Backsweetening Conversion

[Fern0022]

Hello all, I’m attempting my first go at backsweetening a cider/wine to bottle carb. The recipe I’m following calls for 1/4 cup of dissolved brown sugar in water. However I want to incorporate a can of apple juice concentrate for added flavor. The nutritional facts on the juice can reads 27g of sugar, and a quick google of the nutritional facts on a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, reads 53g. Roughly half.

I know nutritional facts aren’t an exact science. But common sense tells me to add the can of juice and roughly 1/3 cup of brown sugar to achieve a addition of sugar.

Thoughts?

 

[VikeMan]

I doubt that the 27g of sugar is for the whole can of apple juice concentrate. It's probably for a couple of fluid ounces or so. Check the "serving size" on your concentrate.

 

[Fern0022]

Good save!! It’s got 6 servings, so 162g!

 

[Chalkyt]

For what it is worth, I don't try to calculate the precise amount of sugar etc. I add the sugar etc according to the SG change it produces. i.e. 2 SG points when fermented results in 1 volume of CO2. This way it doesn't matter how much cider I am bottling, I just add sugar syrup, juice, AJC or whatever to the bottling bucket of cider and bottle. this ensures that the sugar level is the same across all bottles.

If I want some sweetness then I work on the sweetness level that I want (say SG 1.008) plus say 0.004 for 2 vols of carbonation then heat pasteurise to stop further fermentation when I think it is back down to 1.008. Of course you can't measure the SG in the sealed bottles but using a plastic soda bottle as a tester gives a fairly good idea of the carbonation level (most soda, beer etc is carbonated to around 2.5 vols of CO2 so a firm test bottle will be at about this level). In practice around 2 weeks or so should result in reasonable carbonation.

My setup is a little more flash than this as I actually use a bottle fitted with a pressure gauge which measures Bar or psi (1 volume of carbonation is about 15psi). Anyhow it works for me as I can open the test bottle and drink it while I pasteurise the others. An alternative is to progressively open bottles and drink them (but stop when the carbonation is right!!!)

Others might tell you to get a keg setup which is a great idea if you are doing a big enough volume. But, I just plod along with bottle carbing since I only do a couple of gallons at a time.

 

[Maylar]

Others might tell you to get a keg setup which is a great idea if you are doing a big enough volume. But, I just plod along with bottle carbing since I only do a couple of gallons at a time.

I keg small batches. I have not and will not ever pasteurize. 1.5 gallon Cannonball keg.

 

[Chalkyt]

Hmm! Just been scratching around on the internet and stumbled across Vevor mini kegs. They come in
2, 4, 5 litre versions at $100+ and are driven by 16g gas cartridges (at $5 - $10 each).

Would it be practical to fill then cap bottles using something this? I wonder if pouring at 30psi then immediately capping would result in bottled carbonated cider... even a result of something between 15psi and 30 psi could be worthwhile