Toppers

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This method pretty much takes care of 2 birds with one stone, locks in carbonation by killing the yeast, and would keep your cider good almost indefinitely. Wondering why this isn't more commonly used as a way to stabilize brews?

Easy to do on stovetop, tall pot, get water to 160F, and submerge bottles 1/2 for 10 minutes. Done. No noticeable flavor loss (most of our apple juice/ciders have been pasteurized once, what's one more time?)

S. VALOIS and O. I. Padilla-Zakour. Food Science and Technology, Cornell Univ., New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 630 W. North St., Geneva, NY 14456-1371

Processed apple products constitute an important part of New York's food industry. Hard (fermented) cider is made by yeast fermentation of juice and represents a small but growing portion of the market for alcoholic beverages, providing an alternative utilization of apples for specialty value-added products. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of various pasteurization treatments on the microbial stability and quality of bottled hard cider prepared without chemical preservatives. Hard cider (6.5%alcohol) was pasteurized and packaged in ten ounce glass bottles with screw caps using two methods: hot-fill-hold and water bath process. Ciders were hot-filled at 60°C, 63° C, and 65.5° C with a hold time of 3 minutes before cooled in 24°C water. Bottled cider samples were pasteurized in a water bath at 74° C for 10, 20, and 30 minutes and submersed in 74° C water for 5 minutes. Bacteria, yeast, and mold counts were measured before and after treatments. Ciders were analyzed for pH, titratable acidity, residual sugars, alcohol, Hunter color and evaluated by a sensory panel to determine if panelists could find a difference between the methods. All trials were conducted in duplicate. All hot-fill-hold and bottle pasteurization methods eliminated spoilage organisms that might decrease the shelf life, indicating that a short process at low temperature is sufficient to stabilize the cider. There were no significant differences between the treatments for alcohol, sugars, color, pH or titratable acidity. Taste panels showed a noticeable difference between treatments and control as well as between pasteurization treatments. Lower temperatures and shorter times resulted in best quality. Small wineries or cider producers could use a short time in bottle pasteurization, which would only require a source of hot water, or a low temperature hot packing line in order to have a stable hard cider while maintaining flavor profile and eliminating use of preservatives.

david_42

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That's rather surprising. I wouldn't have expected enough heat would transfer in 10 minutes. But as a Cornellian myself, I trust the folks in FS&T.

I wonder how well this would work on soda? The biggest problem is preventing too much carbonation. Killing the yeast in the bottle would be perfect.

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Toppers

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Well you would need an extra tall pot with a lid if you have big bottles, and lid must be on to keep temp in. A thermocouple shows that the bottle core reaches 150 in about 5-7 minutes, its pretty quick. Yeast is dead shortly thereafter. But the bottles should be room temperature obviously, the warmer the better. Put cold bottles in and you have a lukewarm bath of nothing.

RugenBrau

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I'd make sure you read the post Results of my first in-bottle pasteurization experiment! in Equipment /Sanitation by Pintofbitter. You will want a cover on that pot in case a bottle does blow. One guy uses a pressure cooker with the presssure relief valve extracted. I'v read that post from the Geneva experimental station before and have stopped to talk to the lady twice but she was not there. (I live just a few miles away) When I get some info from her I will pass it on.
I understand the water bath process but what is the hot fill hold process. Sorry for being stupid!! Can anyone explain that?

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MacBruver

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Hot-fill-hold is pretty self explanatory once you break it up-

1. hot-fill (fill with heated product at or above pasteurization temps)
2. hold at that temperature for a specific time

It would only seem to make sense when you have a method for quickly bringing the product up to the pasteurization temperature... if you're leaving it in a pot at 160 degrees for a long time anyway, it's kind of pointless. Well, except for the fact that it would be killing anything still in the bottles.

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ftlstrings

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Anybody have comments on the effect, if any, on taste? I have a batch of cider going now and this looks pretty interesting!

~M~

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PintOfBitter

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this was my experiment, and I'd suggest you have some protection measures in place if you try any heat method. my pressure cooker worked great, but you need to remove a seal or something to keep pressure to ambient.

I'd also suggest monitoring the in-bottle temperature and make sure you're hitting the right temp for the right duration per the pasteurization tables. The bath temp and duration are not the whole story, there are other variables at work, like the relationship between the thermal masses of the bath, bottles, and beverage.

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Maybe you can use these Grain, Hops, Yeast Reference Charts
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beermonster1985

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maybe a stupid question but would you leave the top of the bottles on or off??

Adam78K

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has any1 tried this in the oven?

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tidst004

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bump

curious about the oven????

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