Too little sugar?

Question

It's my first time making cider and I believe I didn't put enough sugar in it. I put 1 1/2 brown sugar (Even though some fell off to the side cause I didn't dissolve it, like the twit I am). I would say that MAYBE a cup of brown sugar is in there. Regardless, I read that it may just make it drier but I wanted to know if this may effect the fermentation process. Also, I had to open it during the first few hours to drain some out cause it was about to pop the cap open (overfilled it, we're talking 1 gallon of pure apple juice here, plus sugar, plus the foam from the fermentation). I was worried it would cause an explosion, but even though it seems to be in control, I'm worried that I may have damaged the batch.

This is it 4 hours into the process (About an hour after I had to drain it): https://i.stack.imgur.com/VVzZW.jpg

And this is it 8 hours or so into the process: https://i.stack.imgur.com/bJcYT.jpg

What do y'all think? Is it off or ok? I'm thinking it may just be some bits from the process as I read but who knows. Also, there's a pile of sugar at the bottom of the jar, should I give the bottle a little shake or will that mess up the process and allow oxygen in?

Cheers, Adrian

Answer 1

Everything is fine.

Apple juice is almost entirely fully-fermentable sugar; there's no real reason to add more sugar unless you want more alcohol.

If you do add sugar, though, you should probably dissolve it either in the juice itself or some water, before adding it. Only 8 hours into the fermentation, you could probably get away with gently swirling the fermentor to try to dissolve the sugar.

You did no harm by opening the fermentor to drain some off.