Cider Bottling Question

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GAJay

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I started a batch on 5/14/11 with an OG of 1.090 and it's been at 1.0 for a week now (6/5/11) and I haven't noticed any activity in the airlock. I was wondering if I should wait or go ahead and prime & bottle? I used 5.5 grams (1/2 pack) Nottingham Ale Yeast which I thought would give me around 8% ABV but that wasn't the case so I'm not sure of I should wait a while longer to bottle to avoid bottle bombs.
 
You're probably done with fermentation. You can bottle now but you might want to taste it first. 1.0 is pretty dry and you may want to look into back-sweetening if you don't like the taste.

As is, it will age well in bottles as long as you like your cider dry.
 
You won't get bottle bombs, but it will continue to clear if you wait a couple weeks. Either way would be fine but you will get less seditment in the bottles if you wait.
 
Wait 2 more months, then bottle.

If it's at 1.000, you will not get bottle bombs, but leaving it longer will help it mellow, and clear. Trust me, it will taste better of you can leave it for a couple more months.

There will still be plenty of yeast in suspension to carbonate in a couple of months.
 
Thanks all for the advice. I tasted it and it was bit dry, but still pretty good. I'd like it a bit sweeter, but as I understand it I can't backsweeten and carbonate it in a bottle without risking explosions.
 
Unless you back sweeten with Splenda, Stevia or Xylitol. Their non fermentable, I have only tried Splenda for just a little hint of sweetness and there is no funky taste.
 
I suggest Xylitol... funny enough it's the most sugar like in my opinion. I used to make home-made ice cream with the stuff and it tasted great! :ban:
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Is xylitol something I can buy in a supermarket such as Wal-Mart or do I have to order it online?
 
You can back sweeten with fermentable sugars and still bottle carbonate. You just have to pasteurize the bottles before they over-carbonate. There's a sticky on this.
 
xylitol can be found in health food stores some times or online
 
I used Xylitol for my last (first) batch, however I didn't use nearly enough of it. The stuff I got was from Vitamin Shoppe and was in individual packets. major PITA.

Next batch will be backsweetened and primed, then dishwasher pasteurized. This seems to be a winning combo...
 
How is this done?

It's in this thread somewhere. But basically it seems simple enough... Ferment the heck out of it until it's dry dry dry... The sweeten to taste. Then pop a bottle open every couple days until the right carbonation level is reached. Once the carbonation is right, put them ALL in the dishwasher on a hot cycle to pasteurize it so it kills the yeast and stops carbonation. You're left with carbonated product that still has unfermented sugars to sweeten it.

If you do it improperly though, you could have bottle bombs before the dishwasher. The dishwasher may also crack a few of them.
 
+1 to waiting a little before you bottle to allow time to mellow. I usually treat my ciders more like wine/mead when it comes to fermenting/racking/bottling. Also there are other sweetners that are non fermentable, lactose comes to mind first, it also affects (or is it effects) the body of the cider, not sure about the others, I tend to like a dry cider.
 
If you do it improperly though, you could have bottle bombs before the dishwasher. The dishwasher may also crack a few of them.

That's what worries me. I guess if I had to I could use some plastic twist-ties to anchor them to the sides of the rack.

I'll be doing my first test batches next month (2 1 gal. batches using Whole Foods 365 cider, one as-is and the other with 1/4 cup brown sugar) and exploding bottles are my main concern. I've read through the pasteurizing sticky, but I'm lazy (and I have a 1-year-old) so I'm looking for easier, less time consuming methods. Any other ideas? Thanks to all :D
 
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