Cider ABV Calculator
Enter your original and final gravity readings to get the alcohol content, how far the ferment ran, and - if you enter the juice volume - the total alcohol in the batch.
Results
- Apparent attenuation
- 100%
Cider often finishes below 1.000 - drier than most beer - because apple sugar is nearly all simple fermentable monosaccharides. That is normal, not a stuck ferment.
How the cider ABV math works
ABV uses the standard homebrewing approximation: (OG - FG) x 131.25. Apparent attenuation divides the same gravity drop by the original extract: (OG - FG) / (OG - 1) x 100, a measure of how completely the yeast consumed the sugars. When a juice volume is given, total alcohol = ABV% x milliliters x 0.789 g/ml, the density of ethanol.
The attenuation calculator goes deeper on how completely a ferment ran, and once the cider is dry and stabilized the backsweetening calculator brings it to the sweetness you want.
Frequently asked questions
Is the beer ABV formula accurate for cider?
Close enough for home use. The 131.25 factor is a linear fit that works best between 3% and 10% ABV, exactly where most ciders land. For very dry, very thin ciders the alcohol figure can read a few tenths of a percent high, which matters little against hydrometer and fruit variation.
Why did my cider finish below 1.000?
Apple juice carries almost no unfermentable dextrins, so a healthy ferment keeps going past 1.000 until the yeast runs out of sugar and the residual alcohol lightens the density. Readings down to 0.992 or so are ordinary for a fully dry cider.
How do I make the cider sweeter instead?
Ferment dry, then stabilize with potassium sorbate and Campden and backsweeten to a target gravity - the backsweetening calculator sizes the honey, sugar or juice. Backsweetening an unstabilized cider in bottles is what causes gushers and bottle bombs.