So How High Will It (You) Get?

Hygrometer

I was pretty tired by the end of day two picking, chopping, shredding, pressing, pouring, repeat.

So doing the math for cider chemistry at the end of the day was a little taxing.  We used a hygrometer to determine the specific gravity of the juice to measure the sugar content.  A formula provided by our local home brew/wine making supply helped us to determine how much sugar to add to reach the alcohol content of our choosing.

My friend, Elaine, thought that one should get something out of all that hard work and not leave the alcohol content at a low 4-5% like simple beer.  Agreed.  We decided to shoot for 12%.

After adding the sugar, we hadn't adequately dispersed it through the heavy carboy, so we added more sugar when the hygrometer reading was still a little low.  After everything settled out, we realized that our alcohol content may be closer to 14%.  Most definitely not a lowly 4% beer.

Our friends pressed a batch of grapes to create this lovely pinkish grape juice on the left.