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I'm not sure how much you already know about calculating alcohol content, but I figured I'd throw this your way. Your cider will normally ferment to 1.000 or lower (in my experience it's normally lower). We'll use 1.000 as a base, and assuming that you want 15% alcohol we can do this (15 / 131.25 = 0.114 + 1.000 = 1.114) so let's say that you add cider to the bucket and do a hydrometer test and you get 1.035 you will...

So i stole your idea and tried a caramel type sugar in a 1 gallon batch. I heated up 1 cup sugar with 1 tbs water. Slowly heated it up on med heat till it got bubbly and slightly browning on the edges. Dont stir at all till you see a golden color showing up. Then I added 2 tsp vanilla extract and stirred added 2 cups aj stirred to cool and dissolve the caramel. Once it was dissolved in the aj I cooled it added to carboy and threw in some aj...

If you do not have an auto siphon the best way is to fill your siphon tube with sterile water or another sterile liquid before starting the siphon. Plug one end with finger and put other end into the brew. when you let go it should start the siphon. Let the water come out and be quick and stop the brew before it comes out. Empty water from the secondary and start the siphon again this time it should be all brew. Putting any brew equip in your...

I picked up 60 gal of juice on Tuesday. The pressing was 50% Stayman and 50% Pink Lady. Tasted great! Sg was 1.057, pH 3.8. Unpasteurized, no k-meta. 8 keg batches and 14 experimental batches The above pic is a couple of hours after pitching the yeast. The 8 carboys on the right are the new juice, with a couple from the last batch still clearing. The cider is still nice and dark. You can see how the two batches with honey have already started...

yes it does take longer. however, with sorbate in your cider you are lucky it is fermenting at all, and it wont be for long. Most likely the yeast will stop working after a few days, since there wont be any yeast reproduction. sorry.

In the US, not all brown sugar is brown sugar. Most is regular sugar with a little molasses added back in and charged more for. To create a caramel / inverted sugar your also need to add some acid to break down the sugar in the heat, some people use DAP, I just add some lemon juice during the boil. There are a lot of threads here that cover creating belgian candy or just plain inverting sugar. In short, you add sugar, half a tsp of DAP / juice...

It's easier to add than to take out. Try adding a liitle at a time and sampling.

I haven't heard of either being used but it sounds like a good idea, assuming the resulting reaction doesn't create any off-flavours. I usually buy fresh cider or apple juice that hasn't had any vitamin C (ascorbic acid) added to it in order to avoid this problem. Back-sweetening the cider also helps to mask the flavour, which can be done with Splenda if you're naturally carbing it. Although my preferred method is to add a...

I think a caramel flavouring would tend to overwhelm a cider while a candi syrup would be more subtle - not that I've ever used either.

Quote: Originally Posted by SeamusMac Regarding your cider, where did you find the 1/2 gal jugs and at what price? I used PC brand cider from the Superstore, 1.9 L or so containers I think. It's cloudy stuff with sediment, juice and no preservatives. Actually I didn't find much that had preservatives. They were $3.99 each. My next batch is using cans frozen from concentrate, at just over a buck each (x4).