Menu:
Kirkland - Tree Top
Kegged on August 18, 2010.
For my second batch of cider using pasteurized juice I bought Tree Top Apple Juice and Kirkland Signature Organic Apple Juice, both from Costco. I used Wyeast French Saison (3711) yeast. The image below shows some of the ingredients.
I again decided to make two half batches. The first would be the Kirkland juice by itself, for the second I decided to add two pounds of honey to the Tree Top juice to bump up the alcohol content. The image below shows the honey I used.
I believe I added the honey directly to the three gallon carboy rather than mix and heat it with the juice. I added the juice, and then the yeast. The image below shows the Tree Top juice with honey on the left and the Kirkland juice on the right.
The original gravity for the Kirkland juice was 1.053, and for the Tree Top juice was 1.051. Because I did not take a hydrometer reading of the Tree Top juice with the honey mixed in, I decided to estimate what the specific gravity would be. I found a site on hydrometer usage that shows how high the specific gravity should increase in one gallon of water for a given amount of sugar added. Assuming the change from honey will be similar to pure sugar, I know two pounds should increase the specific gravity of one gallon of water by 0.090, so for 2.5 gallons it should increase by 0.090/2.5 = 0.036. This brings the original gravity to 1.087.
I transferred each juice to a secondary container after 14 days. I kegged the ciders after an additional six days, for a total of 20 days. The final gravity for the Kirkland cider was 1.008, giving an alcohol content of 6.0%, the final gravity for the Tree Top juice with honey was 1.012, giving an alcohol content of 9.9%.
From what I can remember the Kirkland cider turned out pretty good, it was similar to my previous batch of cider but not quite as dry. I think I remember the Tree Top and honey cider being a bit strong, I might drop the alcohol content by a couple percent if I was going to remake it.