Champagne Yeast abv with no sugar added

[Calebargh]

Hello all, this is my first post and my first time brewing hard cider so I have a few questions. Please add previous forum links if these questions have already been asked, thanks!

1. What would be the ABV of a hard cider if no sugar was initially added? (Started it yesterday 03/05 - used RedStar Pasteur Champagne Active Dry Wine yeast)
2. Is there a way to add sugar to the mixture right now? If so, how much for 4.5 gallons, and what sugar do you recommend, corn sugar or table sugar, or other?
I am going for a higher abv hard cider, closer to apple wine - hoping like 14-15%abv, but 10%abv is just fine. Also, what book do you recommend getting to learn more about all of this fun stuff?

I am

 

[Calebargh]

Hello all, this is my first post and my first time brewing hard cider so I have a few questions. Please add previous forum links if these questions have already been asked, thanks!

1. What would be the ABV of a hard cider if no sugar was initially added? (Started it yesterday 03/05 - used RedStar Pasteur Champagne Active Dry Wine yeast)
2. Is there a way to add sugar to the mixture right now? If so, how much for 4.5 gallons, and what sugar do you recommend, corn sugar or table sugar, or other?
I am going for a higher abv hard cider, closer to apple wine - hoping like 14-15%abv, but 10%abv is just fine. Also, what book do you recommend getting to learn more about all of this fun stuff?

Thank you all very much for your time.

 

[Calebargh]

Ugh, I feel like such a noob.

 

[MarkKF]

You r not gonna get more than 5, 5.5% but it will still be good cider. Just let it got and add sugar next time. Really high ABV can taste hot, have off flavors or require long aging. If you have access to s freezer u can freeze concentrate (jack) it to get a higher ABV.

 

[Calebargh]

Thanks for the info, I added about 2lbs of bakers sugar mixed with about 12oz of apple juice to it a few days ago. For my next batch I'm definitely going to add nutrients, corn sugar, and better apple juice. When I poured about a 1/2 cup of the liquid bakers sugar in, a frenzy of carbonation came bubbling up, it smelled great! It's been a few days now and it's bubbling about 4-5 seconds. It still smells great but now its smelling less like apples and more of the alcohol. I'm going to keep watching it, and wait until the bubbles are almost done before racking off into another sanitized carboy, I might backsweeten a bit - is it safe to try when I'm racking? should I just taste some of the cider that I'm going to test with the hydrometer? I also bought 18 - 32oz Grolsch style bottles and a bag of conditioning tablets. I hope my first batch turns out ok, I'll probably look back and laugh about my first attempt being so "seat of my pants" lol

 

[saramc]

Most commercial apple juice comes in at 1.030, though I have read some were 1.050---you really need a hydrometer. What brand juice did you use? Someone may know that specific brand.

But let's say it was 1.030 + 2# granulated sugar (2.36 cups per pound for 4.72 cups added to your 4.5 gal batch, 1 cup raises SG of one gallon by 0.020, so your added sugar provided 1.021, for an approximate OG of 1.051, or potential ACV if fermented at 68F with a FG of 0.996 will be around 7.1%). I know you used baker's sugar and it is not a 1:1 ratio versus granulated but it is close enough to provide a rough estimate.

Just remember if you plan to carbonate this and you want it sweet you need to use a non-fermentable sugar for the backsweetening otherwise your yeast will just keep utilizing the added sugar. Very fine line trying to pull of a carbed and fermentable sugar sweetened product, plus you will have to pasteurize to kill the yeast.

 

[Calebargh]

I did obtain a hydrometer, what I was going to do was get some of the apple juice that I used and test it in the hydrometer, then test the final hard cider product - here's a pic of all the juices I used:

 

[vnzjunk]

Most commercial apple juice comes in at 1.030, though I have read some were 1.050---you really need a hydrometer. What brand juice did you use? Someone may know that specific brand.

But let's say it was 1.030 + 2# granulated sugar (2.36 cups per pound for 4.72 cups added to your 4.5 gal batch, 1 cup raises SG of one gallon by 0.020, so your added sugar provided 1.021, for an approximate OG of 1.051, or potential ACV if fermented at 68F with a FG of 0.996 will be around 7.1%). I know you used baker's sugar and it is not a 1:1 ratio versus granulated but it is close enough to provide a rough estimate.

Just remember if you plan to carbonate this and you want it sweet you need to use a non-fermentable sugar for the backsweetening otherwise your yeast will just keep utilizing the added sugar. Very fine line trying to pull of a carbed and fermentable sugar sweetened product, plus you will have to pasteurize to kill the yeast.

I am not sure just what you are after. I have had hard cider at a local Orchard that has it for on site consumption or take home....along with wines. The stuff was great and 2 glasses of it had me wondering what the heck the ABV% was because I could feel it.......and then some.
If it was me I would be real leary about changing the natural flavoring of the cider by adding too much extra stuff to it. If I wanted more kick I think that I would 'spruce' it up with a little little or no flavored spirits....maybe a touch of vodka and still retain the apple good ness. Also keep in mind that the store bought apple juice has other additives which may or may not be present if you buy the stuff fresh.
The sugar content that you would measure with the refractometer/hydrometer would vary from one variety to another and one season to another.
One orchard owner once told me that to make the very best tasting cider.....he blended as many different variety's of apples as he had available and produced great flavor.
I would go for flavor and deal with the ABV after you see and taste what you end up with. But that is just me and your mileage may vary.

Good Luck and enjoy the Hard Hard Cider :rockin: