Ok, so I maybe made my first two batches of cider.
The first was a gallon of Kirkland apple juice with W34/70, fermented for a bit over two weeks at 55 F. It's completely fermented out, OG 1.052, FG 0.998, and tastes it. Plain, simple, but not bad. I'm going to keg and force carbonate it.
The second is where the "maybe" comes in. A gallon of Kirkland plus a pound of muscovado sugar, also ~2 weeks at 55 F with W34/70. I measured an OG of 1.065, but I'm sure it wasn't entirely mixed; math for the sugar content gives 1.098. FG was measured at 1.053 with a refractometer, which a calculator (using the 1.098 number) corrects to 1.027 and ~9% ABV. It's definitely sweet, maybe a little too much, though maybe it'll taste like a normal (sweet) cider when kegged, cold, and carbonated.
The first was a gallon of Kirkland apple juice with W34/70, fermented for a bit over two weeks at 55 F. It's completely fermented out, OG 1.052, FG 0.998, and tastes it. Plain, simple, but not bad. I'm going to keg and force carbonate it.
The second is where the "maybe" comes in. A gallon of Kirkland plus a pound of muscovado sugar, also ~2 weeks at 55 F with W34/70. I measured an OG of 1.065, but I'm sure it wasn't entirely mixed; math for the sugar content gives 1.098. FG was measured at 1.053 with a refractometer, which a calculator (using the 1.098 number) corrects to 1.027 and ~9% ABV. It's definitely sweet, maybe a little too much, though maybe it'll taste like a normal (sweet) cider when kegged, cold, and carbonated.
- All my reference points are for beer. W34/70 is almost always done in two weeks, and can definitely handle 9% ABV and above, but are these things different for cider? Do I just need to leave it alone in the fermenter and wait longer?
- Is there any reason (except that I somewhat prefer dry to sweet cider) not to keg and chill batch #2, even if fermentation isn't done?
- I have Fermaid O, various dried beer yeast, and sodium metabisulfite. Should I add one or a combination of these?