Kremer is Hard for Hard Cider

So if you've read the first part of this ongoing cider series you may have noticed that I wanted to raise the alcohol to around 18% alc. by weight. My first attempt by adding sugar I calculated wrong and it the alc. only rose to about 8%, up from 6.5%.

There still is time left; so here is what I need to do to bring up the sugar content.

Above: Brown sugar. How come you taste so good.

1. I now have 20.25 quarts of cider that had a starting specific gravity (SG) of 1.074
2. My SG needs to be up around 1.1614 if I want 18% Alcohol by weight.
3. I need to keep the total volume under 6 gallons, for that is the size of my glass carboy.
4. The current volume is 20.25/4= 5 1/16th gallons.
5. So I have 15/16th of a gallon (3.75 quarts) space for brown sugar water to boost the gravity up to 1.1614.
   

If my California math is correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit.

(20.25*1.074)+(3.75*[sugar water gravity]) = 24*1.1614
This means that my sugar water gravity needs to be 1.63336

Here's how we make the brown sugar water gravity 1.63336

• I know the specific gravity of water is 1.000
• I know that when I added two cups brown sugar to 1 quart, the final volume was 1.15 quarts. So I will assume one cup brown sugar raises the water level 0.075 quarts.
• I know that the gravity of the light brown sugar water from my previous experiment was 1.12869.
• This means that liquid brown sugar has a gravity of (1.000*1)+(0.15*[gravity of liquid brown sugar]) = 1.15*1.12869
• The gravity of liquid brown sugar is 1.98662
  

I need to solve this equation then, where X = amount of water and Y = liquid brown sugar.
X*1.000 + Y*1.98662 = (X+Y)*1.63336
and I know I can only have 3.75 quarts, so X+Y= 3.75
and then Y = 3.75 - X
Then my equation is:
X + (3.75 - X)*1.98662 = 3.75*1.63336
X + 7.449825 - 1.98662X = 6.1251
-0.98662X = -1.324725

X = 1.342690 quarts water
Y = 2.4073098 quarts liquid brown sugar

If 0.075 Quarts liquid brown sugar comes from 1 cup brown sugar, then I need:
2.4073098/0.075 = 32.097 cups brown sugar. [appx. 32/2.25 = 14 pounds of sugar!]

Umm.. WTF. 14 pounds of sugar? I'm going to need to find what I can scrape up around the house or go to the grocery store/Costco. Maybe I'll just throw in the towel...
No. Goonies never say die.
I'll be back with an update.

An open letter to Tonk re: Hard Cider

Tonk you asked me a question to which my facebook reply was too lengthy to be allowed. So here I am posting it here for peer review.

edit: This is a winded and round about way to answer your question about how much brown sugar you need to add to boost your cider's alcohol percent

Hard Cider experiment
Goal: to make 18% Alcohol (by weight) hard cider to use in making Apple Jack.

-Prelude
I did an experiment which I thought was scientific and reliable; but it is neither:

I had exactly 2 quarts (1/2 gallon) of cider juiced from apples in my backyard with a specific gravity of 1.052

1. I took 1 quart (1/4 gallon) of water and boiled it with 2 cups light brown sugar. [1 quart water plus 2 cups light brown sugar resulted in about 1.15 quarts. The jug that contains the apple juice holds 3 liters which is 3.17 quarts. This jug was near full after combining the sugar water and cider, which means that 3.17-0.02 quarts remaining space-2 quarts cider leaves 1.15 quarts sugar water.]
2. I then combined the apple juice and sugar water and let the mixture cool back down to room temperature
   
3. The measured the gravity was 1.080.
   

So I assumed that for every 1 quart water boiled with 2 cups brown sugar raised the gravity by 0.028.

• I didn't put much thought into this assumption although I based the remainder of my experiment on it.
• [Update] What I now believe is that I should have measured the specific gravity of the sugar water before combining it with the apple juice.
• Had I measured the sugar water's gravity before combining it with the cider I believe it would have been 1.129
• Working backwards, if 2 quarts of 1.052 + 1.15 quart of X specific gravity brown sugar water = 3.15 quarts of 1.080 specific gravity, then (1.052*2)+(1.15*X) = (3.15*1.080) then the specific gravity of the light brown sugar water would have been X = 1.12869.
  

What is your opinion?

The Main Experiment
I wanted to make another cider 18% Alcohol by weight. I knew it had been fermenting for a day and a half so measuring it's gravity was worthless at that point, but I knew that the initial specific gravity was 1.060.

-side note: I don't care if I am unable to ascertain the final % alc. anyways, since I will be ice distilling the cider into apple jack; As long as the liquor doesn't freeze in a freezer it's good, or perhaps I am able to proof it] I also knew that the yeast had an alcohol tolerance of 18%, thus my goal.

Assumptions:

• I have 4 gallons of cider
• It had a starting specific gravity of 1.060
• I am assuming that this cider ferments to a final gravity around 0.990. I have done two previous ciders which fermented down to 0.992 and 0.990 respectively. Although this time I am using a different type of yeast, Lalvin EC 1118, I predict it will ferment similarly.
• The alcohol tolerance of this yeast strain is 18%.
  
• The calculation for % alcohol by weight is 105*(starting gravity-final gravity) = % alcohol by weight.
• My Goal would be to add sugar so that 18=105*(Starting Gravity-0.990) - Thus my starting gravity should be around 18/105+0.990=1.1614
• And I need to raise the gravity by 1.1614-1.060=0.1014
  
• And for every 1 quarts water plus 2 cups light brown sugar, the gravity increases by 0.028. [Wrong]
• Therefore I need to add 0.1014/0.028= 3.62*(2 cups light sugar and 1 quart water)
• Because it's easier to measure, I boiled together and added 3 2/3rds quarts and 7 1/3 cups light brown sugar
  
  

Results:
As yet to be determined but the air lock is indicating a healthy fermentation bubbling a couple bubbles every second.

Upon Further Review:
Like I previously stated, I believe some of my methodology was wrong. Estimates using my updated hypothesis are as follows:

• 4 gallons of cider*4 quarts a gallon = 16 quarts of cider at 1.060 starting specific gravity.
• The ratio of water to brown sugar mixture did not change, so it's gravity should be the same as well: 1.12869.
  
• Therefore, (16*1.060)+((1.15*3.66)*1.12869) = (16+(1.15*3.66))*[Starting Gravity]
  
• Thus, what I actually created was a starting specific gravity of 1.074
  

Side notes:

From rough estimations I found that 2.25 cups sugar is roughly 1 pound. I've also noticed that recipes call for upwards of 5#'s sugar for 5 gallons sugar. with 7 and 1/3rd cups of sugar, I added approximately 3 and a 1/4 pounds sugar for 4 gallons cider (also, I have a hunch that it's over 4 gallons of starting apple cider when I include a few 12 oz. concentrates I threw in there.)

This means that I just brought my cider up to about 105*(1.074-0.990)= 8.82% Alc. by weight, or /0.79 = 11.16 % Alc. by volume. Not bad when you consider your average beer is 5% Alc. by vol. but this is upsetting if you're trying to make a liquor.

TL:DR version
I tried to make my cider more alcoholic by adding sugar. It turned out not as alcoholic than I had hoped but there is still some time left to add more sugar. Should I add more sugar?

7 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. I like lists. They help me get organized. Sometimes I'll find 3 lists laying around: usually one is in my pocket, one is on my desk and somewhere there is a post-it note laying around somewhere. They will each have the majority of things crossed out but whats remaining will all be combined into one new list and the old lists get tossed. My father tells me that I am far too task oriented, and that I need to be more objective oriented. Well, now when I make lists instead of writing To-do at the top, I right objectives, then make sub-tasks to each objective.

2. I spend a lot of time thinking about my existence. When you've had as many near-death experiences as I have, you tend to gain a sense of immortality. Perhaps I should carry a sword in case I run into any Highlanders. Besides that, I read about how someone died in the newspaper nearly everyday. Did you know that there are 6 billion people living in this world? think about it. That's 999.9 million x6 (plus a few). If I die, maybe a hundred people will notice. Anyways, I guess I need to do something important with my life, which leads to #3.

3. I spend a lot of time thinking about what the hell I should do. Okay, I know a lot of you do this, so this shouldn't be any surprise. I'm in the middle of finding a new job after graduating college, so this is more prevalent to me. In regards to #2, I want to do something with my life that will immortalize me. Find a cure for cancer. Be a great leader. Or maybe an astronaut. Yeah... be the first motherfucker to see a new galaxy, or find a new alien lifeform... and fuck it. People would be like, "There he goes. Homeboy fucked a Martian once."

4. I brew my own beer. Okay, so that's something that most of you probably do know about me. Whether you do or don't, this is an open invitation to come brew some beer with me. I'll put you to work in the spice mines of Kessel in order to find that delicious flavor I've been looking for.

5. Contrary to what the psychiatrist told me, I have attention problems. Point in case: I forgot I was doing this list. I started messing around with iTunes, then I'm reading some news story online, then I came back here to see this #5. staring me blankly in the face. oops. Yeah if I don't finish reading a book in two or three days, it'll sit on a table with a bookmark in it forever. Same thing for all the things I intend to do. So, with that in mind, I am going to finish this off.

6. I read a lot in my spare time. I wish I was cool and could say that I read three different newspapers daily but in reality it's really just the headlines that come across on Google News which I like to believe tells me the gist of what's happening in the world. A lot of time I read stuff my ADD kicks in and I will not remember all that I've read, I only hope that perhaps if I went schizo my alternate personality would remember what I've read but forgotten. Did you know if you mixed equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm? ... I also read comic books. From things like Penny Arcade! to Achewood and the occasional Perry Bible Fellowship. When I don't feel like reading, I enjoy audio books. Not just books on tape, I've also picked up audio lectures on everything from the History of Mesopotamia to The History of the World. And like anybody, one day I hope to read all the books I've amassed.

7. My friends mean more to me then my family. My parents divorced when I was in second grade, so I spent more time with babysitters and friends than my parents since both of them were always working. When your parents separate, instead of splitting 'teaching a child about life' it becomes 'becoming the more favored of the child'. So you can tell me how at Christmas you got double the presents and how vacations were more frequent. In reality, I sort of created my own family of friends whom I learn life by and when I make a friend it usually is for life.