First cider brew, calculating alcohol content?

[BLWNHR]

I've just started drinking our first cider brew, the Mangrove Jacks pear and strawberry cider. We bottled on 13-01-14 and the flavour is great, Mrs. BLWNHR is very happy (thank goodness).

We used the full sweetener sachet and the result is what I would call off-sweet. Mrs. cracked a Rekorderlig after having one of ours and is sickly sweet in comparison. It is sweet to taste, but a slight dryness on the tongue after swallowing, perfect in our opinion.

My two questions are:
1. It isn't very fizzy. We used the 750ml PET bottles that came with my kit, used 2 priming drops per bottle. When bottling I squeezed the bottle to remove most of the air before capping.
The bottles were tight after a week at 20 degrees so I chilled them ready for drinking. I gave one to an experienced home-brewing mate and he said his beer is no more fizzy. It would be similar to a James Squire Amber for carbonation, not like the Rekorderlig's Mrs. is used to. She isn't unhappy, just wondering if there is something incorrect with our process.

2. How do we calculate the alcohol content?
The initial gravity was 1.074 @ 26 degrees (corrected for temp.) with a final gravity of 1.006 @ 20 degrees (corrected) stable for 2 days.

Overall it's been a great success. I picked up this kit - http://mangrovejacks.com/collections/beer-1/products/copper-tun-starter-brewery - plus heat belt and 24 750ml PET bottles for $99 and the cider pouch for $46. A cheap setup given the cost of commercial cider.

Mrs. is pushing me to get the classic blonde dry going that came with the kit. Could be worse pressures I suppose, though I am enjoying "her cider". We're going camping with a group of friends in a few weeks and this cider will be perfect to take with us.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[manticle]

Probably chilled too early after one week.
Look up abv calculators on the net - there are a few- and plug in the numbers.
Then lookup the equation that allows you to calculate it yourself.

 

[indica86]

Much cheaper cider can be made (btw your is around 9%). Can of Blackrock - pure apple concentrate - around $25 will do the trick. I'd give it two weeks at ambient then chill.
2 drops should give heaps of fizz unless the yeast has hit a brickwall at that alcohol content.
We generally only use 1 drop for a 750ml bottle with cider.

 

[SerLung]

Much cheaper cider can be made (btw your is around 9%). Can of Blackrock - pure apple concentrate - around $25 will do the trick. I'd give it two weeks at ambient then chill.
2 drops should give heaps of fizz unless the yeast has hit a brickwall at that alcohol content.
We generally only use 1 drop for a 750ml bottle with cider.

Hey mate just curious why you'd only use one drop in a LN? Dont want it to be as bubbly?

 

[indica86]

first time I used two it was over carbed. Perhaps it is the yeast that really chews through the sugar, but for us, when using a wine yeast, 1 drop provides plenty of carbonation.

 

[B1n0ry]

1. It isn't very fizzy. We used the 750ml PET bottles that came with my kit, used 2 priming drops per bottle. When bottling I squeezed the bottle to remove most of the air before capping.

Not sure why nobody has addressed this yet. Reducing air in the bottle is good, but that isn't the way to go about it. Some of the carbonation drops were used up just to re-inflate the bottle, ie less fizz.
Next time just fill up the bottle with a bit more cider.

 

[Mutaneer]

I was originally carbing mine up to 8g/L and they weren't quite fizzy enough for my liking
I'm now up to 10g/L and they are much better for my liking

But yes, squeezing out the air is reducing the pressure that each drop can achieve.
I Also leave mine for 6 weeks in the bottle to smooth and develop the flavours