Gravity question

[carlsonderek]

Hi all

I got the cidr I want from my local apple farm as I have in the last three years, but this year it's OG is only 1.039. I'd prefer to be in the 1.050 range. I know apple juice concentrate can help but what other additions have you used in a hard cider to boost gravity that also are beneficial for taste? Thanks!


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[ill4delph]

I use brown sugar to boost my gravity. I have mine fermenting right now and I used about 1lb of dark brown sugar in 3 gallons of cider to boost the OG to 1.080. I want my final gravity in the 1.020-1.030 so I don't have to backwaters, but if I need to, ill just add some concentrate.

 

[ozzmosiz]

I do the same and add brown sugar to raise the gravity and sometimes add honey too.

 

[carlsonderek]

Great! Thanks all!


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[Yooper]

You can use anything that sounds good to you- brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, regular sugar, treacle, whatever.

I personally hate the taste of molasses and fermented brown sugar, which tastes like molasses without the sweetness, but others must like it. I like brown sugar when it's not fermented, but once it's fermented and the sugar is gone it tastes really horrible to me. Of course, I don't like molasses either and brown sugar tastes strongly of molasses once fermentation ends.

The more you boost the ABv, the less "apple cider" the finished product will taste. It will taste more winelike than cider like, if that makes sense. I love apple wine- it's fruity and crisp and dry, but doesn't really taste like apples any more than grape wines taste like actual grapes.

My favorite cider is 100% apple cider with some ale yeast added, even if it turns out to be a lower ABV drink.

 

[bernardsmith]

another technique you can use to boost the sugar concentration in your cider is simply to freeze the juice then when it has frozen solid invert the jug or bottle you froze it in and collect the juice as it thaws. The earliest thawed juice will contain the majority of the sugar so for example, after about 1/3 of the juice has thawed the gravity will be around 1.080. The more liquid that thaws the closer the gravity will be to the original gravity you measured until (obviously) when every last drop of liquid has thawed the gravity will be 1.039. What you need to do is decide the gravity you are looking for and constantly monitor and measure the thawed liquor until it reaches that gravity and at that point you need to remove rest of the frozen juice and discard the remaining ice.
The "cost" is that if you started with say 3 gallons of apple juice you will have considerably less - perhaps even about 1 gallon to ferment but the benefit will be that your cider will have about twice the apple flavor and twice the fermentable sugar without any addition of table sugar or molasses or honey or... whatever. This is a version of ice cider known as cryo-concentration
A good reference for this technique can be found in Claude Jolicoeur's The New Cider Maker's Handbook (2013)

 

[carlsonderek]

You can use anything that sounds good to you- brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, regular sugar, treacle, whatever.



I personally hate the taste of molasses and fermented brown sugar, which tastes like molasses without the sweetness, but others must like it. I like brown sugar when it's not fermented, but once it's fermented and the sugar is gone it tastes really horrible to me. Of course, I don't like molasses either and brown sugar tastes strongly of molasses once fermentation ends.



The more you boost the ABv, the less "apple cider" the finished product will taste. It will taste more winelike than cider like, if that makes sense. I love apple wine- it's fruity and crisp and dry, but doesn't really taste like apples any more than grape wines taste like actual grapes.



My favorite cider is 100% apple cider with some ale yeast added, even if it turns out to be a lower ABV drink.

This is certainly something to think about. This is one of those things you know, but don't pay attention to til someone mentions it, so thank you!


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[carlsonderek]

another technique you can use to boost the sugar concentration in your cider is simply to freeze the juice then when it has frozen solid invert the jug or bottle you froze it in and collect the juice as it thaws. The earliest thawed juice will contain the majority of the sugar so for example, after about 1/3 of the juice has thawed the gravity will be around 1.080. The more liquid that thaws the closer the gravity will be to the original gravity you measured until (obviously) when every last drop of liquid has thawed the gravity will be 1.039. What you need to do is decide the gravity you are looking for and constantly monitor and measure the thawed liquor until it reaches that gravity and at that point you need to remove rest of the frozen juice and discard the remaining ice.
The "cost" is that if you started with say 3 gallons of apple juice you will have considerably less - perhaps even about 1 gallon to ferment but the benefit will be that your cider will have about twice the apple flavor and twice the fermentable sugar without any addition of table sugar or molasses or honey or... whatever. This is a version of ice cider known as cryo-concentration
A good reference for this technique can be found in Claude Jolicoeur's The New Cider Maker's Handbook (2013)

Wow really cool technique, was not aware of anything like this. This is something I'm going to investigate with maybe a smaller/second batch this fall


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[podz]

The more you boost the ABv, the less "apple cider" the finished product will taste. It will taste more winelike than cider like, if that makes sense. I love apple wine- it's fruity and crisp and dry, but doesn't really taste like apples any more than grape wines taste like actual grapes.

Now, when I said that same thing to someone here on a few ocassions they told me that I'm just plain wrong. At 10% ABV, I can't detect any apple taste. I try to keep my ciders less than 9% ABV so they still taste like apple.

 

[podz]

I got the cidr I want from my local apple farm as I have in the last three years, but this year it's OG is only 1.039.

They might be watering it down a bit in an effort to stretch their profits. I'd ask them about it.

 

[bernardsmith]

They might be watering it down a bit in an effort to stretch their profits. I'd ask them about it.

They MAY be watering down the pressed juice but the sugar content of apples may have something to do with the amount of rain and the average temperatures . I don't have access to Jolicoeur's book this evening but I do believe he discusses how the sugar content of apples is affected by the weather.

 

[carlsonderek]

They MAY be watering down the pressed juice but the sugar content of apples may have something to do with the amount of rain and the average temperatures . I don't have access to Jolicoeur's book this evening but I do believe he discusses how the sugar content of apples is affected by the weather.

Yeah I would agreed and also I'm wondering if the sugar content is low due to being extremely early in apple season. Not sure if that's how it works. Anyway I went with 6 gallons of the cider, 2lbs brown sugar and some fresh mulling spices and it's doing great so far! Just sampled after 2 days of fermentation and it's awesome.


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[Randzor]

Its pretty early in the season. Also that cold winter probably delayed fruit by 2 to 3 weeks.

 

[phug]

End of fall apples tend to have a higher sugar content as things get colder than apples harvested earlier.

 

[MindenMan]

Cryro concentrating is a great idea as the apple flavors are intensified I am sure. Frozen apple juice concentrate is very similar, and less work and less cost. If you want to go completely old school and freeze your own juice concentrate, you have my total respect. I do not live near any orchards, and the local (my neighbors, and mine) apple trees had a bumper crop of very small apples, making any sort of volume of juice very labor intensive. I will make a few gallons of fresh juice using the mix of apples available, and will need to ask SWMBO if she wants bottled cider made, or make some Apple Jack to be stashed away for a couple of years. Probably a little of both,