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In an ethanol/water/sugar solution, yes. But if distilling, like the OP, the distillate should be just an ethanol/water mix with no sugar, which could indeed be measured with a refractometer, per the PDF @Birrofilo mentioned. At least until ~53%, after which the curve of refractive index bends...

Adding on to my previous post, water has a refractive index of 1.333. Ethanol is 1.361. Methanol is 1.331. And methyl isobutyl ketone is 1.396. In all cases a methanol/water mix has a refractive index well below any ethanol/water mix, so I’m assuming a roughly 50/50 mix of methanol and ethanol...

^This^ Specifically the denatured alcohol the OP linked is only 30-50% ethanol, the rest methanol along with up to 1% Methyl isobutyl ketone.

Refill only or is swap fine? I live in Janesville and I got a 20 lb at Airgas. It was food grade, aluminum tank and when I need more it’s a swap for ~$30. There’s an Airgas on the east side of Madison on 51. Not sure if they swap tanks not originally purchased from them though. Also I wouldn’t...

In other words your experience equates to exactly 6.1% ABV per pound of sugar per gallon, which is extremely close to the 5.9% ABV textbook calculation done by @Bobby_M, so I’m not sure why you’re saying that this calculation doesn’t match your experience. ;)

You certainly can make cider from store bought juice. This is my 8th and 9th 5-gallon batches. I haven’t yet made cider from orchard or other fresh pressed juice yet actually. Get some commercial yeast. And skip the added sugar and try it without, at least at first. My cider usually ends up at...

It’s not that far off, close enough for a ballpark estimate. A pound of table sugar in a gallon of water adds about 0.046 points. 1.046 - 1.000 = 0.046*131.25 = 6.04% ABV. If you assume a lower final gravity then the calculation is somewhat higher, but still within the range of a ballpark estimate.

I considered (and may still, depending) configuring our kreezer for fermenting and dispensing. I think I recall some people here have done similar by using heat tape, a temp controller, and some sort of insulation around the fermenter to allow it to maintain a constant temp higher than the...

You cannot stop fermentation with sorbates, it just prevents it from restarting once finished. You’d either need to filter (impractical for a home brewer) or pasteurize. Some have reported success with cold crashing and racking multiple times, but personally that seems like a lot of work.

I doubt it. Why did you add a sliced apple to the fermenter?

Honestly the second email tips off the sort of person they are. There's nothing wrong at all with refusing to warranty a 4 year old valve with a 1 year warranty.

Is it fuzzy at all? The picture isn't the best. If fuzzy, it's mold and the batch must be dumped. Also from the picture it appears you have a lot of headspace. As already mentioned, you want as little headspace as possible for all secondaries, which means filling carboys up into the narrow part...

I think most people have multiple kegs and use a “spare” for cleaning. For example I had some lines sitting full inside my kreezer for a while not connected to kegs after the kegs blew. Yesterday I mixed up some PBW in a keg, pushed it through the lines letting it sit for a bit and refreshing a...

Did you take a hydrometer reading to ensure fermentation was finished?

Correct, you can add sorbate and sulfite after fermentation has finished and you’ve racked clear cider off the lees. This allows you to use sugar to sweeten without allowing fermentation. Downside to this is that means you cannot bottle carbonate either, unless you force carb in a keg and bottle...

Does it have to be? The juice at my local store (sometimes called cider, usually always filtered) is not preserved, and at room temp. I'm presuming it's pasteurized and bottled while still hot at a factory, so it doesn't need any preservatives to store at room temp. This filtered, un-preserved...

Where did you get the juice? If from a store and it was a seasonal item sold as "cider" then it very likely has sorbate added. If from an orchard that would depend on the orchard. You could call the orchard and ask. If from a store and was not a seasonal item but juice or "cider" sold in the...

Generally a good shaking in a closed container is what you want, or pouring it back and forth between two containers with lots of splashing. I don't think stirring alone would be very effective.

I got some sulfur smell with Montrachet yeast and added sugar on my first batches, on later ones with D47 with no added sugar I’ve gotten no sulfur smell. So you could try a different yeast like D47 and see if you can ferment indoors without sulfur smell. Fare warning, I ferment in my basement...

I don’t have experience with that yeast, and it does seem odd how slow that is fermenting. It sounds like you are new to fermenting, or at least fermenting cider. Can I ask why you choose this turbo express yeast? I’ve yet to make cider over 8%, I prefer the no added sugar taste which ends up...