DanMalleck
Active Member
I've been brewing for a while but just tried cider last autumn. I apologize for the long question, but am a little stuck on the end of the cider fermentation process. And, as you will see, I was slack in record keeping. But I could really use a little input.
I began with 3 gallons of unpasteurized cider back in September. The OG was 1.045, which seemed low, so I added--get this--1lb of white sugar. Yes, I know, that was a lot. Too much, I found out from my cider vendor later. I calculated that this pushed the gravity up to an OG of 1.060 (45ppg in a lb of sugar=15 points in 3 gallons)
It fermented down to 1.003, but was very solventy. Surprise, surprise, given the ridiculous amount of sugar.
So I added another gallon of cider at 1.045, or 45 ppg sometime in January.
Stupidly, I did not check the gravity after adding the cider. I figure this added 11.25 points to the batch (as I calculate it, adding a gallon of 45 points to 3 gallons divides 45 points by 5 gallons, so 45/4=11.25 would push the gravity up to 1.014.
I checked the gravity in June. It was 0.950. Tasted better, but I wanted to try to boost the flavour and deal with some of the remaining solventy character. So I added 2.7L (approx 2/3G) at 1.048 (I calculate this to be a 34 ppg addition) of unpasteurized apple juice
Again, I didn't check the gravity of this addition. But by my calculation it would push it up to 0.984 or so. This is approximately what I measured today when I took a grav reading, a month after adding the juice.
If these final calculations are correct, this means the apple juice I added a few weeks back did not ferment. This is probably because at about 14%, this is too strong for the yeast I used initially (Nottingham dry yeast).
I want to add champagne yeast when I bottle, so that there is some yeast strong enough to carbonate this cider a bit, but I figure that this yeast will eat up the sugar from that later apple juice addition.
I don't want to make bottle bombs, so can anyone suggest how I can calculate a priming sugar addition that will take into consideration the points from the apple juice. I'm sure it's a complex calculation.
If you've made it through all these calculations and are still reading, you're awesome! Any help?
I began with 3 gallons of unpasteurized cider back in September. The OG was 1.045, which seemed low, so I added--get this--1lb of white sugar. Yes, I know, that was a lot. Too much, I found out from my cider vendor later. I calculated that this pushed the gravity up to an OG of 1.060 (45ppg in a lb of sugar=15 points in 3 gallons)
It fermented down to 1.003, but was very solventy. Surprise, surprise, given the ridiculous amount of sugar.
So I added another gallon of cider at 1.045, or 45 ppg sometime in January.
Stupidly, I did not check the gravity after adding the cider. I figure this added 11.25 points to the batch (as I calculate it, adding a gallon of 45 points to 3 gallons divides 45 points by 5 gallons, so 45/4=11.25 would push the gravity up to 1.014.
I checked the gravity in June. It was 0.950. Tasted better, but I wanted to try to boost the flavour and deal with some of the remaining solventy character. So I added 2.7L (approx 2/3G) at 1.048 (I calculate this to be a 34 ppg addition) of unpasteurized apple juice
Again, I didn't check the gravity of this addition. But by my calculation it would push it up to 0.984 or so. This is approximately what I measured today when I took a grav reading, a month after adding the juice.
If these final calculations are correct, this means the apple juice I added a few weeks back did not ferment. This is probably because at about 14%, this is too strong for the yeast I used initially (Nottingham dry yeast).
I want to add champagne yeast when I bottle, so that there is some yeast strong enough to carbonate this cider a bit, but I figure that this yeast will eat up the sugar from that later apple juice addition.
I don't want to make bottle bombs, so can anyone suggest how I can calculate a priming sugar addition that will take into consideration the points from the apple juice. I'm sure it's a complex calculation.
If you've made it through all these calculations and are still reading, you're awesome! Any help?