Carbing

My bottles are still early only been bottled a week or so... How long do i keep them bottled before refrigerating them?

until carbed enough

Roadymi is correct you should be checking one every several days/daily to see how carbonated they are. The rate of fermentation is an uncertain thing and guessing about something that is carbing in bottles is a recipe for bottle bombs.

056r said:

Roadymi is correct you should be checking one every several days/daily to see how carbonated they are. The rate of fermentation is an uncertain thing and guessing about something that is carbing in bottles is a recipe for bottle bombs.

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strange advice since we don't have enough information to know whether or not you have any risk of bottle bombs. if it's dry cider then give it a couple months, it will only get better. if it's semi-sweet then i agree, be careful!

dinnerstick said:

strange advice since we don't have enough information to know whether or not you have any risk of bottle bombs. if it's dry cider then give it a couple months, it will only get better. if it's semi-sweet then i agree, be careful!

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admittedly my advice was a bit sarcastic.......my bad............not much info from OP yields not much info from responders.

(although, unless it's something sweet, your advice was spot on for pretty much any cider!)

Most people will say to wait three weeks. I tend to put one in the fridge every three days or so after the first week and sample it the next day. Once it's where I think it should be I relocate all of my bottles to the basement with cooler ambient temps.

aryoung1980 said:

Most people will say to wait three weeks. I tend to put one in the fridge every three days or so after the first week and sample it the next day. Once it's where I think it should be I relocate all of my bottles to the basement with cooler ambient temps.

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I've not done a lot of bottle conditioning as I mostly keg. I do bottle a few of every batch to give to friends and or if I decide to send to a judging competition. For this reason I don't want to waste my bottles testing carbonation. I fill a plastic soda bottle with each batch (still or carbed) When the bottle is rock hard it is time to take steps to prevent bottle bombs. It is important that all bottles are stored in the same conditions. I do my still ciders to confirm they remain still.

+1 on the plastic bottles, though I use PET beer bottles.

Since I make 1 gallon batches I'm not going to open one every few days to test carb levels.

I also bottle dry and sweeten (when I want to) in the glass.

I've tried different ways to sweeten in the glass, but I always lose all my carbonation

Any tips? The best way so far has been to mix a pint of cider with an ounce or two of ginger-ale.

I carb my ciders high, around 3, for that exact reason. I mix 5:1 usually cider to apple juice in the glass. Sometime 4:1 if I want it a tad sweeter. I keep my big glasses in the freezer too.