This is copy of my posts on the other board. I am not getting answers over there... I'd be very happy if someone could comment on what I am doing here.
Post #1 starts here...
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I just did a shopping run so I can start my apfelwein tonight. I'm hoping it will done around Christmas, 3 weeks from today. Or at least by New Years ! I could filter it if needed.
I bought 24 litres of Sun-Rype unsweetened "Not From Concentrate" 100% pure apple juice. The ingredient list is "Apple Juice, vitamin C". The box says its pasteurized.
I'll be using the yeast variety "Saccharomyces bayanus" by Lalvin. Its what they call a champagne yeast. But its still used for wines. I've used it on a number of fruit wines over the years.
I'm trying to decide how much dextrose to use. I've got 2KG of it (4.4 pounds). I'm brewing 6 gallons. The juice boxes say "Naturally occurring fruit sugars 30g/250ml." That is a bit over an ounce per cup. I wonder how this compares with other juices. The calorie content is 120 calories per 250 ml.
22L x 4 cups per litre = 88 cups 88 cups x 30 g/cup = 2.640KG = 5.8 pounds of "naturally occurring fruit sugars"
Does anyone know what sort of OG that would make ?
Does anyone have info from their juice to compare with ?
Thanks.
Post #2 starts here...
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http://home.iitk.ac.in/~ashishg/hydrometer.htm
According to this, for 8.6% alcohol, we need a SG of 1.065 which is about 1 pound 11 ounces of fermentable sugars per gallon. I have a little less than 1 pound per gallon now. (5.8 pounds per 22 litres) So I need to add about 11 ounces per gallon. I am assuming my apfelwein will ferment to an SG of 1.000, which may be a little bit conservative.
11 ounces/16 x 454g/pound = 312 grams per gallon 312 grams per gallon x 6 gallons = 1872 grams. So nearly the full 2 Kg of dextrose. (4.4 pounds) 1872 grams would be 4.125 pounds of dextrose.
Does anyone see a flaw with this logic ?
If I assume it ferments to 0.990, then I'll have an alcohol content of about 9.9% ! If it goes to 0.990, then I should have a SG of about 1.055 and 1lb 7 ounces of sugar per gallon. 7 /16 x 454 = 200 grams per gallon or 1.2 KG for the batch. 2.65 pounds for the batch.
I'll check the SG of the apple juice before I add the dextrose just to be sure.
I suspect the SG of the various juices differs a bit, depending on how concentrated the juice is, how it is reformulated, etc. The juice I am using is straight from the apple, thus my worry that it is different from what others are using.
Edited by: MrFruitwines