Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t taken Cider Quiz #1, click here to take it before exploring the answers. I included links to various articles about the methodology for estimating the %ABV of your cider as well as some of the tools you can use to measure specific gravity.
Question #6: How much sugar is dissolved in your juice or cider to create 0.001 point of specific gravity, which can create about 0.13% ABV and 0.6 volumes CO2?
The answer to this question is a specific number and that number is based on a mathematical formula for the mass of sugar dissolved in one liter of water. Specific gravity is a measure of density of a liquid relative to pure water. Water has a specific gravity of 1.000. For reference, ethanol has a specific gravity of 0.790. This is why some ciders can have a final specific gravity below 1.000. You can think of apple juice and hard cider being water with a mixture of both suspended and dissolved solids.
The suspended solids are defined as turbidity, which is how cloudy or clear a cider or juice is. You can fine, filter, or take other actions to clarify or precipitate out these suspended solids. In contrast, the dissolved solids or compounds are defined by the specific gravity. Another way to think about the difference is that suspended solids add volume while dissolved solids don’t. The dissolved solids are part of the liquid. This is why the density or specific gravity changes. If you drop a steel cube in your cider, the cider is displaced by the volume of the steel cube. If it’s little cubes of apple pulp, it’s like the steel cube but instead of sinking to the bottom, it might be floating around. Sugar and other compounds, like phenolics, acids, alcohol, and such will dissolve or be integrated into the liquid. It adds mass to the liquid making it more dense but not volume. One liter of water with 100 grams of dissolved sugar weighs more than 1 liter of water without sugar but they are both the same volume, 1 liter.
We use specific gravity to define the amount of solids dissolved in the juice or cider. This is mostly sugar but includes all the compounds that are actually dissolved in your juice and cider. Since it is mostly sugar, we can use the change in the specific gravity to estimate the amount of ethanol and CO2 created and the resulting %ABV and carbonation levels. Just remember that these are estimates as there are many small factors that impact the actual numbers. So, what is the correct answer to how many grams of sugar are dissolve into a liter of juice or cider to increase the specific gravity by 0.001 points? The third answer, 2.6 grams per liter of dissolved sugar creates about 0.001 points of specific gravity, which will create about 0.13%ABV and 0.6 volumes CO2.
1. 9.8 grams per liter (37 grams per gallon): Incorrect Answer
2. 32 grams per liter (121 grams per gallon): Incorrect Answer
3. 2.6 grams per liter (9.8 grams per gallon): Correct Answer
4. 16.4 grams per liter (62 grams per gallon): Incorrect Answer
Cider Question: How to measure %ABV?
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