I'm doing a batch of cranberry/apple cider. Using Nottingham yeast and the fermentation is getting really slow in secondary. Last time I checked, the SG was in the 1.02 area and 5.5-6.0% ABV. I'm fearing that the cranberry in the brew combined with ale yeast is heading to this not fermenting dry. The catch is, I'd like a carbonated final product so instead of fermenting dry and bottling with priming sugar, I'm thinking of just bottling now (maybe with a small amount of priming sugar) and hope it carbs up enough. Any thoughts on this? I'm not sure what amount of SG is usually added by priming sugar and want to avoid bottle bombs...
Safe FG for bottling?
- Thread starter Caliper
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bernardsmith
Well-Known Member
1.020 or 1.002? A HUGE difference. 1.020 suggests that there is about 8 oz of unfermented sugar in every gallon whereas 1.002 would mean that there is about .8 of an oz of sugar (about 23 grams per gallon). Twenty-three grams may be a little excessive - or not, but bottling with a half pound of unfermented sugar per gallon would force you to wear body armor and a helmet before you approach those bottles...
2-3 gravity points of sugar gets consumed to give a safe level of carbonation. Unfortunately there's no way to predict exactly where the yeast will stop. I've had Nottingham quit anywhere from 0.996 to 1.004 and that's a big window of uncertainty. You really need to let it finish and stabilize, then prime for carbing.
Ok, so took another measurement. I'm using a refractometer, so my starting Brix was 15, 8.8 on 6/22 and 8.6 today. Using online calculators, that puts me at 1.017 SG with 5.8% abv. I guess things are still moving a bit, but slowly. It still tastes sweet though.
