Best Option for Priming

I have a batch of cider ready to be bottled but I want to add some form of primimng sugar to carbonate it. Ive seen a few options online and in book, but Im not sure what would be the best option. I have a five gallon batch amde from unpasteruized cider and I added 2lbs of light brown sugar to it. OG was 1.150 and ill be taking another reading after work today. Any advive would be great.

You can prime it as you would for beer with about 3/4 cup sugar per 5 gallons. However, please ensure fermentation is 100% complete before you bottle, otherwise you could get gushers or bombs. Depending on your yeast and recipe, specific gravity will often fall into the mid 0.990s before it’s done fermenting. Also, cider often takes 4-6 weeks to finish. It’s best to check your gravity when you think it’s done, then wait a whole 'nother week, check gravity again, and ensure the gravity isn’t changing anymore. If it is, then test again once a week until it stays constant. Otherwise, you might be making bombs – seriously!

OG was 1.150? What is the FG and what yeast did you use? That’s in the range where even most wine yeasts won’t be able to get it dry, never mind be able to provide carbonation once you bottle it.

If the fermentation is truly done and the gravity is over 1.020 (maybe even 1.010 or higher), you might as well forget about bottle conditioning as the yeast have all died from alcohol poisoning. You’ll need to artificially carbonate it to get any fizz.

He’s got a good point. I’ve never seen an OG that high.

I’ve fermented wines with OG > 1.130, and even using really aggressive yeasts, they ended up sweet (which was the point for those desert wines).

yeah, upon looking at the post again. The OG wasnt 1.150, I added an extra 1 in there. Its actually 1.050, my bad on that one.

In that case, just follow Dave’s advice and use 3/4 cup of regular sugar per five gallons. You might find all kinds of advice about using corn sugar or apple juice concentrate, but just regular sugar will work as well as any of the other options AND will be cheaper.

In years past, I’ve primed with 2 cans of frozen apple juice concentrate(too much carbonation) and 1 can(turned out just right) per a 5Gallon batch. Helps give it a little more appley flavor.