How do i adjust the Gravity level?

[starspud1]

I know you're probably laughing at me, but i've just made up 2 Dj's of apple cider using lidl's juice. The Gravity was 1.030(ish) and i wanted to raise it higher so that it would ferment down to a higher strength (i'm hoping i've got that bit right have i?).

So i boiled some water in a pan and added a random amount of sugar and dumped it in the Dj - well the reading didn't seem to change to me so i'm sure i'm doing something wrong. Plus if it's cooled down to the correct temp to pitch the yeast i can't just add sugar coz it won't dissolve..

I'm sure the answer to this is totally obvious and i'm gonna look a right numpty here..

thanks
barry

 

[pittsy]

sounds like you did every thing right , you need at least 200g a gallon to make a difference just give the dj a good shake should make a difference

 

[Mark1964]

we put 250g sugar in 8 litres and its strong enough :thumb:

 

[alphacento]

So i boiled some water in a pan and added a random amount of sugar and dumped it in the Dj

Did you let the water cool off a little bit?

 

[bobsbeer]

To get 5% ABV you need about 100g sugar per litre, assuming you let it ferment to dry, (SG 1.035ish). Add up the sugar content of your juice plus what you added and divide that by the volume ie 500g sugar/5lt = 100g per liter. The more sugar the more alcohol, but it is an inverse curve. If you add too much sugar the taste goes down. f you want to add more sugar, remove some of you brew, put it into a pan and warm. Add sugar and disolve in the pan. Then let it cool and return to the fermenter. Don't forget that adding sugar will also slightly alter the volume so depending on how full it was it may not all go back in!

 

[Mark1964]

dont forget the juice itself has sugars in so if you use 100 g per litre im sure you would get an abv of more that 5% as i already said we add 250g sugar to 8 litres and get an abv of 7%

 

[oldbloke]

Sounds like you forgot that hydrometers need correcting for temperature.

100g sugar per gallon gives approx 1%ABV.

The Lidl juice you started with gives 4 to 5 %ABV, I forget exactly how much

 

[Mark1964]

yes so 8 litres is just over 14 pints so if gravity increases 1 point per 100g sugar per gallon if i add 250g to the 14 pints will give an abv of 7% to the finished cider, which is what it does or just above 7%

 

[starspud1]

So i boiled some water in a pan and added a random amount of sugar and dumped it in the Dj

Did you let the water cool off a little bit?

Hi, yes i let it cool to around the yeast pitch temperature.. you see i read somewhere that if i used the hydrometer at a temperature above 70c that it would read wrong.. is that right? It's a young's hydrometer

 

[starspud1]

dont forget the juice itself has sugars in so if you use 100 g per litre im sure you would get an abv of more that 5% as i already said we add 250g sugar to 8 litres and get an abv of 7%

Just what i thought, but i added 900g tesco value cheap clear honey.. was that right? Does honey work as an absolute substitute per gram as sugar?

 

[oldbloke]

No, honey is about 80% sugar. And the residual solids may affect the gravity reading a tad.

 

[starspud1]

So when i decide to make the 5 gallon batch and scale everything up, should the reading still be 1.030ish?

I'll be doing this:

20litres of lidl apple juice (the cheaper stuff, not 100%)
5 tins of pear slices (though they do have 'firming agent' in them, if it matters? Hope not its in my current test batch)
5kg tesco value cheap clear honey (that mankuna type stuff is really expensive!)
yeast
time...
then bung it through the wifes sieve and dangle a sliced vanilla pod in and wait a week
bottle with some artificial sweetener and a little sugar (we collected quite a few 1ltre plastic coke bottles)
wait a month
keep fingers crossed and drink...

and will this taste like sh**e?

 

[oldbloke]

Going to be fairly strong, lot of sugars in there.
Why Manuka honey? Overpriced con job if you ask me.
I'd be chucking in some pectolase coz of the pears.
I tried a vanilla turbocider and didn't get much vanilla flavour through, not sure how best to get that to work, so: good luck.

 

[starspud1]

Going to be fairly strong, lot of sugars in there.
Why Manuka honey? Overpriced con job if you ask me.
I'd be chucking in some pectolase coz of the pears.
I tried a vanilla turbocider and didn't get much vanilla flavour through, not sure how best to get that to work, so: good luck.

Lol no i was saying that Manuka Honey is too dear, which is why i used tesco value clear honey.
Pectolase? What function does it serve with the pears?
re the Vanilla, I read on the recipe on here to put the vanilla pod in after the fermentation so that the flavour can infuse. I hope it works it's expensive stuff

 

[bobsbeer]

With all that sugar, what yeast are you using? You need to add up all the sugar to give you an idea of your initial SG. Not sure what your apple juice sugar content will be but probably not far off 100g per lt, so before you add the honey you have 80g per lt. As it's the cheaper stuff probably 80% sugar? So that's about 4kg sugar, then your pears. All told you will have about 245g per lt which will give you an SG of about 1.090 and an abv of about 12.5.

 

[oldbloke]

There's a bit of pectin in pears, might have trouble getting it to clear without pectolase.
I stuck a bit of vanilla pod in during the ferment as there's no second stage before bottling with turbocider, and either I didn't use enough or it got fermented away. Could tell it was there, though. If you've got a secondary stage you can use to infuse it'll probably work better.

 

[starspud1]

With all that sugar, what yeast are you using?

The yeast is Super Wine Yeast Compound. the SG was 1.030. It's bubbling away once every few seconds or so.

 

[starspud1]

Well i've just done some quick calculations and it seems to be just a tad under 8%abv.. There's just a little bubbling from the demijohn.. so should i rerack it now or wait longer? It's been bubbling for 11 days!!

 

[oldbloke]

I never rack cider (or beer).
It'll be close to done, though with all the sugar you used and some of it being honey it may be a few more days.
If the hydrometer reads under (say) 1.005, you can bottle.
I go by colour - you can see it clear when it's done.
You can wait until it's properly clear, or bottle a day or so before that (once you have enough experience to tell it's only that far off completely clear).

 

[starspud1]

I never rack cider (or beer).
It'll be close to done, though with all the sugar you used and some of it being honey it may be a few more days.
If the hydrometer reads under (say) 1.005, you can bottle.
I go by colour - you can see it clear when it's done.
You can wait until it's properly clear, or bottle a day or so before that (once you have enough experience to tell it's only that far off completely clear).

Oh cool, the FG was 1.000 .. i didn't waste the 'test liquid' though.. i drank it lol.
Tastewise it seemed more like wine than cider which surprised me a bit. It was dry to me, but not unpleasantly so. I want to dangle a vanilla pod in it and sweeten it a little with splenda. I've read that the dead yeast at the bottom can cause off tastes - will this be the case here?
I'll try and attach a picture of how it looks at the moment.. maybe that can give a better idea

Thanks Again