Cider Calculations

[SemperFermentis]

I'm usually a beer maker, but I do enjoy cider and tried a go at it except I was a little inebriated so my process was a little less than stellar. Bottom line up front:
I forgot to take an OG and I'm looking for a way to estimate this.

I have beersmith, and the recommendations are that I can add a custom grain that will approximate apple juice. I know that there were 28 grams of sugar per serving, and 16 servings per container. This comes pretty close to a pound of sugar per gallon.

I have found details for the table sugar that I added, so that's pretty simple, but I think I'm over-thinking the calculations. The recipe is as follows:

6 gallons of apple juice with the aforementioned sugar content (roughly 6 pounds total)
6 pounds of sugar.

I used a starter of Nottingham to ferment, and it's been going for about 2.5 weeks at 60F, ramping up to 65 for the last couple days to finish. I took a gravity reading today and it read 1.040, which was surprising however my calculations were coming around an ABV of approximately 7%. Some sources say 7% is about it, some sources have had success of upwards of 9.5%, but this was with beer.

Can someone help me cut through these weeds and get a rough estimate of starting gravity? I'm totally fine with the product, even if it's a stuck fermentation, I've got my mother in law coming in tomorrow and I don't know what to tell her bout the ABV, which for whatever reason is somehow of crucial importance.

 

[SemperFermentis]

I knew I'd find the answer as soon as I posted. Sorry to bother, can't figure out how to delete this.

 

[bondra76]

I'm actually in the same predicament so if you could post your finding I'd find it useful.

 

[Randzor]

I think around 15% brick if dry down to 1.00. That is a alot of sugar to eat through.

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[SemperFermentis]

I'm actually in the same predicament so if you could post your finding I'd find it useful.

What I found was 45 points per pound, per gallon of basic table sugar. I am working under the assumption that this is similar, if not the same as the sugar in the apple juice. If this is incorrect, please don't shoot the messenger.

http://hbd.org/uchima/tech/extract.html

So the way that I worked it, and the only way that I could, was to look at the sugar content of the cider that I purchased, add that weight amount to the sugar added, multiply it by 45 and divide by total volume of cider fermented. I came out at 84 points. Seeing as my final gravity is 1.040, this leaves me at 5.7%. I'm assuming that this isn't totally spot on, so clearly next time I'll measure. I'm also assuming that I have a stuck fermentation, since I have seen numerous postings of better attenuation with Nottingham almost every time I turn around.

I'm kegging it, force carbing it, and chilling it. Should be game set and match, and now I have a sweet cider that will keep my MIL chill the entire time that she's here.:rockin:

 

[SemperFermentis]

I think around 15% brick if dry down to 1.00. That is a alot of sugar to eat through.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

What was your method of calculation?

 

[Jkalotai]

Grams of sugar are grams of sugar when ready the charts on store bought cider or juice.


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[Nautalus01]

Hello Semperfermentis (safe to assume you are a Marine with that handle?). I am in Stafford and have just started my first batch of cider, the posts that you and others make have been very helpful to me. thanks