Apple - fermenter not big enough

[joebrady]

So I have a surplus of apples lately. Wanted to free up some space in my overflowing freezer and fill up an empty 6 gal. glass carboy.

43 lbs Apples Mixed Variety, mostly peeled and quartered, frozen then thawed
(about 1/4 of these had already been cooked down with some sugar and cinnamon)

7.8 Gal. plastic fermenting bucket.

So the problem is, I've only added 1 Gal. of water to the must. When I pull the bag of apples out, I'm left with 3 gal. of liquid. SG is 1.130 at this moment. I went ahead and pitched the yeast last night.

What I was wondering, is there a good way to calculate what SG should be to get a decent ABV after enough liquid is added to fill the 6 Gal. carboy?

(I know the simple answer, get a bigger bucket)

 

[Runningwolf]

I use a brute garbage can for fermenting my apple wine. Your triple hydrometer will give you an estimated potential abv reading.

 

[joebrady]

Yes, the potential here was ~17%. I was aiming for around 12% in the final product.

Simple math tells me that 3 Gal. at 17% mixed with 3 Gal. of water at 0% will give me 6 Gal. at 8.5%....but I'm hoping that a lot more juice comes out of the apples and I also have some apple slurry/starter left from my last batch I can top off with.

 

[Arne]

When I have too much fruit for one primary bucket, I just split it in two and ferment it in 2 buckets. works for me and I can still move them around a little if I have to as they are not as heavy as one big one. Arne.