Sugar amounts in cider

First time to the forums. Great information here and I'm really happy that this resource is out there. I'm going to start my first batch of hard cider soon and I'm looking to boost the ABV by just a bit from your normal everyday hard cider. I'm using five gallons of local pasteurized, preservative free cider and English cider yeast

1) How much sugar should I add to get it to that 7-9% ABV level instead of the 5-7% I would get by adding nothing?

2) Will this in the end make the cider more tart/too tart? I'll probably use brown sugar but can be persuaded to use another form of sweetner :cross:

Thanks for the help!

A higher alcohol content will require more time to mellow than a lower content but I don't think tartness is going to be an issue. Based on my calculations (which are probably wrong) I think 2lbs of brown sugar in a five gallon batch should land you right around 7-9%. That is with the assumption that you are starting with cider that is close to a 1.050 gravity.

brown sugar, honey, rice syrup, and malto-dextrine nearly completely ferment. the only cider i made, i used 2# brown sugar and it gave it a low-medium molassis flavor in 5 gals.

Here is my math if you care.

I have a 3 gallon batch of apple cider (wine) I just started with 4 lbs of brown sugar. OG was 1.120 which means 1 1/3 lbs of brown sugar per gallon raised the gravity .070. Based on that, 1lb per gallon should raise your gravity .052. .4lbs per gallon (2lbs per 5 gallons) should raise the gravity .020 putting you right above 9%ABV. 1.5lbs in your 5 gallons should get you over 8%abv.

I'm pretty new at brewing but this seems logical to me.

that sounds right. mine was 10% on the nose.

The table below shows the alcohol that can be produced if all the sugar is
converted into alcohol.
Specific
Gravity
Weight of
sugar (g/L)
Potential
Alcohol (% by
volume)
1.000 0 0.0%
1.005 17 0.8%
1.010 30 1.7%
1.015 44 2.5%
1.020 57 3.3%
1.025 70 4.1%
1.030 83 4.9%
1.035 97 5.8%
1.040 110 6.5%
1.045 123 7.3%
1.050 136 8.0%
1.055 149 8.8%
1.060 163 9.6%
1.065 176 10.4%
1.070 189 11.2%
1.075 202 12.0%
1.080 215 12.8%
1.085 228 13.6%
1.090 242 14.4%
1.095 255 15.2%
1.100 268 16.0%
1.105 282 16.8%
1.110 295 17.5%
1.115 308 18.3%
1.120 321 19.1%
1.125 335 19.9%
1.130 348 20.7%
1.135 361 21.5%
1.140 374 22.2%
1.145 387 23.0%
1.150 401 23.8%
1.155 414 24.6%
1.160 427 25.5%
Copyright 2002 Brewhaus (Canada)
https://secure.brewhaus.ca/docs/SpecificGravityandAlcoholPotential.pdf

That table does not match my hydrometer (not even close) and it doesn't match the formula for abv (OG-FG)x131.25
Take an OG of 1.120 - FG of 1.000 = .120 X 131.25 = 15.75% ABV which is also about what my hydrometer says it will be if it ferments all the way out. The table says 19.1%. Am I missing something? It seems off.

your forgeting this is ACTUAL vs APPARENT attenuation.

OIC. thanks

scott1147 said:

First time to the forums. Great information here and I'm really happy that this resource is out there. I'm going to start my first batch of hard cider soon and I'm looking to boost the ABV by just a bit from your normal everyday hard cider. I'm using five gallons of local pasteurized, preservative free cider and English cider yeast

1) How much sugar should I add to get it to that 7-9% ABV level instead of the 5-7% I would get by adding nothing?

2) Will this in the end make the cider more tart/too tart? I'll probably use brown sugar but can be persuaded to use another form of sweetner :cross:

Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

2 pounds. Though unless you really like brown sugar/molasses flavour, you might consider using only 1 pound of brown sugar & 1 pound of white sugar, or even corn sugar. You might also try Ed Wort's apfelwein, his recipe uses 2 pounds of corn sugar. Regards, GF.

2 lbs light brown sugar in 5 gallons is perfect

Since my math skills are totally forgotten, I would point the OP and pretty much everyone to hightest mead spread sheet that I also use for ciders, cysers, etc. Found in the sticky for meads.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/sticky-mead-making-faqs-83030/

Mead Calculator Spreadsheet (8/04/09)
http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/FAQ/Honey.xls

Works very well for me.