So I have 25 gallons of hard cider that I am about to bottle. I'm having trouble estimating the residual CO2 in solution for two reasons:
While I could just avoid all the problems and force carbonate (my usual protocol), I have a lot of the samples in 1 gallon batches. Using a 5 gallon keg to carbonate 1 gallons just doesn't make sense.
One thing that might solve my problem is a cheap way to test for CO2, which doesn't require a big sample size.
Another option is being conservative about my sugar and yeast additions for priming. Because kept it cold for so long I am going to krausen with some active yeast and add sugar.
Anyone have other input or ideas.
Thanks for the help.
- After fermenting for three weeks at 66F, then I crashed the cider for three more weeks at 33F. Usually when I prime it's easy to use the fermentation temperature to calculate the residual CO2, but since I kept it cold I am wondering if some secondary fermentation might have allowed more CO2 to dissolve in the cooler cider? And if so, how much?
- I am conducting some yeast tests and used 13 different yeasts including wine, ale, lager, and wild yeast. Some of the batches had visible carbonation in the samples I took, and some were totally flat. Thus, I know some batches have more dissolved CO2 than others.
While I could just avoid all the problems and force carbonate (my usual protocol), I have a lot of the samples in 1 gallon batches. Using a 5 gallon keg to carbonate 1 gallons just doesn't make sense.
One thing that might solve my problem is a cheap way to test for CO2, which doesn't require a big sample size.
Another option is being conservative about my sugar and yeast additions for priming. Because kept it cold for so long I am going to krausen with some active yeast and add sugar.
Anyone have other input or ideas.
Thanks for the help.