How much sugar should I buy?

[tubalcain]

When the apple harvest is in, I plan to buy 50 gallons of cider. I be using ec1118 yeast, shooting for 18 percent. I also know that it will involve hydrometers and such for SG. Now I need a reasonable guestimate of the amount of sugar that I'll need. The local farm store has it on sale @ $.70 per pound. Who has a guess?

 

[winemaker81]

"Guess" is a good word to use, as numerous assumptions must be made.

A quick check says cider is typically around 1.050, and to achieve near 18% ABV, the OG needs to be roughly 1.125. This means the SG must increase by 0.075.

1 lb sugar raises the SG of 1 US gallon by 0.045, so 1.7 lbs of sugar per gallon is required to increase from 1.050 to 1.125

Total sugar, based upon several (potentially incorrect) assumptions is 85 lbs.

 

[back2it]

It doesnt really matter how much sugar you have or need. If you are like me, then every time you walk the past sugar in the supermarket, you will get the urge to buy more to add to the secret stash.

 

[mainshipfred]

"Guess" is a good word to use, as numerous assumptions must be made.

A quick check says cider is typically around 1.050, and to achieve near 18% ABV, the OG needs to be roughly 1.125. This means the SG must increase by 0.075.

1 lb sugar raises the SG of 1 US gallon by 0.045, so 1.7 lbs of sugar per gallon is required to increase from 1.050 to 1.125

Total sugar, based upon several (potentially incorrect) assumptions is 85 lbs.

The math looks good to me.

 

[tubalcain]

Thanks to all responders, I'm off to Rural King.

 

[BigDaveK]

My two cents...
Sugar and salt will never ever go bad. Stock up when prices are good.

I have a 6-gallon bucket of sugar for wine making that gets topped off whenever it gets half empty. I also have 3 6-gallon with gamma lids filled that don't get touched. For emergencies.

 

[Obbnw]

It doesnt really matter how much sugar you have or need. If you are like me, then every time you walk the past sugar in the supermarket, you will get the urge to buy more to add to the secret stash.

When I read the title the first thing I thought was "well that depends on how many bags of coffee I'm buying".

You know you have a problem when you hide your sugar consumption from your loved ones and have secret stashes around the house.

Do they have a 12 step program for us?

 

[back2it]

The only reason we have sugar in the house is for wine making, we don't use it otherwise. So I hide it from everybody....

My precious

 

[winemaker81]

A few years ago I wrote a post about how I chaptalize wine. In hindsight, while it's a good primer for learning chaptalization, it's geared towards small batches.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/chaptalizing-wine/

Last night I rewrote my reply in this thread, added a general formula for calculating any batch size addition, and added an example of my own from last fall:

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/calculating-chaptalization-sugar/

 

[tubalcain]

So then, I am using two 55-gallon barrels with the removable top as the primary. 30 gallons cider each. 110 pounds sugar total. ec1118 in a starter. After one day it was frothing. Temperature controlled room, 73 degrees. On the 4th day I added 1 1/4 tsp kmeta each. I plan to transfer to carboys on the 6th day Friday. Been recording the SG levels. Ironically this year we are "blessed" with a drought, and I believe that this has contributed to the lack of the dreaded yellowjackets.