Dilution of fresh pressed apple juice.

[nhannath]

We have a homebrew cider day next week and I have 20 gallons of juice pressed that day.

I have 2 fermenters and fermentation fridges that can take a spidiel 15 gallon fermenter (head space around 17 gallons.)

I was thinking of diluting the 20 gallons of juice to give me 2 x 17 gallon batches.

Ratios would be something like:-

10 gallons of Juice (freshly pressed - 2 sweet , 1 tart blend).
5 gallons of water
5lb corn sugar.

This gives me a 6.2% hard cider whilst maximizing head space to avoid oxidation.

Is it a good idea to water down the juice or should I make just a single batch of 100% juice?

Cheers

Neal

 

[Chalkyt]

I have never diluted my juice and 33% water seems a bit too much to me. I note that Andrew Lea (Craft Cider Making) suggests that " in practice it is an empirical fact that the dilution of cider up to about 15% has little impact on flavour". This is sometimes done in the U.K. in a good year to reduce the potential alcohol to 8.5% which is the legal limit there.

 

[hawkwing]

I would advise against it. Just try a sample in a glass. If it’s too watered down to drink as juice it’ll be too watered down as hard cider.

 

[nhannath]

Thanks - I'd always heard (maybe incorrectly) that commercially made hard cider always used a diluted apple base hence my thinking. The juice is $6 per gallon so $120 for the 20 gallons I'm getting - Part of me was trying to make that going further , however not at the expense of creating a terrible tasting and weak tasting cider.

 

[InspectorJon]

I would suggest you might want to measure the gravity of the cider before diluting it. Not all cider it the same. Extra head room in the fermentor is not really an issue. It will fill with C02 pretty quickly when it gets going. I ferment 2 gallons of beer in a 5 gallon carboy all the time.

 

[Chalkyt]

I don't really know, but your idea that commercial cider is sometimes made from diluted juice makes sense.

Most of us make cider from juice that is typically around SG 1.050 which results in about 6.5% ABV. Many "commercial" ciders are around 4.5% - 5% ABV (similar to beer for marketing purposes perhaps???) and I guess that to do this consistently would involve lowering the SG to around 1.040 (i.e. dilute the juice), or stop fermentation before 1.000 (i.e. 1.010 would retain some sweetness of around 25 g/L which is around 2 teaspoons of sugar per 12 oz bottle).

Having said that, I am aware of craft ciders from small producers in our local market that are around 7% ABV which would come from higher than 1.050 juice.

Perhaps someone familiar with commercial practices might be able to tell us more.

 

[madscientist451]

Thanks - I'd always heard (maybe incorrectly) that commercially made hard cider always used a diluted apple base hence my thinking. The juice is $6 per gallon so $120 for the 20 gallons I'm getting - Part of me was trying to make that going further , however not at the expense of creating a terrible tasting and weak tasting cider.

Not all apples make good hard cider. Cider (apple juice) that tastes great sometimes isn't all that great when fermented.
I wouldn't spend $120 on juice for hard cider unless I knew what the apple blend was and had experience with how the cider from that apple blend was going to turn out.
My 2 cents: If possible, scale back your order to 5 gallons and see how it comes out. Its only October, there will be other opportunities to get juice, and the apple varieties that mature later in the season make better cider anyway.

 

[hawkwing]

This time of year you should be able to get really cheap apple juice or free apples.

Also where I’m from the apples don’t get as sweet. I juice them and have to add sugar. I never dilute them. I’ve even added some frozen apple juice concentrate.