General cider questions...

[williams52977]

I have made 2 small batches of cider now.

I made a batch with 1 gallon AJ and 2 cups brown sugar, and then backsweetened with about 1/5 of a can of AJ concentrate. Turned out great..

I made a 2nd batch with AG and white sugar, and I bottled it with a priming sugar mix leftover from a homebrew kit. Also turned out great.

My issue is that all of these threads go on and on about bottle bombs and priming sugar charts and things that go right over my head.

Is there an actual guideline of how much sugar and concentrate you should use in a gallon? Because I am just winging it.

I would like to put more concentrate in my current batch (to increase flavor) but I am worried about the consequences.

 

[williams52977]

I forgot to add, with both batches I fermented for 2 weeks and then started tasting after 2 weeks. It is tasting better as it sits longer...

 

[williams52977]

https://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/pdf-printouts/Cider.pdf

I found some of the answers to my questions on this link. I guess my issue is/was that I have OCD and these inexact measurements are driving me crazy.

 

[aspiffymofo]

Are you going for a sweet cider or a dry cider? The problem with sweet ciders is that the yeast are still trying to eat the sweetening sugar you have left in the bottle. I've done some ciders in the past, but only one sweet cider. I just back sweetened plus a little extra for priming and started cracking bottles after about a week until the carb level was where I liked, then threw the remaining bottles in the fridge to stop the fermentation.

 

[williams52977]

I actually like both kinds of cider, so I haven't really given much thought to which kind I am trying to come out with.

I am more or less just looking for some specific guidelines about how much sugar and back-sweetener to add to bottles but I guess there being so many recipes out there makes this hard to answer.

 

[Randzor]

Backsweeten to taste. Then prime with the recommended priming sugar. Then pasteurize after carved. The problem with recipes is that they are suited to someone else's taste buds.

 

[bernardsmith]

I agree with Randzor that recipes are generally made to suit someone else's taste. What you want to do (IMO) is determine whether you want a sweetened cider or a sparkling cider.
If you want the cider to be sweet then you need to stabilize the cider and so prevent any further fermentation. You can then add the amount of sugar you want to sweeten the cider to the level you prefer. Because you have stabilized the cider (if you do this properly) NONE of the added sugar will ferment and so you have nothing to fear about any bottles exploding or caps or corks popping.
If you prefer a sparkling cider you ferment the cider dry so that there is no residual sugar left. You know that no sugar is left if the gravity is below 1.000 (perhaps .990) and it has been stable for 3 days (I wait a week). If you then add 1 oz to 1.5 oz of dissolved sugar to a gallon of cider before you bottle then that sugar will increase the alcohol level a hair and add CO2 that will now be trapped in the bottle. One oz or even 1.5 oz per gallon will not explode a beer bottle and if you use beer caps or champagne corks with wire cages the caps or corks will not pop.
I agree with Randzor that it IS possible to both backsweeten and prime but IMO you really need to know what you are doing if you intend to pasteurize your bottles. An alternative method is to backsweeten with a non fermentable sugar such as Stevia (THAT may affect the taste) and prime with corn or table sugar.