First (Knowledgable) Cider and Bottling Advice

[jawats]

All,

I just placed a cider in the fermenter, consisting of:

4 gallons of blended cider from a local supplier in Michigan, Shelton's Farms.
1/2 gallon of the same cider used as a yeast starter
White Laps WLP775
2 containers of frozen apple juice from Wal-Mart

I made a starter from the WLP775 to overcome any ascorbic acid or potassium sorbate, and to the juice added yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, and a small amount of apple flavor concentrate. I let the juice sit for about 1/2 hour before pitching.

In your experience, what would be a good bottling sugar? I plan to let the yeast go about a week in bottle, then taste and cold-crash (not true fermentation, obviously) the cider so I have partially sweetened, and somewhat carbonated cider.

My thoughts are: (1) honey; (2) apple juice concentrate; (3) table sugar; (4) corn sugar; (5) some other non-stabilized (sorbate, etc.) juice for a unique flavor (grape, cranberry, or some combo of these or other juices).

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I've found that dextrose seems to be the easiest to mix into my bottling bucket and doesn't contribute any noticeable flavors to the end product like honey would. There's always been a debate as to wether table sugar contributes and flavors and I bet at bottling volumes, it probably wouldn't much.

As for bottling with concentrate or additional AJ, I've never been scientifically minded enough to be able to calculate the needed portions to make it work. (mostly just too lazy to do the math) It's pretty easy math I guess, just take the specific gravity and then determine how many parts are needed to bring it to the needed gravity to carbonate everything.

 

[Randzor]

ACtually take the grams of sugar times the servings in the can, then see where that falls on your calculator. It usually is in the 20's but theres something like 8-10 servings in a can of concentrate.

 

[jawats]

ACtually take the grams of sugar times the servings in the can, then see where that falls on your calculator. It usually is in the 20's but theres something like 8-10 servings in a can of concentrate.

Randzor,

It seemed a bit more difficult, since the serving size is based on made product, but then I considered that sugars remain the same. So, I calculated thusly:

27 sugars per serving times 6 servings per container = 162 grams of sugars.

162 grams of sugars divided by a 12 fl. oz. can is 13.5 grams per fluid ounce of concentrate.

Recommendation I have seen is 1/4 of a can of frozen concentrate per gallon, so I was going to go with a 1.25 cans, or approximately 16 oz of concentrate for a total gram count of 216 grams or 7.5 ounces.

This seems high - 5 ounces is the usual I have seen. What are your thoughts?

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

See...I even made it harder than it needed to be. Thanks Randzor.

"I'm smart, Michael!"
~Fredo Corleone : Godfather II

 

[Randzor]

Jaw, it seems your math is right. I do one can to 6 and it carbs on the high side. Most homebrewers like more Carb so it doesn't surprise me the math shows what it does.