Is there an average SG for raw cider??

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BrewinBigD

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Messages
271
Reaction score
7
Location
Stratham
This might be a stretch but i Live in new England and was wondering if any cider heads around here knew what this seasons avg SG might be. im sure alot depends on the seasons precipitation, fruit yeild, ripeness when harvested etc,, but looking to do a little research before i thaw my raw unpasteurized cider and start adding things to it!!!
 
Do you have a hydrometer? Just test it. But mid-40s is probably a good starting point.
 
im sure alot depends on the seasons precipitation, fruit yeild, ripeness when harvested etc

Yep, all of these factors can have a huge impact, which is why using a hydrometer is the way to go. Apples that are picked a little early, for sending to processing plants, grocery stores etc, typically have sg in the mid 40s. Apples picked from your typical small to mid size orchard, intended for fruit stands, local produce stores etc, will typically be picked when more ripe and have an sg in the mid 50s this time of year. Later in the Fall, sgs will get up to low to mid 60s. Orchards that are growing specifically for hard cider can push the sgs to 70s by picking late and sweating the apples in storage
 
Great, thanks for the info Thor. What varieties were you using? I'm thinking about a blend of Empires, Winesaps and Arkansas Blacks, maybe 50/25/25. Not to hijack the thread, but do you know of any orchards in your area that grow any of the English cider varieties--Darlington's Mills, Dabinettes, Foxwhelps, etc? I live in the DC area and have been looking but haven't had much luck finding any of the English varieties around here.
 
Great, thanks for the info Thor. What varieties were you using? I'm thinking about a blend of Empires, Winesaps and Arkansas Blacks, maybe 50/25/25. Not to hijack the thread, but do you know of any orchards in your area that grow any of the English cider varieties--Darlington's Mills, Dabinettes, Foxwhelps, etc? I live in the DC area and have been looking but haven't had much luck finding any of the English varieties around here.

I only wish i knew!

We moved into our house about 20 years ago. There were a few trees here then, two of which are these massive, gorgeous apple trees. They've been producing tons of apples for the past 20 years. I recall hearing that an apple tree is past its prime after 15 years, but these two trees made us 27 gallons just from the apples we could get without using a ladder! If we picked the trees clean we'd have well over 100 gallons just from those two trees. They taste amazing as well, so we really lucked out. Sweet and smooth, we use them for applesauce, cider, pies, everything.

Since then we've added many trees (we are up to about 28 now). We have many more apples, peaches (which I now use for peach wine :D ), pears, nectarines, plums, asian pears, white peaches, and kiwis. Yeah, apparently you can grow kiwis in PA.

I haven't seen any of those apples at local orchards, but to be fair I don't really look too closely. My apple trees kick ass so i've never needed to look elsewhere. I'll ask around, there are a ton of orchards in amish country.
 
I only wish i knew!

We moved into our house about 20 years ago. There were a few trees here then, two of which are these massive, gorgeous apple trees. They've been producing tons of apples for the past 20 years. I recall hearing that an apple tree is past its prime after 15 years, but these two trees made us 27 gallons just from the apples we could get without using a ladder! If we picked the trees clean we'd have well over 100 gallons just from those two trees. They taste amazing as well, so we really lucked out. Sweet and smooth, we use them for applesauce, cider, pies, everything.

Since then we've added many trees (we are up to about 28 now). We have many more apples, peaches (which I now use for peach wine :D ), pears, nectarines, plums, asian pears, white peaches, and kiwis. Yeah, apparently you can grow kiwis in PA.

I haven't seen any of those apples at local orchards, but to be fair I don't really look too closely. My apple trees kick ass so i've never needed to look elsewhere. I'll ask around, there are a ton of orchards in amish country.

your house sounds amazing...as a proud man i love my garden!! been wanting fruit trees for so long but the pests in my area are known to be somewhat of a "nuisance" with fruit bushes and trees. my neighbor has lemon and lime bushs and a banana tree that has never fruited in 2 years. maybe one day....but just reading that sounds so amazing.
 
your house sounds amazing...as a proud man i love my garden!! been wanting fruit trees for so long but the pests in my area are known to be somewhat of a "nuisance" with fruit bushes and trees. my neighbor has lemon and lime bushs and a banana tree that has never fruited in 2 years. maybe one day....but just reading that sounds so amazing.

We had a garden for a while, but we just have the orchard now. My neighbor two houses up has a decent size garden. We give her fruit and she gives us veggies (peas, corn, eggplant, squash, etc). Its awesome having such great neighbors, we really are blessed. A neighbor a little farther down the road will give us about 5 gallons of strawberries every year as well. With have a nice community.

We get japanese beetles like a plague around here. I'd like to grow organic, but its just not possible. We set up 4-5 traps in the yard and we have to empty them all once a day during bad years (most of them, so far).

Give the banana tree some time. Our kiwi vine was in for 5 years before we got any fruit at all. We often get fruit the first year with new fruit trees, but lancaster county soil is just awesome for growing anything.

All I want to add is a fig tree. I might be able to get one for free (as long as I dig it up, of course), and I really hope I can. They take a little more work, but figs are pretty great.

This is getting way off-topic, but it seems like most apples yield between the high 1.040s and low 1.060s. I am making more cider wednesday with the same apples as the last batch. I'll see if picking them later in the season affects the sugar level at all. I don't think it would because they were as ripe as they needed to be for the first pressing, and they aren't quite over-ripe yet. I'll report back wednesday.
 
At minimum I would say 1.040 but I have pressed as high as 1.075. It was after the apples partially froze and were still on the trees. They were very ripe.
 
We live in Cincinnati and almost every batch of cider we made hovered around 1.062 including single batch varieties like Ashmead's as well as blends.
 
Just purchased 20 gallons ($6.50/gl) on Oct 20 2012, from a local cidery in Cortland Co., NY. SG measured right at 1.06. They're a regular sweet cider producer but there is a great acidity running through the juice, so should turn out good. I'm looking forward to the results.
 
Holy sh*t.

I'd never pay 6.50/gallon for cider. I thought it was absurd to see some in walmart for $5.99/gal. We sell ours for $3.75/gal and we've been having trouble selling any at that price this year.

FYI, my second pressing of the year came out to 1.048, the exact same as my first batch. My first batch of hard cider (no added sugar, just cider an ec-1118 yeast) hasnt carbonated enough yet, but is very tasty.
 
All the fresh cider I've got so far in South Central PA (Franklin/Adams County) have on average been 1.058. Two to three points higher than last years. Prices have ranged from $4.00-4.25 a gallon and pH has been in the range of 3.5-3.7.

Cheers.
 
Back
Top