If I bottle a cider with an OG 1.05 - FG 1.01 will it bottle carb by itself? Will it not have enough to turn fizzy? Do I need to add priming sugar? Anyone know at what point I can get away with doing this safely without bottle bombs?
You can actually get a < 1.00 measurement on your hydrometer if there were many sugars to begin with and the yeasties ferment to dryness. Ethanol is less dense than water and can cause this to happen.
So, unless you know where this yeast will bottom out with this exact recipe, it isn't clear if 1.01, 1.00, or .990 will be the final stopping point. YMMV.