gunnerm109a6

Recipes 

Hello Friends,

I am currently brewing some hard cider I plan on giving as gifts for the holidays. However, I have some friends that don't drink alcoholic beverages. My plan is to make sparkling cider similar in flavor to the hard version and bottle it.

My question(s) are;

Is it possible or recomended to carb soft drinks with CO2 in glass bottles?

and,

If I used the natural carbonation method, does it produce enough alcohol to be an issue?

and,

Has anyone bottled sparkling cider with good results?

Thanks in advance!

IXIboneheadIXI

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ive never done it and im honestly not sure, but i woudl carbonate it in a keg with co2, then bottle it. that way you can be sure you wont blow up bottles

KevinM

Recipes 

Sparking cider is difficult in this method. You would need to pasturize it at some point, to halt the yeasts from continuously producing co2. If you don't, the yeast will keep eating sugar until a) there is no sugar left and it's alcoholic, b) the bottles explode due to the pressure.

It's easier to use pasteurized, shelf stable/filtered cider, and carbonate in a keg. (Unpasturized cider contains natural yeasts already and will ferment if you leave it alone.

It's generally not recommended to carbonate drinks in glass bottles, unless you're doing beer/dry cider etc, where you're measured out, or are going to pasteurize per the cider sticky.

__________________
Primary: Sake
Secondary: GF Czech Lager
Waiting to be kegged, Italian Primitivo
Kegged&Ready: GF Orange&Coriander, GF Honey Lager, GF chocolate ale, GF English ale, Island mist (zinfandel), Island mist (cbry malbec).
Bottled: Infected Mead, Dry Hard ciders, Accidental Sorghumwine, various unnamed.

gunnerm109a6

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So would bottling a carbed beverage from the keg loose its carb or would it retain enough to get the desired effect?

KevinM

Recipes 

It normally retains enough. The only problems occur if a) the bottle's not properly sealed, or b) there's a whole lot of foam and loss of co2 when bottling. This is why you either want a bottling gun (check out a sticky in the bottling/kegging about building a cheap one). Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can pour right from a tap, though it's usually into a growler and needs to be consumed within a week.

__________________
Primary: Sake
Secondary: GF Czech Lager
Waiting to be kegged, Italian Primitivo
Kegged&Ready: GF Orange&Coriander, GF Honey Lager, GF chocolate ale, GF English ale, Island mist (zinfandel), Island mist (cbry malbec).
Bottled: Infected Mead, Dry Hard ciders, Accidental Sorghumwine, various unnamed.

gunnerm109a6

Recipes 

Thanks for the advice, I may try a small scale trial run with a tap-a-draft or simular system.