Help with my first batch of cider!

Here's my recipe I made up:

5 gallons Indian Summer apple juice
4 pounds dark brown sugar
2.5 teaspoons pectin enzyme
5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
T-58 yeast

It's been fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy for 2 weeks now and it's already at 10% ABV

It's pretty cloudy still. I don't really want it to go above 10%, but I also want it to be carbonated when bottled. Do I rack into secondary soon? Do I just bottle it?

This is my first time making cider, so I would like some suggestions on where to go from here. I was thinking of eventually back-sweetening half of the batch with cranberry juice concentrate and doing something else with the other half. Any ideas? I would like this to be carbed as well. Thanks in advance!

Well, you can go ahead and bottle, but you would have to pasteurize to avoid the risk of bottle bombs. I'd recommend being patient and let it finish fermenting. If you want a lower abv don't use 4 pounds of sugar next time.

Let it ferment dry and don't add as much sugar next time. most off tastes and smells occur because someone was unwilling to wait, and tried to sulfate/sulfite the cider during an active fermentation.

You may need to let it ferment dry and then dilute with fresh juice before pasteurizing after an appropriate amount of time to avoid bottle bombs. That should cut the alcohol percentage for you.

Just an FYI: Most store bought apple juice is around 1.050ish OG. That ends up around 5.5-6% abv if fermented dry.

FOUR pounds? Wow. That means that nearly half of your alcohol is going to be generated by added sugar! If you don't mind me asking, who gave you the idea to put that much sugar in?

I used 5lbs brown sugar in my 5 gal batch...plus 1/8th cup of lemon juice. Og was 1.080....ill kill the yeast and backsweenen with frozen apple juice concentrate. ..then keg...


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How do I know if it's dry? Zero airlock activity? Right now it's slightly under 1.000 and the airlock still bubbles every 15 seconds or so.