Average SG of apple juice

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Firstnten

Firstnten

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I was wondering what is the average SG of apple juice fresh pressed vs. edworts Motts (before adding sugar) or whatever brand you use.

I have been getting juice from two orchards next time I'm going to take an SG reading before adding anything.

One orchards juice is much darker and seems to be more viscous then the other.
 
I just bought some President's Choice Apple Juice, not from concentrate, that was on sale at Jewel, the SG came out to 1.050. Not sure about fresh squeezed or natural cider.
 
So far I've used many different jug ciders and juices, usually they all come in at around 1.048-1.058. Treetop/Motts/hanson's and similar come in at 1.050, cheap-o store brand comes in a bit lower, 1.048-1.050, Martinelli's is 1.055 (IIRC my notes are all packed away in boxes from the move). Cloudy ciders clock in at a higher amount usually, from 1.052-1.058, the latter being fresh pressed from a local orchard, but it really varies on their blend.
 
Is there anything to prevent one from just pitching an ale yeast like Safale US-05 into Martinelli's? I know that the ApfelWein threads talk about wine yeast and added fermentables, but I am looking more for a hard sparkling cider than a white wine style Apfelwein.

Or is that over simple approach: No added sugar, no sulfites, etc just asking for trouble?
 
de_ronde said:
Is there anything to prevent one from just pitching an ale yeast like Safale US-05 into Martinelli's? I know that the ApfelWein threads talk about wine yeast and added fermentables, but I am looking more for a hard sparkling cider than a white wine style Apfelwein.

Or is that over simple approach: No added sugar, no sulfites, etc just asking for trouble?
Click to expand...

White labs has a english cider yeast maybe you would want to try that. I have yet to add anything other then sugar to any of my ciders.
 
I actually prefur no added sugars in my ciders. also, the english cider yeast from white labs makes a pretty good DRY cider, very wine-like, I still say grabbing up some basic juice/cider and pitching s-04 into it will work quite well for most people.
 
Freezeblade said:
So far I've used many different jug ciders and juices, usually they all come in at around 1.048-1.058. Treetop/Motts/hanson's and similar come in at 1.050, cheap-o store brand comes in a bit lower, 1.048-1.050, Martinelli's is 1.055 (IIRC my notes are all packed away in boxes from the move). Cloudy ciders clock in at a higher amount usually, from 1.052-1.058, the latter being fresh pressed from a local orchard, but it really varies on their blend.
Click to expand...

so it's only about a .008 difference between filtered pasteurized supermarket juice and fresh pressed.

I'm thinking of adding nothing and pitching white labs english cider yeast on my next batch. And then kegging it.
 
Freezeblade said:
I actually prefur no added sugars in my ciders. also, the english cider yeast from white labs makes a pretty good DRY cider, very wine-like, I still say grabbing up some basic juice/cider and pitching s-04 into it will work quite well for most people.
Click to expand...

Good info. So what would be the reason for the "Dryness" I have seen some posters say that this is from a higher ABV. From this post alone I'm thinking of staying away from the WL. SAFALE S-04 is considered a dry ale yeast right?
 
Firstnten said:
Good info. So what would be the reason for the "Dryness" I have seen some posters say that this is from a higher ABV. From this post alone I'm thinking of staying away from the WL. SAFALE S-04 is considered a dry ale yeast right?
Click to expand...

the dryness is relative to how low the gravity drops (less sugar left, less sweetness, higher abv) s-04 is an english ale yeast, and has has flocculation, which helps with clarity. i didnt want a very dry cider either, so i just pitched half a packet in 2 1 gallon jugs each. SG was about 1050 and its at 1014 now, which is in the neighborhood of 4.8-5%. i tasted it when i took the gravity and it was delicious, not overly sweet, almost a little sour, and a tad bit of warmth. it was slightly carbed and tasted perfect to me.
 
My 'house' cider is two gallons of Motts juice and a gallon of unfiltered natural apple juice with one packet of Nottingham yeast, rehydrated. The juice alone is 1.50 and the last three batches, after about a month came down to about 1.011, and bottle carbed quite nicely with carb drops (no extra yeast). Right now I've got three gallons of a local cider mills cider, came in a little lower at 1.048, but I'm using the same technique, 1 packet nottingham, fermented at ambient temps (~70). The result is a nice, fruity, apple tasting cider that is medium dry and has just enough carbonation to make it lively.
 
MikeRLynch said:
My 'house' cider is two gallons of Motts juice and a gallon of unfiltered natural apple juice with one packet of Nottingham yeast, rehydrated. The juice alone is 1.50 and the last three batches, after about a month came down to about 1.011, and bottle carbed quite nicely with carb drops (no extra yeast). Right now I've got three gallons of a local cider mills cider, came in a little lower at 1.048, but I'm using the same technique, 1 packet nottingham, fermented at ambient temps (~70). The result is a nice, fruity, apple tasting cider that is medium dry and has just enough carbonation to make it lively.
Click to expand...

coopers carb drops? and are you using the recommended amount? i know someone who uses 1/2 in a 12oz and a whole in a 22oz he says it comes out good
 

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