A few questions before I begin

My first and most important question is about pasteurizing. Using the sticky up top I read all about pasteurizing bottles once you have your desired level of carbonation, but I would like to know is if once it is pasteurized can it be unrefrigerated without fear of a potential bottle bomb? Mainly I don't have the fridge space and would be able to keep them in a cooler area, but not the temp of a fridge

Second question is how much different is apple juice with lots of sugar vs. actual cider? Is there a huge flavor difference?

Reusing beer bottles for bottling, is that a bad idea? I was gonna buy some, but as a college student all the bottles I come by would save a little green in the long run.

Also any other tips for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks for any and all help!

Once it's pasteurized the yeast are dead, so if you do it right there should be no explosions.

I'm really not sure how people get a good result with added sugar, since even without it the fermentation tends to remove any apple flavor. It would probably be better to add concentrated apple juice instead of sugar, but I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure. The best thing to do is to get juice from actual cider apples, but I don't think it's easy to find.

I think everyone reuses beer bottles, just make sure they aren't the twist-off kind.

Would you recommend to splurge and go for glass carboys right away? Or should I start small with basic buckets? Also would it work to have one glass carboy, one bottling bucket, and after primary switch to a second container, wash the carboy and move it back in to save some money from the get go?

I've only done 1-gallon batches so far, and I use either glass jugs or plastic milk jugs. Many people will tell you that there's no reason to use glass carboys over buckets, though.

Depending on how serious you are about brewing (it's addicting) go for the glass or better bottle PET plastic carboys. I use apple juice concentrate to back sweeten. I also reuse beer bottles all the time, just make sure you sanitize the crap outta them.

wiredpanic said:

Would you recommend to splurge and go for glass carboys right away? Or should I start small with basic buckets? Also would it work to have one glass carboy, one bottling bucket, and after primary switch to a second container, wash the carboy and move it back in to save some money from the get go?

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It is a good idea to get two carboys if your going to do any secondary transferring. Once you get started you can't stop, also get some sanitizer, look at northern brewer for supplies, I get all my stuff from them.

I've never used any juices with High Fructose Corn syrup in them and I've found that plain white table sugar produces some weird flavors (just my personal experience) I've used Brown Sugar quite a few times.

Aging your ciders in a secondary vessel or just letting them sit in the bottles for an extended time will usually bring the apple flavors back around. Certain yeasts are also said to strip some apple flavors. I use ale yeasts and they work best for me.

Homebrew buckets work fine for 5 gallon batches, but I personally wouldn't leave a cider in one for more than a month or so. I don't know if it's proven or not, but I wouldn't want to take the chance of a plastic taste or chemicals leaching into my ciders. (again, just personal opinion) Also if you ever do get a small scratch in one it becomes a nice little hidey-hole for crusties to cling to.

Glass is easy to clean, works great for long storage and you can watch the cool stuff going on during fermentation. An empty milk crate is nice to put the carboys in so you can move them around or slide it a little. I would just avoid carry handles that attach to the neck. I've heard stories of people breaking carboys when they are full and could do some serious damage to your feet and legs if you drop them.

Thanks for all the replies, but in terms of plastic has anyone had luck with one of the Better Bottle brand plastic carboys?

And I've read a few people actually backsweaten with more cider/juice. Can anyone here attest to that method?

wiredpanic said:

Thanks for all the replies, but in terms of plastic has anyone had luck with one of the Better Bottle brand plastic carboys?

And I've read a few people actually backsweaten with more cider/juice. Can anyone here attest to that method?

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I have back sweetened with left over juice but I didn't let it ferment all the way out. It still had a little apple flavor and sweetness to it, I just wanted a bit more. Plus it was a one gallon batch, if it were anything big I would of used ajc.

I use better bottles all the time, have 3 five gallon bottles. I used apple juice concentrate to back sweeten if needed. It's simple and it just works.

wiredpanic said:

My first and most important question is about pasteurizing. Using the sticky up top I read all about pasteurizing bottles once you have your desired level of carbonation, but I would like to know is if once it is pasteurized can it be unrefrigerated without fear of a potential bottle bomb? Mainly I don't have the fridge space and would be able to keep them in a cooler area, but not the temp of a fridge

Second question is how much different is apple juice with lots of sugar vs. actual cider? Is there a huge flavor difference?

Reusing beer bottles for bottling, is that a bad idea? I was gonna buy some, but as a college student all the bottles I come by would save a little green in the long run.

Also any other tips for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any and all help!

Click to expand...

Go glass all the way! I started with plastic and went to glass right away.... Just seemed to taste better for some reason....
Also, the idea of letting stuff ferment in a plastic bucket seems not sanitary enough for me... I'm sure it is but I just keep seeing pictures of infected brew and %80 its in a plastic bucket...
A glass carboy seems cleaner (small neck keeps that fat co2 blanket contained... Or a least I like to think that... Lol)

I use a little brown sugar in primary because I too found a funnier flavor tone with other sugars. Maybe just me but whatever....

Backsweetining: I don't like to add white sugars I feel. Juice (or homemadey syrup) work best for me.
What I do is freeze a gallon of fresh juice, then let half thaw, someone told me the more sugary juice (or sugars) will thaw first so I pour that half into a pot... Add a little brown sugar... Just a little and slowly simmer and stir.
It cooks down the cider and I think takes some of the water out making it like a fresh, natural syrup or concentrate and its from the same batch of juice I use originally. Kind of makes me feel like I'm matching numbers on an old classic restoration car (by keep in' original... Lol)

Look at stovetop pasteurization and you'll be fine as far as storage goes...

Use old bottles! Just buy some oxy clean and throw it in a bucket with some warm water and toss them in for a day... Works awesome! Then buy a vinator.... Cheep investment to save you hrs.

Well I am underway in my 1st brew and its going nicely, more activity then I imagined. I actually see bubbles in the carboy!

New question/thought: I have a big root of ginger and was wondering if slicing some ginger up and throwing into the secondary with the cider would make a nice flavor. Ive read other threads but people always toss around the idea and dont report back with quality/amount they used. Doth anyone hither have experience with the ginger root?