bucketnative
Well-Known Member
TLDR = I was thinking of priming a 1 gallon batch of cider with cranberry juice. How much to add to a 1 gal batch to get 3.2 vol CO2?
Long Story
I have typically been using honey at the rate of 1.54 oz/gal. This is with a target of 3.2 vol of CO2.
Honey is roughly 82% sugar, while cranberry juice from concentrate is federally mandated to be at least 7.5% sugar. So, from those numbers, that equates to 16.8 oz of cranberry juice to get equivalent carbonation. That will increase the volume of the batch 13%, which will also decrease carbonation, so I could add 0.2 oz honey to make up the difference in carbonation that the added volume costs.
I also did an approximation using the information here: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Accurately_Calculating_Sugar_Additions_for_Carbonation
After going through all of the various models, the author arrives at a rule of thumb that each gravity point (gp) will contribute 0.51 vol CO2. I am assuming that, at 18°C, there are approximately 0.9 vol CO2 in the cider after fermentation is complete, based on the saturation point for CO2. That would require me to gain 2.3 vol CO2, which means 4.5 gp. If I assume that cranberry juice at 7.5 Brix = 1.030 OG, and that my cider is at 1.000 FG:
1 gal (1.000) + X (1.030) = (1 + X) 1.0045
X = 18.6 oz
Thats not too far off the number via the first method. I might add some additional sugar at primary to up the alcohol.
The goal was to get some nice cranberry flavor in the bottle. Does this pathway make sense? Has anyone used juice to prime before? Should I just go with cranberry in primary, rather than complicating things by priming with the flavoring juice?
Long Story
I have typically been using honey at the rate of 1.54 oz/gal. This is with a target of 3.2 vol of CO2.
Honey is roughly 82% sugar, while cranberry juice from concentrate is federally mandated to be at least 7.5% sugar. So, from those numbers, that equates to 16.8 oz of cranberry juice to get equivalent carbonation. That will increase the volume of the batch 13%, which will also decrease carbonation, so I could add 0.2 oz honey to make up the difference in carbonation that the added volume costs.
I also did an approximation using the information here: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Accurately_Calculating_Sugar_Additions_for_Carbonation
After going through all of the various models, the author arrives at a rule of thumb that each gravity point (gp) will contribute 0.51 vol CO2. I am assuming that, at 18°C, there are approximately 0.9 vol CO2 in the cider after fermentation is complete, based on the saturation point for CO2. That would require me to gain 2.3 vol CO2, which means 4.5 gp. If I assume that cranberry juice at 7.5 Brix = 1.030 OG, and that my cider is at 1.000 FG:
1 gal (1.000) + X (1.030) = (1 + X) 1.0045
X = 18.6 oz
Thats not too far off the number via the first method. I might add some additional sugar at primary to up the alcohol.
The goal was to get some nice cranberry flavor in the bottle. Does this pathway make sense? Has anyone used juice to prime before? Should I just go with cranberry in primary, rather than complicating things by priming with the flavoring juice?