Carbonation?

Hey all, my first batch of cider will be officialy done tomorow =)

So, ive grabbed myself some sugar that wont ferment, just in case, and am now wondering about carbonating it.

I searched around a bit and have pretty much gathered that i was either supposed to add stuff while it was in the primary fermentation bit, or add something now then leave for a few weeks.

Didn't really want to leave it to much longer, the friends + family are getting impatiant with the "it will be ready soon!" heh.
So, is there some sort of liquid, tablet, pill, pixie dust that i can add pretty much as i pour it?

so like "ok, people will be arriving in 30 or so, throw a tablet into this bottle and it will be nicely fizzy by then".

i only really say this because i am terrorfied of adding something to make it fizzy and getting a bottle bomb =/

oh, and if needs be ill just kill off the yeast with loads of fermentable sugar, everyone around me likes it strong any way heh.

thanks in advance, and i know this post wasnt to clear, im still coming to terms with all the brewing slang =)

LewisM said:

and i know this post wasnt to clear

Click to expand...

Start again please without using 'pixie dust' as a possible solution!

If you want it carbonated you're going to have to wait probably another 3 weeks because you will need to ad some fermentable sugar when you bottle it, probably no need to add more yeast.

There is no magic pill to make it carbonated in 30 minutes when you are expecting company.

Personally I prefer my cider uncarbonated. If you're in a hurry to try your stuff out try that route but BEWARE. IMHO young cider isnt a good thing and I will let it sit in bottles for about 3 months before I even sample it

hmm, ok.

and when you say add fermentable sugars, do you mean bottle it then add them? surely that would cause the bottles to explode?

Did you take any gravity readings? If so, what were they?

If your FG is in the range for the cider then any sugars added to produce carbonation will not cause bottle grenades.

Most of the time grenades are a result of bottling too soon (having excess sugar not fermented) and adding more sugar to carbonate.

It's best to be patient when brewing.

I forgot to take an original reading, but as it was passing from the primary - secondary i grabbed a quick reading, cant remember the actual og readings (didnt think they were important ) but it worked out at about 5%. Oh and it's extremely dry, if thats any help

And how often should i get a bubble for it to be called "done"?

thanks for help people, much appreciated =)

for my brews what I do is when it's time to bottle is . . .

1. put 9onces of DME (corn sugar works too but you'll want less) to some water and boil it.
2. let the DME/Water mix cool
3. dump it into the bottling bucket
4. add brew (in your case cider)
5. stir, cover and walk away for 15 minutes
6. bottle

Lets say you got 5 gallns of cider and you want about as much carbonation in it as a ESB (about 1 volume) and where ever you store your beer is 68 degrees . . .
it would take the following . . .

• .37 oz of corn sugar -OR-
• .35 oz of cane sugar -OR-
• .64 oz of DME -OR-
• .42 oz of honey

Since I suck at trying to figure stuff like that out in my head I use http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html
You could also use more cider or some concentrate to carbonate it but lets stick to basics for now. BTW in your case I would also stay away from the DME. Use the DME for beer not cider.

You can buy carb tabs to add to each bottle when bottling but those are expensive

ahh thanks, that helps a lot =)

so just the one last thing about telling when its done, how often should it bubble?

and if its completely stopped bubbling, is it worth putting in a wee bit more yeast + sugar?

you are ready to bottle either when your feremntor stopps bubbling for a week OR the gravity is near 1.000

check out these links
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/cider.html
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category27.html
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category28.html

thankee once again, ill have a check of the gravity this evening

once again, thanks for your ongoing support!

just a quick one, measured it and its at .996, so its bottled

ill be adding sweetener tomorow and fizzing one batch + leaving one batch flat.

thanks once again!