Carbonating Ciders

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HAREEBROWNBEEST

HAREEBROWNBEEST

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I back sweetend 4 gallons of cider with 2 cans of apple juice concentrate. I then bottled my cider and used a plastic bottle to gauge to see how much pressure was building. In 24 hours my plastic bottle was nice and hard do I decided that my bottles must be done. I then placed all 48 bottles in my fridge to slow or stop the fermentation. The bottles were good, nice light bubbles. Well I decided to take a few out of the fridge and place them at room temp again to see if I could get them to be a bit more bubbly. I left them out for 5 days and they were way bubbly. So now I know that somewhere in between the two would of been perfect like say 2-3 days, then back in the fridge.

image-4013541228.jpg

My cider after 1 day bottled

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My cider after 5 days bottled
Big difference
 
Good tip, I think I'll let this next batch sit two days after bottling before throwing them in the fridge.
 
That pasteurizing I have yet to try. It just seems like such a process. I guess if you have no room in the fridge for all your bottles, pasteurizing is the only option.
 
I'd prefer pasteurizing so that I can make sure that all bacteria and yeasts are dead for drinking.

But I have a question. when you use a plastic bottle for testing, how much do you fill it up? does it matter?
 
irchowi said:
I'd prefer pasteurizing so that I can make sure that all bacteria and yeasts are dead for drinking.

But I have a question. when you use a plastic bottle for testing, how much do you fill it up? does it matter?
Click to expand...

I wondered this as well. And do you just squeeze it and pasteurize when it doesn't flex?
 
I just bottled my first batch of cider this last Saturday. I'm going with the "plastic bottle tester" route as well but due to paranoia and impatience, I popped open a bottle last night to check. It was a little low on carbonation, but then again I was going to a dry sparkling cider, so I'm guessing there isn't much sugar in there.

My new technique? I'm just "testing" a bottle at a time, a day at a time until I get it right. Then pasteurize and set in the corner or a month to let it age a bit.
 
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My tester at time of filling.

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Approx. 24 hours later. It swelled up nice as you can tell from the pics. This like I stated is 24 hours later and for my cider the magic number for my carbonation preference was three days bottle conditioning (carbing). It depends on how much sugar you use to back sweeten also. I did two cans of concentrate for 4 gallons of cider. That's what the purpose of the plastic bottle is, if it's rock hard and ready to burst, throw your glass bottles into the fridge or bottle pasteurize. I had s bottle out for 6 days intentionally to see if it would blow, the cap swelled but no bottle bomb. Not as scary as most think (bottle bombs) maybe I got lucky? But two cans of concentrate is quite a bit of sugar for bottle priming I would say and nothing happened.
 
Hmm. My upstatemike's caramel apple cider calls for five cans of concentrate and a caramel sauce made with brown sugar to backsweeten this weekend. I better keep an eye on it if you think two cans of concentrate carbed fast!
 
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This is the result of letting it go 6 days though, look at how much it carbonated it. Striped some flavor out too I might add. 3 days was adequate, I would not go longer than that, but that was my formula, everyone's is going to be different.

image-3157633698.jpg

This is one that I stopped after 3 days and it's perfect, absolutely perfect:)
 
Vox said:
Hmm. My upstatemike's caramel apple cider calls for five cans of concentrate and a caramel sauce made with brown sugar to backsweeten this weekend. I better keep an eye on it if you think two cans of concentrate carbed fast!
Click to expand...

Hell yeah you better! Sounds damn tasty bro. Use that plastic bottle as a guide, it's foolproof.
 
Don't leave too much air space in the plastic bottle. A gas can be compressed but a liquid cannot. You get the hard bottle feeling from carbonation in solution.
 
Ok. I'll use a Mr. Beer pet bottle. Do I need to fill it all the way up?
 
So too much carb gives the cider too much sting and takes away from the flavor?

I was wondering how full you have to fill the plastic bottle because the less full it is, the more space there are for co2. Like if you are bottling in 12 oz bottles, shouldn't you be using 12 oz plastic bottles and fill it up the same way so you have consistency? I'm just confused because I think different size bottles and filled with different amounts would produce varied results.
 
Forced carb'ed a small batch of cider last year. Quite nice. Much better control over carb level this way than natural carbonation.
 
you're right irchowi, try and simulate what's happening in your actual bottles with your tester. I use 640ml bottles, and use a 600ml water bottle as my tester. Not ideal, but at least it's similar.

Vox: I've used upstatemike's caramel apple cider recipe twice now with fantastic flavour results, but not once have I added the extra concentrate to backsweeten, I don't see the point. My first batch carbed up nicely within 2 days, this last once was done in less than 24 hours! And thats with 2 cups of brown sugar.

HAREEBROWNBEEST: It is a bit of a process, but I think the result is worthwhile. You get a much clearer final product that you can gift to friends and family without being worried about it overcarbing, all the while saving room in the fridge. But you're right, if you've got the room, and aren't transporting, it's no big deal
 
sa101 said:
you're right irchowi, try and simulate what's happening in your actual bottles with your tester. I use 640ml bottles, and use a 600ml water bottle as my tester. Not ideal, but at least it's similar.

Vox: I've used upstatemike's caramel apple cider recipe twice now with fantastic flavour results, but not once have I added the extra concentrate to backsweeten, I don't see the point. My first batch carbed up nicely within 2 days, this last once was done in less than 24 hours! And thats with 2 cups of brown sugar.

HAREEBROWNBEEST: It is a bit of a process, but I think the result is worthwhile. You get a much clearer final product that you can gift to friends and family without being worried about it overcarbing, all the while saving room in the fridge. But you're right, if you've got the room, and aren't transporting, it's no big deal
Click to expand...

Hmm. I will maybe give it a taste after adding the brown sugar before putting concentrate in. Wait did you even make the caramel sauce or only use the sugar?
 

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