made my first apple pie! but i have a question about cider..

[tom512]

i made some sweetfeed whiskey and it turned out great for my second attempt at distilling. i mixed it into a apple pie recipe thats commonly found, 1/2gal apple juice, 1/2gal apple cider, 1 1/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 3/4 cup of the whiskey. after splitting the mix between 2 half gallon jars and one single cup mason jar i put 2 cinnamon sticks in each half gallon jar and a half stick in the cup jar. tasted great! im in love!
now here comes my question. for the apple cider i used Musselmans pasteurized apple cider sold in a gallon jug. on the bottle it says to refrigerate after opening. do i absolutely have to refrigerate my apple pie shine because i used a pasteurized cider? not to knowledgeable on the whole pasteurized product vs non pasteurized. any and all help is greatly appreciated to make sure my shine doesn't go to waist.

Thanks, Tom

[Odin]

If the abv is above 20%, no need to refridgerate ...

Odin.

[midnightmaraude]

If the abv is above 20%, no need to refridgerate ...

Odin.

How can you tell the abv since once you add all the sugar/juice.... you can't get an accurate reading.?

[Prairiepiss]

Calculate by volumes. Figure out how much 100% alcohol was added. Then figure the percentage that makes of the total volume of what was made. A cup of sugar don't have a liquid volume of a cup. So you need to knowthe total volume after it was all added together.

[Odin]

+1 Mr. P!

That's how it works. Say you start with 0.5 liters of 50% white dog. You add apple juice, say 0.5 liters. Okay, you now have 1 liter. So not at 50%, but at 25%. Now you add sugar. In this example (making it up as we go) 200 grams. Volume increases, after the sugar is dissolved, to 1.1 liter. So ... abv is no longer 25% but ... 22.5%. Above 20%, so no risk of infections. Bacteria don't survice in that strong likker.

Odin.

[Dnderhead]

the thing I say about this is ,it wont spoil,but it will oxidize.so put in bottles that will be consumed with a reasonable time.

[tom512]

thank alot guys. so far this forum has not let me down. so if i understand correctly im good.
cant wait until it settles for a week and see what it tastes like