Gravity points for carbonation

[nelsona21]

How many points will my gravity need to drop to achieve carbonation in my cider? I am trying to figure out what gravity I should be shooting for when I back-sweeten if I want to bottle pasteurize around 1.010.

 

[MikePote]

Not sure if I understand exactly what you are asking but I think I am wondering the same thing. I was wondering how many points of gravity I can expect to drop while the cider is carbing. If this is not what you are asking I apologize for hijacking and please ignore what I said. Otherwise, somebody help this guy!

 

[snuesen]

Average beer-level carbonation is achieved at about 6 points gravity drop. That's the simple answer. It's a lot more in depth than that, but yea.

 

[JayDubWill]

I've read some bottle at 1.010 then pasteurize, others at 1.020, checking the bottles after a week. Not sure if they are addding priming sugar, but im guessing not. More input from others with more experiance would be appreciated.

 

[Yooper]

I've read some bottle at 1.010 then pasteurize, others at 1.020, checking the bottles after a week. Not sure if they are addding priming sugar, but im guessing not. More input from others with more experiance would be appreciated.

See, the thing is- cider can go to .990. So it's hard to guess where you want to try to "halt" it.

For me, I don't like like sweetened ciders so I wouldn't be able to tell you where YOU like it.

The easy answer- when you like the taste of the cider and where the sweetness is, stick it in the fridge to cold crash it and clear it a bit. (That's optional, but I like my ciders clear). Then, use 1 ounce of sugar per gallon of finished cider, and bottle it. Have one in a plastic soda bottle and squeeze it. When it's hard, like soda, pasteurize it.

 

[nelsona21]

I was going to let it ferment all the way out, hopefully to around 1.000, OG was 1.056. Then I was going to back-sweeten, bottle, allow to carb, and then pasteurize. I was just wondering how many points of gravity I should expect to lose during the carbonating process so I can sweeten accordingly. I would like to end around 1.010 I think.

I think snuesen gave me what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[LeBreton]

A typical (~ 2.8-3 vols of CO2) cider carbonates in approximately 0.003-0.004. A drop of ~0.006 would be a highly carbonated cider and a change of ~0.008 would be a champagne style cider with the potential for gushers.

 

[nelsona21]

I appreciate the help! The cider is coming along nicely. I sampled it two evenings ago and the gravity was down to 1.004 and the taste seems to be coming along nicely in comparison to the first sample I took about a week ago.

I have another question along the same lines as my previous one. I was going to back-sweeten with apple juice only, however, now I'm thinking I don't want a sweet cider. If I'm just wanting to prime my bottles with apple juice for carbonation, can I count on the sugar content from the label to be accurate?