of amounts listed in my bottling thread.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/index3.html#post1114892

I folowed the link. One of the points mentioned is that with any priming sugars, the sugar should add 2-3 gravity points per gallon. So if I add maple syrup to my cider that has a reading of .996 , I should end up with a reading of .998 or .999 if the sugar porportion is correct. Am I understanding this correctly?

reubadoob · 11-20-2010, 12:30 PM

Found this during a quick google search:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-4.html

reubadoob · 11-26-2010, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bombo80

reubadoob, since there are 3.78 liter to a gallon, calculating that out would give you about 1 1/2 teaspoons for a 1 liter growler. Not very much, so be careful.

My girlfriend bought me the Mr. Beer brewing for my birthday yesterday. I made a batch and was looking through the instructions and it suggested for its 1 liter bottles to use 2 1/2 TEASPOONS for each bottle. Is this just because its a beer recipe? Honestly I expected less sugar added to the beer and more to the cider. Any suggestions? Thoughts? ETC?

Calder · 11-26-2010, 11:48 PM

For maple syrup, you should add about 1.25 ounces for a gallon. This assumes a similar sugar content to corn sugar and liquid malt extract. If it's + or - 10% from this, it will not matter.

You could check by disolving 1.25 ozs in half a pint of water and checking the gravity (corrected to 60 F). The gravity should be about 1.045. Once checked, you can boil (or pasturize at 160 F if you don't want to lose too much aroma) the half pint sample up and use it to prime the beer.

R'doob, it doesn't matter whether it is beer or cider. The yeast eat the same amount of priming sugar, and will therefore generate the same amount of CO2 and the same carbonation level in either cider or beer.

If you want more carbonation, you add more sugar; but beware, that the standard beer bottle is only designed to take standard beer carbonation levels. If you want higher carbonation levels you should use Champagne, or Belgian bottles with corks and wire, or get a keg system.