to carbonate , or not to carbonate-!

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George7845

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I always here people saying that the carbonation from Smirnoff and other carbonated drinks make them sick. So what do you guys think, should i carbonate my hard cider? Or should i just leave it as a refreshing easy to drink juice? Its hopefully going to be a sweet flavorful cider, adding no sugar.
 
I have a strong preference for uncarbonated or slightly carbonated hard cider.

I rather doubt the carbonation is making those people sick. If that was the case, every fast-food place in the world would need to have a vomitorium.
 
How would you carbonated it? If it is forced carbed, then no problems. If you want to bottle carb a sweet cider, then you run a high risk of bottle bombs.
 
i did want to bottle carb it, didnt think it was that much of a risk, thought it was just like carbonating beer. If its a high risk ill just keep it uncarbed. after i bottle do i have to cold crash? or can i let the cider age and get better, or will it turn to vinegar?
 
just when i thought i knew how to make hard cider i am unsure again haha
 
Hi George, you can bottle carb it, but like beer, only when it's finished fermenting, so it won't be sweet anymore. I've tried sweetening with artificial sweetener and also lactose, but with varying results. More testing is upcoming.
I don't cold-crash my cider, but I do leave it in primary a long time (4-8 weeks).
You can let the cider age without any worries, it'll only turn to vinegar if it's infected. I've got some that's almost a year old and it's all good.
 
Styles is right. Cider will go to 1.000 and lower, so trying to keep it sweet with a bottle carb is just a lot of yeast action.
If you cold crash, you cold crash before bottling.
Cider is like wine in that it gets better with age the longer it sits in bulk. The infection is a combination of bacteria and head space.
 
can i cold crash, bottle, then age? w/o carbonation? cause i really want a sweet cider, but i think i have the wrong yeast, it is Redstar champagne yeast and it is a dry yeast, keep in mind im not adding any sugar.
 
ok, so what if i just say nay to carbonation, i use red star champagne yeast, which is a dry yeast... No sugar, 2 weeks primary, 1 week secondary, and 4th week i bottle. I assume /hope i wont get bottle bombs after that period of time? I also do no cold crash/ or stop fermention, am i going to end up with a 5-6% cider that taste good after being in bottles for a couple of weeks? See im mainly trying to impress the fiancee (she likes sweet wines, rum and cokes lol) ill drink anything. When i see the word dry, i think bad tasting but maybe dry can be a good thing? Opinions please lol, getting my fresh cider today! So anxious! I think im going to have to get six more pimarys so i have something to do while im waiting on it to ferment lol.

Thanks, George
 
One thing that is hard for new brewers to get their head around, I know, I'm one too, is that when dealing with simple sugars, (cider, honey, fruit juice, refined sugar), all yeasts are dry yeasts. So it doesn't matter whether you use ale, wine, champagne, cider or mead yeast they'll all continue eating sugar until the alcohol level kills them. For Ale yeast that's around 10-14% abv, wine/champagne can go to 18-20% abv.

There are a couple ways you can stop them before they've eaten all the sugars.
  1. Racking to a secondary and adding sulfate/sorbate will kill the yeast.
  2. Racking to a secondary, cold crashing in the refrigerator for several days, then racking again to separate out most of the viable yeast. This method is not 100% reliable because it can leave some yeast behind.
You can also wait till the yeasts have fermented dry and then backsweeten after using one of the above methods to eliminate the yeast.

None of the above will allow you to bottle condition since the yeast is no longer viable.

It is possible to make sweet bottle carbonated cider/mead/wine though.

  1. backsweetening with an unfermentable sugar such as lactose.
  2. Bottle before fermentation is complete, monitor carbonation of the bottles closely then pasteurize the bottles to kill the yeast. Some have luck with this method, but it's tricky.
  3. Bottle before fermentation is complete, monitor carbonation of the bottles closely then when carbonation is near the level you want, quickly refrigerate all the bottles and keep cold until you drink them. Again tricky because cold doesn't kill yeast, just slows them down/causes them to go inactive.
I haven't tried the last two on that list, but from what I understand they can be dangerous and require you to check carbonation levels at least daily. Pasteurizing the bottles can itself cause bottle bombs from the heating process.

You can do a non-carbed sweet cider/mead/wine by overwhelming the yeast with sugar so they die off before eating it all, this requires 3+ lbs of sugar equivalent per gallon and because of the high abv usually needs a few months of aging before it's drinkable.

Hope that helps, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than I will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.
 
George, what is your current hydrometer reading?

If it is around 1.010-1.005, you should probably be acting. What you can do is rack, refrigerate, rack again and then sorbate/sulfite. Wait a few days to make sure that has stopped by taking a hydrometer reading, but that method should overcome the yeast. It will get better if you could let it bulk age, but bottling would be okay. The longer it is before you drink it, the better it will taste.
 
just bottled my first hard cider. used a champagne yeast, when it cleared i racked to a secondary and topped off. then i waited 6mos to bottle.

finished at .998, really nice tart apple front and dry crisp finish. I wanted to carbonate so i just used priming sugar like i would for beer. after two weeks in the bottle there's still no carbonation. i get a pop when i open them but no bubbles in the glass.

question, do i have bottle bombs on my hands or by letting it completely ferment out am i safe? will i ever get the fizzies?

Prost
 
well, you could always add more yeast to carbonated if you didn't use sorbate. Even if you didn't use sorbate, the yeast would probably still have starved to death after that long.
 
just bottled my first hard cider. used a champagne yeast, when it cleared i racked to a secondary and topped off. then i waited 6mos to bottle.

finished at .998, really nice tart apple front and dry crisp finish. I wanted to carbonate so i just used priming sugar like i would for beer. after two weeks in the bottle there's still no carbonation. i get a pop when i open them but no bubbles in the glass.

question, do i have bottle bombs on my hands or by letting it completely ferment out am i safe? will i ever get the fizzies?

Prost

I've had ciders take up to 2-3 months to carbonate, due to many factors. just wait on them, if you hear a pop when they open, they are on their way, and you just have to be patient.
 
yeah im kinda rushing this cider so i can share with relatives when i visit them, but im putting like 2 gallons in fridge to age for like 4-6 months.
 
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