Are my priming measurements correct?

[johnsnownw]

Hello All,

Great forum and great information. I've been soaking up this information and want to make sure I've got this all straight.

The plan is to prime 1 gallon of cider, which I have just put in the carboy tonight. I plan on bottling in about a week, and priming with 2 oz of maple syrup.


Is this enough, and how long should I expect to leave it bottled before it reaches a light carbonation?

Thanks!

 

[ehedge20]

May I ask why the maple? Is this for flavor? It will take about 2 weeks to reach your desired level of carbonation using corn sugar that is.

A rough measurement of .79 ounces for a 1 gallons batch usually yields around 2.5 vol.

As for the maple I do not know the time table, or if 2 oz will be more than a light carbonation level.

 

[johnsnownw]

May I ask why the maple? Is this for flavor? It will take about 2 weeks to reach your desired level of carbonation using corn sugar that is.

A rough measurement of .79 ounces for a 1 gallons batch usually yields around 2.5 vol.

As for the maple I do not know the time table, or if 2 oz will be more than a light carbonation level.

Yes, it's flavor that I'm after. I was under the impression that if I bottled before all the sugar had been eaten, it would take less time to carbonate in the bottle...is this not true?

 

[Daze]

its true but you are playing with fire. by having some uneaten sugar already in the cider it is already primed.

 

[johnsnownw]

its true but you are playing with fire. by having some uneaten sugar already in the cider it is already primed.

Yes, but I had planned on checking frequently. My plan was to boil the maple syrup in the left over apple juice and add before bottling. I was thinking this would reach the desired carbonation level after 2 days. If this is cutting it too close, what do you suggest?

 

[Daze]

thats a horse of a different color. when I here the word "prime" I think about something dry that is getting just enough sugar to create carbonation and nothing else. What you are wanting to do is a sweet carbonated beverage and for that no priming is required. I recently did the same thing when I made a raspberry "winecooler" If you are planning on carbonating and than pasteurizing than add the syrup to taste. once you have it where you want it bottle it up. Check it daily, if the fermentation is active it could be done over night. When I did mine rather than drink the uncapped brew, I simply recapped it and put a date on the lid so I new which ones I had checked which allowed me to always open a fresh one. Took me 5 days (my fermentation was not very active) to get where I wanted, then I pasteurized. Even the ones that had been opened had plenty of carbonation. Some people might say that uncapping and recapping is just asking some bacteria to get in the bottles. while this is true I was extremely carful which limited exposure, the alcohol and acidity of the beverage will also help and any bugs that make it through that will not make it through the pasteurization so I don't think it is an issue.




#tag#winecoolers, hard soda, hard lemonade & more

 

[johnsnownw]

Thanks for the info, not quite sure what I'm going to do yet.

 

[johnsnownw]

Just checked the batch, and it's at 1.03, still got a bit to go.

 

[johnsnownw]

Bottled 2/3 rds of it yesterday and primed with maple syrup when SG measured 1.016. The other 1/3 was racked into a 1 gallon carboy with an added .8 lbs of raw cane sugar.

It's coming along

 

[dinnerstick]

it's not clear what your goal is, but i would be careful around those bottles that were capped at 1.016, they are likely to be dangerous when the rest of that sugar ferments out

 

[johnsnownw]

it's not clear what your goal is, but i would be careful around those bottles that were capped at 1.016, they are likely to be dangerous when the rest of that sugar ferments out

The goal with the bottles is a sweet cider. I appreciate the concern, but I won't be pasteurizing and I'm checking the bottles. As soon as I'm happy with the carbonation I'm throwing all of them in the fridge, where they will remain until

 

[dinnerstick]

phew
stay safe and stay buzzed

 

[johnsnownw]

Update:

So, I primed 2 gallons of the cider with 4 oz of maple syrup, at the end of 5.5 days it had carbed up to my liking. I've put them all in the fridge, and just took my first drink of the finished product...it's exactly what I wanted. You can taste the maple syrup on the back end, it still has a lot of apple flavor, as well as a vanilla note in the middle (not sure where that came from). So, for a cheap and quick cider, I think it turned out extremely well, better than I had hoped. Here is the exact recipe in case anyone wants a quick cheap semi-sweet cider:

Treetop 3 Apple Blend Pressed Juice (3 gallons)
White Sugar (1.3 lbs)
White Labs English Cider Yeast
Yeast Nutrient (3 Tbs)

Priming

Maple Syrup (2 oz per 1 gallon)

Bottled at 1.016 and conditioned for 5.5 days.

Just an aside, I used the other gallon as an apfelwein test batch, that won't be ready for some time, but it's currently fermenting away.

 

[Daze]

did you use real maple syrup or imitation maple syrup?? also either way what brand???

 

[johnsnownw]

did you use real maple syrup or imitation maple syrup?? also either way what brand???

Real maple syrup, and I just used one I spotted at my LHBS, which was Roth's Grade A Dark Amber.