Imperial Apple Cider

[abweatherley]

Ok So I've done some research and searched HBT for this and look at Ed's Apfelwein.

I want to make a Cider for christmas but want it high in alcohol and ageable.

Recipe
5 1 gal jugs of Louisburg Pastuerized Cider
White Labs champagne yeast

Now I know I'm going to boost the fermentables is Table sugar the way to go or should I use something like Turbinado or maybe light molasses or even Candi Sugar to ramp up the gravity.

just a thought?

 

[SeamusMac]

I've only ever used dextrose to bump the ABV of my hard ciders. I've found that using too much of it as an adjunct in light beers can attribute a slight cidery taste to it. So I figure it'll do the same for a hard cider, in which case it is desirable.

 

[abweatherley]

so if I wanted to get say 6% plus whats the math for dextrose weight calculations

 

[Mersh]

I've made a few high power ciders and have used a couple types of sugars.

I just bottled a batch of brown sugar cider a week ago. I used four gallons of juice and eight pounds of brown sugar (boiled in 1 gallon of water). The apple flavor is pretty subtle, and the brown sugar is very noticeable (obviously). The brown sugar taste almost reminds me of a Marsala wine. Before bottling I added spices, killed the yeast and backsweetened with a can of apple juice concentrate. So far it's been pretty popular with my friends. It is extremely sweet though, so a little bit goes a long way.

I've also used turbinado with pretty good results. In that cider I used four pounds of the sugar, one gallon of water and four gallons of juice. I added cans of apple concentrate over time until I got the ABV up to about 14% (I think it was about eight cans, but it was a while ago). I then added spices, killed the yeast and backsweetened with two cans of concentrate. This one was my favorite out of the high test ciders. The turbinado really didn't leave much of a flavor, except for the alcohol taste. The spices and apple concentrate left it with an apple pie flavor. This one was also very sweet.

My advice though is that backsweeting really helps with the alcohol heat that the sugar will create. Especially if you plan on drinking this in December.

How high were you thinking of going?

 

[ryane]

so if I wanted to get say 6% plus whats the math for dextrose weight calculations

Youll probably get close to 6% with juice alone.....


If you want to take it up a notch, besides using sugar, you could use apple juice concentrate, this will up the sugar but also provide more flavor as well

Remember though, that the higher the abv, the drier the cider is and the more aging you need to soften the acid in the cider to make it good, for drinking in Dec unless you backsweeten and force carb I would just use juice by itself

 

[ashyg]

Youll probably get close to 6% with juice alone.....

I just hit 7.9% with some OG 1.057 cider

 

[abweatherley]

ok so can u guys help me with explaining how to kill my yeast, will it not just poop out after fermentation like beer??

 

[Mersh]

it will poop out at a certain point, yes. The point at which the pooping-out occurs will depend on the yeast used. And really, you only need to do that if you are planning to backsweeten it.

I assumed that you were talking about pretty high octane stuff. If you are staying in the single digits that that's a different story.

 

[abweatherley]

yeah would like to hit 11% but i'd be happy with 8 or higher