Ok, i'm planning to start my very first two cider batches and I have two very different final products in mind :
Batch A: A spicy, belly warming, slightly carbonated cider that could be drank around room temp (let say 60F) or used in hot cider recipe this winter. (Maybe around 8-9% abw)
Batch B: A semi-dry champagne style with a woody tang (11%+ abw).
Being a total newby with a "for dummies" book in hand, there's a lot of question marks left unanswered, especially about the amount of sugars and yeast. I'll outline my planned recipes so you can tell if you see any problem.
In both cases, i'm buying the soft cider from a local orchard and i'll trust they'll choose the proper blend of apples (they know I want to make hard cider with it). The 12gal of juice will sit in a fridge for 1-2 days before I can go pick it up and I don't know yet if it will have been pasteurized. Every other ingredient I put in, I will pasteurize myself. In the recipes, I assume an original sg of 1.045 for the soft cider and will adjust accordingly. I'm also assuming a sg / lbs / 5 gal for maple syrup of 0.040 with 0.015 of it unfermentable (35%).
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Recipe A:
Primary fermentation in pail: 6gal soft cider + campden + 1/2 lbs honey to sg 1.065 + dry ale yeast (how much?). About a week fermentation or to sg 1.005
Secondary fermentation in carboy: 5gal cider + 1/2 lbs honey + nutmeg and cinnamon in a bag. Cold crash after about a month.
Bottleing : Add 1/4 lbs honey, pasteurize when the carbonation is right.
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Recipe B:
Primary fermentation in carboy: 5gal soft cider + campden + 1 lbs maple syrup + 1.5 lbs dextrose to sg 1.140 + champagne yeast (how much?). About two week fermentation or to sg 1.015 (I only have 1 pail, so I hope the champagne yeast wont foam too much in the carboy). The 1.015 sg is from unfermentable maple sugars
Secondary fermentation in carboy: 4.5gal cider + 0.5gal soft cider + 1/2 lbs maple syrup . Cold crash around sg 1.020 (unfermentable maple sugars).
Bottleing : Add 3/4 cup dextrose, pasteurize when bubbly.
If all fermentable sugars are consumed, I should be left with an sg of 1.020 from the unfermantable maple sugars. Is that enough for a "semi-dry" sweetness or should I add more sugar at the bottleing and pasteurize it when ready ?
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Please let me know what you would change in these recipes !
Edit 1: I had the wrong values of sg points per pound per 5 gallon for dextrose and honey (I was assuming 1lbs of dextrose in 5gal cider would raise sg by 0.008, but in fact it's closer to 0.040. I revised the amounts of sugars added). Based on Yooper's coment, i'll pasteurize the batch B botltes.
Batch A: A spicy, belly warming, slightly carbonated cider that could be drank around room temp (let say 60F) or used in hot cider recipe this winter. (Maybe around 8-9% abw)
Batch B: A semi-dry champagne style with a woody tang (11%+ abw).
Being a total newby with a "for dummies" book in hand, there's a lot of question marks left unanswered, especially about the amount of sugars and yeast. I'll outline my planned recipes so you can tell if you see any problem.
In both cases, i'm buying the soft cider from a local orchard and i'll trust they'll choose the proper blend of apples (they know I want to make hard cider with it). The 12gal of juice will sit in a fridge for 1-2 days before I can go pick it up and I don't know yet if it will have been pasteurized. Every other ingredient I put in, I will pasteurize myself. In the recipes, I assume an original sg of 1.045 for the soft cider and will adjust accordingly. I'm also assuming a sg / lbs / 5 gal for maple syrup of 0.040 with 0.015 of it unfermentable (35%).
--------------
Recipe A:
Primary fermentation in pail: 6gal soft cider + campden + 1/2 lbs honey to sg 1.065 + dry ale yeast (how much?). About a week fermentation or to sg 1.005
Secondary fermentation in carboy: 5gal cider + 1/2 lbs honey + nutmeg and cinnamon in a bag. Cold crash after about a month.
Bottleing : Add 1/4 lbs honey, pasteurize when the carbonation is right.
------------------
Recipe B:
Primary fermentation in carboy: 5gal soft cider + campden + 1 lbs maple syrup + 1.5 lbs dextrose to sg 1.140 + champagne yeast (how much?). About two week fermentation or to sg 1.015 (I only have 1 pail, so I hope the champagne yeast wont foam too much in the carboy). The 1.015 sg is from unfermentable maple sugars
Secondary fermentation in carboy: 4.5gal cider + 0.5gal soft cider + 1/2 lbs maple syrup . Cold crash around sg 1.020 (unfermentable maple sugars).
Bottleing : Add 3/4 cup dextrose, pasteurize when bubbly.
If all fermentable sugars are consumed, I should be left with an sg of 1.020 from the unfermantable maple sugars. Is that enough for a "semi-dry" sweetness or should I add more sugar at the bottleing and pasteurize it when ready ?
------------------
Please let me know what you would change in these recipes !
Edit 1: I had the wrong values of sg points per pound per 5 gallon for dextrose and honey (I was assuming 1lbs of dextrose in 5gal cider would raise sg by 0.008, but in fact it's closer to 0.040. I revised the amounts of sugars added). Based on Yooper's coment, i'll pasteurize the batch B botltes.