Cider Brew, Questions and small intro

[RandyMarsh]

I just started a batch yesterday, unfortunately didn't pay much attention to the OG(Original Gravity?) which was 1.030, which [b]IF[/b] FG goes to 1.000 will give about 4% Alcohol.

Bit low for a cider.....

And I thought I couldn't go wrong doing a cider brew. (I added lots of water), being economical
Now I haven't done a brew for 4 years, and only did 4 brews before, one cider which was 16 liters cheap apple juice + 1 or 2 liter apple cordial tasted great, + tea and water to make 5 gallons/ 23 liters, so thought I could use less juice this time, used 8 liters apple juice + strong tea and 2 liters of apple cordial, rest water and youngs super wine yeast.
Did two beer kits before, and one disaster which involved lots of golden syrup and Lemon juice, chucked all 23 liters of black stuff away.

So I figured I have 4 options to proceed here,(1) I can add a kilo of sugar, but how much would this increase OG, I can do this now or (2)I can do this during secondary fermentation, I usually rack into a pressure barrel which I will do anyway.

(3)I can add another two bottles of Apple cordial, 40% sugar I think, which would increase batch to 25 liters, and Increase OG slightly,(4) again I could wait and do this during secondary fermentation.

I am thinking of just waiting, having a few drinks after first fermentation, then adding more cordial or sugar.
Don't really want to add white sugar, as I think it will ruin the flavour.

[Pinto]

Once the ball is rolling, its usually folly to interfere - and TBH, is 4% cider that bad ? lots of commercial boys seem to think its ok Its no bad thing to have something in stock that wont take away your sight after two bottles for school night drinkin'....

If you really have to up the ante, use the apple cordial addition - it'll add "appleness" to the finished brew as well as ABV - and dont forget, you'll be adding ~0.5% to the abv anyway when you prime the bottles for carbonation.

[RandyMarsh]

Excuse the bad terminology
I will be racking into a pressure barrel, and after 2nd fermentation consuming from there.
So not using bottles.(not that I have any)

According to unconfirmed sources on yahoo answers, 100g sugar produces 62ml of ethanol, which is 6.2 Units
1kg = 62 Units
23 liters
62/23 = 2.7 Units per Liter, so 2.7%
That is assuming 100% conversion to alcohol, and seems a really high % of Alcohol, never knew you could make equivalent of 2.2 bottles of vodka with 1 kilo of sugar
Other calculators are saying 400g of sugar for 1% Alcohol in 23 liters

Apple Cordial is 40.9% sugar, so 400g sugar in a litre bottle, I will chuck two of them in at second fermentation.

Thanks for the feedback

[Pinto]

Pressure barrels aren't suitable for fizzy style cider as they cant hold sufficient pressure - more suited to still "scrumpy" style - you'd need a cornelius keg in that case.

[oldbloke]

According to unconfirmed sources on yahoo answers, 100g sugar produces 62ml of ethanol, which is 6.2 Units
1kg = 62 Units
23 liters
62/23 = 2.7 Units per Liter, so 2.7%
That is assuming 100% conversion to alcohol, and seems a really high % of Alcohol, never knew you could make equivalent of 2.2 bottles of vodka with 1 kilo of sugar
Other calculators are saying 400g of sugar for 1% Alcohol in 23 liters

You have to be careful with Yahoo answers, I've seen total BS there many times. So much so I'm not even checking the figures you quote...

I often use a rule-of-thumb: 20g/litre->1%
So your 2.2 vodka bottles would be a bit puny at around 32%.
2 bottles at 35% sounds better
The problem being it's not easy to dissolve that much sugar in that much water and the yeast wouldn't like it, or go that high.
But the theory is sound....