My first time brewing plan

[Lightnin]

My goals for my first batch:
1. High ABV (to the point where I'm pushing the limits on the yeast)
2. 3 weeks to ferment
3. Easily done (no secondary, just pour in the ingredients and wait)

Obviously I've put taste on the back burner, but I'm not interested in using turbo yeast due to what I've read.

Materials:
1. 5 gallon carboy with air outlet and rubber stopper
2. 4 gallons UV pasteurized cider
3. 6 pounds brown sugar
4. Yeast nutrients and Yeast hulls
3. Lalvin EC-1118 (one packet)

Plan:
1. Add the cider, yeast nutrients and hulls, yeast, and one pound of sugar to the carboy.
2. Once bubbling starts to slow down, add another pound of sugar.
3. Repeat until all 6 pounds of sugar have been fermented.
4. Remove carefully trying not to disturb the lees.

I know this must seem like a waste of cider to aficionados like yourselves, but I am simply looking for the cheapest and quickest way to create alcohol while still having a product that is still mildly consumable.

So what do you think? Is this a viable plan?

 

[Apple_Jacker]

6 pounds of sugar for 4 gallons of cider sounds like overkill to me, but I could be wrong. Most recipes I've seen call for 1 pound per gallon. Also, why are you incrementally adding sugar and cider? Just add it all at once, especially if you are looking to make your hard cider fast. Doing it the way you described seems like it will make it take longer.

Take all of your sugar, put it in a large pot, add 1 gallon of your cider and simmer (do not boil!) on the stove until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool a little bit then pour that into your carboy. Add the remaining cider, the rest of your ingredients, stir, close it off with the stopper, and that's it!
Do you plan on bottling it? Adding carbonation?

 

[Lightnin]

I was going to go with an incremental method of adding the sugar because I'm worried the batch will be too sugary for the yeast to survive. If I can add all the sugar from the start and not have anything to worry about, then that would be ideal.

How necessary is it to simmer the sugar into the mix? Could I get away with just dumping all the sugar into the carboy?

Also, yes I plan on bottling, no I don't plan on adding carbonation.

 

[JeepDiver]

no way that will ferment out in 3 weeks, I've had 4 gallons of Cider alone take a month. And at that point it still doesn't taste like anything you want to drink.

For what you want, the easiest thing to do is go buy a bottle of EverClear

 

[Lightnin]

Wouldn't the large amounts of sugar and yeast nutrients/hulls speed up the process?

 

[porterpounder]

Incremental addition of sugar will probably ferment better as the yeast count rises each day due to addition of new sugars. You'll need to oxygenate daily to continue fermentation as the yeast need it to do their thing in addition to the nutrient.

It's not the high sugar content that will kill the yeast if adding it all at once, it's the stop of fermentation due to lack of oxygen and the yeast going dormant/dying due a too-high alcohol content. Find a yeast with high alcohol tolerance. The content will also depend on what the OG of the original base cider is. It can range from about 10 to 18 P--that's a potential of 4-8% abv--big range.

 

[Lightnin]

I was working off of the assumption that the cider would have 120 g/L of sugar.

I also found that the density of brown sugar is 6 lbs/gal.

I used this chart to try and find how much sugar to add for 18% which is what I believe this yeast is capable of. It turned out to be 5.7 lbs so I just rounded to 6.

EDIT: If I added incremental doses of sugar, just by dumping the sugar in and stirring it each time, should I be concerned about over oxygenation? I.E. vinegar?

 

[porterpounder]

Never assume cider gravity if you want decent results. As I said, the sugar content can vary by a whole lot in the base, i.e. if you add 6 lbs of sugar to a cider with OG 10 P you will probably get a dry, alcoholic cider. If you add 6 lbs of sugar to a 18 P cider you likely have cloyingly sweet alcoholic cider. Either may fit your tastes.

Vinegar will only be created in the presence of acetic bacteria with the addition of oxygen. If you are careful about cleanliness with the entire process you won't need to worry about vinegar. Plus, I'm pretty sure most acetic bacteria can't survive 18% ABV. The addition of the oxygen in measured doses will be used by the yeast or gas itself out of the liquid in the fermenter. As long as an active ferment is still going, excess oxygen shouldn't be that big of a concern with cider.