My dad put a pound of sugar into a gallon of apple juice....

EDIT - the title should say TWO pounds, not one.

How many years will it be before he can drink his rocket fuel?

Any yeast added? with added yeast i drank mine in about 4 weeks but would recommend you wait 8 weeks or more.

Montrachet ~

"Well, I think it's gonna be a long, long time..."
- Elton John

I made 5 gal at this ratio.

I made it back in Aug I think... starting to taste good now.

Papas recipe calls for two pounds per gallon. Look it up on the recipe forum. It's on the top.

This is my go to ratio. I have 15 gals at this ratio conditioning now. Well... 10 in conditioning and 5 on tap. =)
I do not ferment dry. I like some residual sweetness and since I'm not bottling, so I rack over to a secondary to get off the trub and condition at low temperatures to halt fermentation prematurely. I frequently get over 10% ABV after two weeks in primary. Then it's all I can do to wait the minimum of two more weeks before I start drinking it.

Should not be a problem... A pound of sugar added to water to make a gallon will increase the SG of the water by about 40 points. Apple juice is likely to have an SG of around 1.045 so you are talking about a starting gravity of about 1.090 or thereabouts and a gravity of 1.090 is what you want for a wine (a potential ABV of about 12%). It will only be rocket fuel if the fermenting temperature is too high, the yeast is too aggressive and you work to ferment the sugars too fast. Cider in any event tastes far better after 9 months of aging but you should be able to drink this apple wine in 6 months (or even after 3 months)...

Great information, everyone - thanks!

I make a lot of high gravity ciders, with the sole intent of making applejack out of them. I average 1.135 in O.G. but I ferment slowly and use a non agressive yeast.

I found that Montrachet can be quite finicky about lack of nutrients. If he is smelling any sulfury rhinofarty smells, get some nutrient in there. Or minced raisins or something to give those yeasties some additional help.

I talked to my dad last night, and fond out that my post was made in error: he used 2 pounds of sugar, not one!

In any case, it looks like things are going well. Now if I can just keep him from "sampling" it until after 6 months or so....

2 lbs is even better. See the recipe thread "pappys pub cider".

globell said:

Papas recipe calls for two pounds per gallon. Look it up on the recipe forum. It's on the top.

Click to expand...

It was way too much like jet fuel for me, even after aging for a year. I suffered through a few bottles but ended up dumping the rest. That much added alcohol did nothing for me. Fortunately i only did a 1 gallon test batch, lol.

Really? I don't think you would like my applejack then. I begin where this stops, freeze concentrate it to ~35%. So good, it has some bite though.

TT, what a bummer you tossed it, it would have made some great (with a little help) applejack in six months or so. New applejack can be quite fire-y, but with a little sugar and some time passing you will wish you had made more.

MindenMan said:

TT, what a bummer you tossed it, it would have made some great (with a little help) applejack in six months or so. New applejack can be quite fire-y, but with a little sugar and some time passing you will wish you had made more.

Click to expand...

I was thinking about that as soon as I dumped it. Either that or trying to distill it down (although that would require equipment i don't have).

The fact that it still tasted like rocket fuel after a year and change wasn't giving me much hope of any salvation for it, haha.

TandemTails said:

I was thinking about that as soon as I dumped it. Either that or trying to distill it down (although that would require equipment i don't have).

The fact that it still tasted like rocket fuel after a year and change wasn't giving me much hope of any salvation for it, haha.

Click to expand...

Did it get fermented too warm, maybe? I've made several cysers and apple wines, and found that a year or so made them pretty smooth. But they were fermented cool and slow.....

stella_tigre said:

Did it get fermented too warm, maybe? I've made several cysers and apple wines, and found that a year or so made them pretty smooth. But they were fermented cool and slow.....

Click to expand...

It was probably in the upper 60's with EC1118. I've made cysers and meads that re in the 12-14% ABV range and really enjoy them. I think it was just the plain sugar that overwhelmed it. For me it might have been lacking the depth of flavor i've come to expect when using other sugar sources instead of plain sugar.

TandemTails said:

It was probably in the upper 60's with EC1118. I've made cysers and meads that re in the 12-14% ABV range and really enjoy them. I think it was just the plain sugar that overwhelmed it. For me it might have been lacking the depth of flavor i've come to expect when using other sugar sources instead of plain sugar.

Click to expand...

Well, we just finished the last bit of an Edwort's type apple wine. Used the dextrose rather than table sugar, 1 lb per gallon, think the sugar type made some difference. Used Mangrove Jack's 002 Cider yeast with some nutrients in the high 60s temp. 11ish % abv, about a year old, has some character and lots of fizz, dry but tasty. Ec1118 is pretty aggressive, I think if it's at the cold end of its range it doesn't strip out all the apple, but I've got another of the MJ002 to try out with my next batch. Thinking a simple cyser for that one, too.

MindenMan said:

I make a lot of high gravity ciders, with the sole intent of making applejack out of them. I average 1.135 in O.G. but I ferment slowly and use a non agressive yeast.

Click to expand...

What yeast do you prefer at what temp?

Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead Yeast at 60*F or below--I prefer the results at 55*F. I am baffled at people saying the yeast stops too early, or it ferments too far. I have had solid fermentation at 34*F, and I really couldn't figure out why...
I am making a batch of experimental ice cider. Some of the batch was made with freeze extracting store-bought apple juice, and some was made using regular strength juice fortified with FAJC. The largest portion of the batch is one month younger, so the flavors aren't the same yet. Yet is what I am hoping for...

TandemTails said:

It was probably in the upper 60's with EC1118. I've made cysers and meads that re in the 12-14% ABV range and really enjoy them. I think it was just the plain sugar that overwhelmed it. For me it might have been lacking the depth of flavor i've come to expect when using other sugar sources instead of plain sugar.

Click to expand...

Fermentation generates heat supposedly between 5-10 F in the fluid.
So in effect, you were fermenting in the mid to high 70`s which will throw out fuesels with this recipe. If done cooler and with yeast nutrients, it mellows out considerably in 3 months and even more so in a years time.
It really is a night and day difference what a little temp control does.

I've had ciders done with corn sugar and IMHO the regular table sugar tastes better.
But everyone has different taste prefferences.
Perhaps try again with cooler temps and see how you like it.

This sounds like it will be nasty for a long time. Probably best to wait 6 months (off the lees, no headspace) and then try to blend it with something.

MindenMan said:

Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead Yeast at 60*F or below--I prefer the results at 55*F. I am baffled at people saying the yeast stops too early, or it ferments too far. I have had solid fermentation at 34*F, and I really couldn't figure out why...
I am making a batch of experimental ice cider. Some of the batch was made with freeze extracting store-bought apple juice, and some was made using regular strength juice fortified with FAJC. The largest portion of the batch is one month younger, so the flavors aren't the same yet. Yet is what I am hoping for...

Click to expand...

Do you re-use your yeast? I just seen the price of this yeast and its 10x what i pay for ec1118....ouch

I hope you like sweet cider. Not all yeast will work if the gravity is too high to begin with. If you used a champagne yeast it most likely will ferment it dry so you'll have a pretty high alcohol beverage. I'd wait at least 3-4 months. Time will be on its side.

It was Montrachet!

well Juice is usually sold at about 1.050 gravity, and sugar adds about 46 per pound, so you should have around 1.140 for an OG (there is a bit of fuzzy because your volume will go up when you add sugar to 1 gallon of juice giving you more than 1 gallon of must. where if you add juice to sugar to 1 gallon, you will have 1 gallon of must.... )....

Anyway, 1.140 for an OG. abv is going to be about 16 or 17% assuming a FG of about 1.000 ...

Which is a long way to say I personally have no idea.

That makes two of us, but I have a feeling he will like it. He's not concerned about "warm" or "hot" properties due to alcohol, and is more primarily concerned with a) something that will get a person buzzed and b) apple flavor coming through, probably in that order.... lol

So far, it seems to be coming along nicely, but I can see it being a while before it comes into its own.

I know myself, I like some-moderate hot flavour. If it's too good I will drink it too fast!

Loving applejack!

BILTIT said:

Do you re-use your yeast? I just seen the price of this yeast and its 10x what i pay for ec1118....ouch

Click to expand...

I use a combination of re-use and a repeatedly stepped starter. For my 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon batches, I pour out the finished cider into a large (5 gallons or so) and re-use the yeast that has cold crashed out. I made over 20 gallons of cider off of 1 smack pack of 4184. I have tried many other yeasts over the course of the last few years, and I have to say 4184 is far-and-away my absolute favorite. No other yeast has given my the fruit esters that 4184 does, and if I need to cold crash something in the same "fermentation chamber", the 4184 just keeps on fermenting like nothing has changed. Believe me, if I knew of a dry yeast that had the same characteristics that 4184 does I might switch due to cost, but as the old saying goes,"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is generally my mantra. I always have a batch of "mother" yeast ready and waiting in the fridge, so I can always start another batch on zero notice.

ACbrewer said:

well Juice is usually sold at about 1.050 gravity, and sugar adds about 46 per pound, so you should have around 1.140 for an OG (there is a bit of fuzzy because your volume will go up when you add sugar to 1 gallon of juice giving you more than 1 gallon of must. where if you add juice to sugar to 1 gallon, you will have 1 gallon of must.... )....

Anyway, 1.140 for an OG. abv is going to be about 16 or 17% assuming a FG of about 1.000 ...

Which is a long way to say I personally have no idea.

Click to expand...

The idea is to match your yeast to your desired finish... If I want a cider with some residual sweetness, say of 2%, I calculate what the yeast will ferment out to, and add enough (residual) sweetness to ferment to the limit of the yeast and leave the 2% residual sugar. My hard ciders that are bound to be applejack all start right around 1.130-1.135, and finish right where I want. If I have a little "extra" sugar available it is no problem as all of my applejack batches that start a little sweet, end up like honey on the tongue after sufficient aging.