Bottling time! advice please!

I started a 1G cider 1/24/09 with an SG of 1.050 and primaried for 8 weeks at which I had 1.002. After 8 weeks in secondary, it's still at 1.002. It tastes sweet initially on the tounge, but once swallowed, feels a little like I dabbed my tounge with a paper towel! I'm not sure that I want any further sweetness, but I do want some sparkle. Is 1oz sugar enough for this? I can only use 'cane' derived sugars or honey) due to an allergy.

I intend siphoning straight from my carbouy to bottles as I have no other fancy equipment at this stage. Can I have some pointers on how best to go about this without damaging my cider please?

Thanks......

Priming sugar ferments pretty completely, so don't worry about it adding any sweetness. Cane or honey will work equally well, though honey might take longer from what I've heard. I think for cane sugar you want to use a little less than an ounce per gallon, though.

If I were you I'd siphon my cider into my empty primary fermentation vessel (assuming it's empty) along with 1 ounce of cane sugar dissolved in some boiling water (don't forget to cool the sugar - water solution). Then I'd siphon from my primary into bottles using a bottle filler on the other end of my siphon.



If that isn't an option because your primary is currently occupied then I'd start looking at products like Cooper's Carb Drops. Although, products like those might conflict with your allergies... You could always make a solution of 1 ounce cane sugar + 250mL of water, boil it, cool it and use a sanitized eye dropper to add 5mL of sugar solution to each bottle, assuming your cider will yield 50 bottles. That would stretch my patience and I'd sooner buy another bucket to use as a bottling bucket...

I've always used a teaspoon of sugar per 500ml bottle. Makes for a nice sparkle and pop when you open the bottle.

I drop the sugar into each bottle then fill with the siphon.