Will This Alcohol Calculator Work On Cider?

I found an online alcohol by volume calculator.

I had to work it a little backwards because I plan to stop my fermentation with sorbate when I reach the right ABV if it doesn't do it on its own.

Here's the link: Dave's Dreaded Actual Specific Gravity Calculator


Here is my plan. I calculated the temperature and SG of the juice at the time I began fermentation. One batch has Nottingham yeast added. The second is all natural, no yeast.

I worked the numbers in the second section of the tool to find about 7% which is where I want to end up. It gave me the SG that would represent that result.

If fermentation stops completely, I will test and end up with whatever it gives me. If it is continuing past the SG I need to get to 7% then I plan to stop it.

Does this sound right?

The easiest way is to just do a little math. (OG-FG) x 131 = approximate ABV.

I've never had any luck stopping an active fermentation with sorbate, so I was wondering how you were able to do it? I've only been making wine/cider for about 12 years, and sometimes cold crashing has slowed it down, but I've never been able to halt it at a specific SG before.

Yooper said:

The easiest way is to just do a little math. (OG-FG) x 131 = approximate ABV.

I've never had any luck stopping an active fermentation with sorbate, so I was wondering how you were able to do it? I've only been making wine/cider for about 12 years, and sometimes cold crashing has slowed it down, but I've never been able to halt it at a specific SG before.

Click to expand...

I use sorbate in wine making and it kills all of the yeast. Will it not work in cider?

It's more complicated then that.
http://www.fermentarium.com/homebre...ng-you-know-about-potassium-sorbate-is-wrong/
It probably won't halt fermentation, just slow it down.

Is there a specific reason you don't want to ferment all the way, and then back sweeten? That would seem to be a lot easier.

Leadgolem said:

It's more complicated then that.
http://www.fermentarium.com/homebre...ng-you-know-about-potassium-sorbate-is-wrong/
It probably won't halt fermentation, just slow it down.

Is there a specific reason you don't want to ferment all the way, and then back sweeten? That would seem to be a lot easier.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I am actually trying to find a recipe that I can repeat and turn into a predictable product. The more original the better. I really don't want to use any chems but I have another batch going full on organic with nothing added, not even yeast. I'm experimenting. One of the advantages of having my own trees. And this year we had over 80 bushels of apples harvested and another 150 bushels fell in windstorms.

Not using any dropped fruits. Trying to avoid vinegar.

It would seem to me that fermenting till dry with an OG adjusted for your final desired abv would be more consistent. Your first batch would probably be a little bit off, as different yeast strains will end at different FG's given the same starting mix.

Halting fermentation in cider is a little bit difficult. Yeast just loves apples. The best way to do so would probably be pasteurization rather then a chemical addition.

I find that a champagne yeast will usually have an FG of 0.98 in cider. So, if you are wanting an abv of about 7 then an OG of 1.032 would be what you would want. That works out to an abv of 6.9%. Lots of ciders start more like 1.05 though. So you may need to either dilute, or change your abv target to be more in line with your typical cider gravity. If it was my project, I'd adjust target abv upward a bit. IMO, diluting would decrease the quality of the finished brew. At 1.05 OG you would end up with a abv of 9.3 with an FG of 0.98.

With the first batch, I'd back-sweeten to taste. Then take a gravity reading, and back-sweeten the whole batch to match the gravity of the sweetened sample. The next batch could then be back-sweetened to the same increase in gravity. Here's a thread on calculating gravity increase based on lb's of sugar added. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/how-do-i-calculate-g-effect-sugar-additions-249672/

For a cider with a target abv of less then 10% I doubt you would need to add any nutrients. Though, I would add pectin enzyme. Depending on the apples, pectin can represent a fair portion of the OG. If you don't break up that carbohydrate into sugar so the yeast can eat it, your FG is going to be inconsistent. That is, if you ferment until dry. If you halt fermentation, then you may have an inconsistent sugar content. That's really only a problem with apples harvested at different times, or in different years though.

FYI: You actually can use dropped fruits to make cider. They need to be cleaned, trimmed, cored, and cooked though.

Hmm. Not sure if this post is going to end up being helpful or confusing...

I've made four or five 5G batches with a couple of different juices and I have never had a problem stopping fermentation dead with cold crashing, always using SafeAle-04. One batch using a different yeast (WPL-500 I think) won't stop no matter what I do, crashing, sorbate+sulfite, racking...just keeps on trucking

Cheers

HW