Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on the finished flavor of a cider that has been bottled conditioned and then pasteurized. Does it give it more of a cooked/caramelized apple flavor, or will it be cleaner than I think?

I only ended up pasteurizing about half of my batch. The pasteurized ones taste just like the ones that aren't...
 
Sounds like a great way to end a scary day.. Glad it looks good... please do follow up when its been sitting for a bit.

I know its only been 4 more days but I am confident it has worked now.

To recap I brought my water to 175 degrees, set a bout 7 bottles in and covered the lid for 10 minutes (and pulled it off the heat). And then I made sure at the end of the 10 minutes the water temp was still close to 150. Worked like a charm, had no issues with caps leaking or bottles busting.
 
If after four days nothing has happened i believe you truly are in the clear... Now comes the best part...Enjoying the fruits of your labor... Enjoy... Cheers
 
Hi All

This is my first post on the forum - and I'm sorry if it's either a silly or a repeated question - when bottling can I use carbonation drops instead of the priming solution?

Thank in advance for your help!
 
Hi All

This is my first post on the forum - and I'm sorry if it's either a silly or a repeated question - when bottling can I use carbonation drops instead of the priming solution?

Thank in advance for your help!

Hi...No question is ever a silly question since you are looking for an answer. To answer your question "yes" but the you may need to add more than one drop depending on the size of container ... check your amount to be used and add appropriate amount ...

Cheers
 
I read a lot of this section but not the whole thing to find this answer. May be a stupid question,but do you back sweeten before or after you pasteurize? Also could I do this to a gallon jug with a twist off and then just refrigerate it?
 
I read a lot of this section but not the whole thing to find this answer. May be a stupid question,but do you back sweeten before or after you pasteurize? Also could I do this to a gallon jug with a twist off and then just refrigerate it?

This process is done once you are done with your sweetener and capping it..its to kill the yeast and maintain your carbonation... if you are using a jug with a twist off then you wouldn't need this process but if you still wish on using it be very careful because i think you're asking for a bottle bomb
 
I read a lot of this section but not the whole thing to find this answer. May be a stupid question,but do you back sweeten before or after you pasteurize? Also could I do this to a gallon jug with a twist off and then just refrigerate it?

From your question, I don't think you have thought through the processes involved in making bottle conditioned, semi-sweet, sparkling cider.

For example, you're not going to carbonate your cider in a gallon wine jug. Its made for still wine, not carbonated. And if you are going to make still (not carbonated) cider, then there is no need to pasteurize at all.

How would you backsweeten after pasteurization? You would have to open up the bottles, which would defeat the purpose of bottle conditioning.

Here's the overview of the steps I use:

1) make your cider
2) backsweeten and/or prime your cider at the same time you bottle (the yeast are still active at this point and will begin to eat up the sugars in your backsweetener)
3) when the bottles are carbonated (but not overcarbonated) you need to stop the yeast, so that is when you pasteurize

An alternative approach you might consider is very well described at www.makinghardcider.com
 
I posted a question on page 64. It was the one with the picture of the bottles at the bottom of the page. I was really hoping for some advice as to whether the bottles I have are ok for pasteurizing. Also, does anyone have any ideas on how long I should pasteurize the bottles as they are 16 and 32 ounces?
 
I posted a question on page 64. It was the one with the picture of the bottles at the bottom of the page. I was really hoping for some advice as to whether the bottles I have are ok for pasteurizing. Also, does anyone have any ideas on how long I should pasteurize the bottles as they are 16 and 32 ounces?

Sorry, I've never pasteurized in flip top bottles, so can't speak from personal experience. There's no reason why they wouldn't work, I think.
 
I posted a question on page 64. It was the one with the picture of the bottles at the bottom of the page. I was really hoping for some advice as to whether the bottles I have are ok for pasteurizing. Also, does anyone have any ideas on how long I should pasteurize the bottles as they are 16 and 32 ounces?

There is no reason why the process shouldn't work unless your rubber gaskets are worn or your flip top aren't secured...remember you will be causing your must to agitate and will cause pressure so take the appropriate precautions..
 
Has anyone used the pasteurization method described in this thread for 750ML champagne bottles? If so, I'd be really interested in knowing more about the temperature and timing. Because I have a gang load of champagne bottles I would like to use for cider.
 
Hedo-Rick said:
Has anyone used the pasteurization method described in this thread for 750ML champagne bottles? If so, I'd be really interested in knowing more about the temperature and timing. Because I have a gang load of champagne bottles I would like to use for cider.

As long as the temperature of the contents of the bottles are maintained for the appropriate time to achieve pasteurisation, the size of the bottle won't matter. If you have a thermometer that fits into your bottles, test the temperature of an open bottle to work out the timing that the desired temperature is reached.
 
I posted a question on page 64. It was the one with the picture of the bottles at the bottom of the page. I was really hoping for some advice as to whether the bottles I have are ok for pasteurizing. Also, does anyone have any ideas on how long I should pasteurize the bottles as they are 16 and 32 ounces?

I did it in flip top bottles. 22 oz I believe. Worked fine. I followed the directions but let them sit 15 to 20 minutes in the water. Better safe than sorry. I didnt submerge the gaskets though
 
Thanks so much Big Cat and tx-brewer.
I've been checking the bottles every day or so and last night I caught one 32 ouncer just in time, I think! I put it in the fridge last night so it wouldn't keep carbonating overnight.
I backsweetened it with fresh pressed cider and it was the bottle that got the most sediment from the bottom of the jug.
Do you think I should rack it off before I pasteurize it? There is a little sediment now in the bottom of the bottle that has settled overnight. Does it count as lees? Do you think it will affect the flavor if I leave it?
 
Thanks so much Big Cat and tx-brewer.
I've been checking the bottles every day or so and last night I caught one 32 ouncer just in time, I think! I put it in the fridge last night so it wouldn't keep carbonating overnight.
I backsweetened it with fresh pressed cider and it was the bottle that got the most sediment from the bottom of the jug.
Do you think I should rack it off before I pasteurize it? There is a little sediment now in the bottom of the bottle that has settled overnight. Does it count as lees? Do you think it will affect the flavor if I leave it?

First of all keep in mind that I am very new to brewing and don't want to give any bad information, so take everything I saw with a grain of salt.

But my experience with the my first batch of cider (applejuice) I used 1118 yeast and added homemade caramel syrup and frozen concentrate to backsweeten. The caramel syrup wasn't totally distributed evenly, but even enough that I haven't noticed any difference. All the bottles are going to have some sediment in the bottom from the dead yeast used in carbing. If not careful when pouring and some of the sediment is poured into the glass you can taste some yeasty flavor, but its not too bad.

If its just one or two bottles, it might be worth it to rack off if there is a ton of sediment, but I personally woudn't. Not worth the time to sanitize everything, and you could think of not doing it as an experiment, but that is just me.

One further thing. I back sweetened and bottled mine and in less than 24 hours all the bottles were gushers and I lost about a third of the liquid. I had to open them all and let them settle then consolidated them into bottles to fill the bottles up. After this process I pasteurized them immediately.

Carbonation is there, and they taste great now, but I wish I would have waited a little longer after re bottling them as they are not quite as carbed as I would like. ( I guess I lost more carbonation after they all gushed than i expected.)

But I guess all this trial and error is part of the fun of it all isn't it. Let me know how they turn out.

Sorry about the long post that is probably not very helpful, and like I said in the beginning, take what I say with a grain of salt, I am just as new as you, if not newer.

I am mainly avoiding studying for a final, haha. well looks like I need to go do laundry that has been sitting for months and organize under the bathroom sink now too.....

good luck
 
Thanks so much Big Cat and tx-brewer.
I've been checking the bottles every day or so and last night I caught one 32 ouncer just in time, I think! I put it in the fridge last night so it wouldn't keep carbonating overnight.
I backsweetened it with fresh pressed cider and it was the bottle that got the most sediment from the bottom of the jug.
Do you think I should rack it off before I pasteurize it? There is a little sediment now in the bottom of the bottle that has settled overnight. Does it count as lees? Do you think it will affect the flavor if I leave it?

Vern

Pasteurizing is done to stop fermentation without losing the fizz... If you didn't rack before or over primed then you may have yeast that is really strong and may still be fermenting...be careful...bottle bombs aren't a joke.
 
I have about 20 gallons of cider in various carboys. Some have been sitting since September.

But I've learned a lot from this forum and I'm on my second batch of 2 one gallon jugs. The first batch I broke out at Thanksgiving and the college aged nephews and nieces loved it. I thought it was dry and a had a sulphur smell, but once cooled and decanted, it wasn't all that bad.

This next batch is a gallon of juice with 1 cup of dark brown sugar made into a syrup. The other gallon is juice with 12 oz of honey. They have both been in the fermenter since November 30 and the bubbles have slowed considerably.

So tomorrow I will rack into a bucket with thawed frozen concentrate. I will continue to add concentrate until I get the flavor and sweetness I like, then I plan to bottle into Grolsch type bottles, 16 oz each, but two of them are Growlers.

I then plan to test carbonation after 2 days and every day thereafter and use the stove top pasteurization method as soon as I detect the right amount of "fizz".

The game plan is to keep it cold and serve it over Christmas, which is less than two weeks away.

Wish me luck. I'll update with results.
 
Sorry, but I need a quick answer. I have taken a couple of gallons of cider and racked each separately into a clean and sanitized bucket then added 12 oz of thawed apple juice concentrate. I then bottled into Grolsch type bottles. But I did fill one clear Growler so I could keep an eye on things.

Should I see carbonation? If so when and what will it look like?
 
Sorry, but I need a quick answer. I have taken a couple of gallons of cider and racked each separately into a clean and sanitized bucket then added 12 oz of thawed apple juice concentrate. I then bottled into Grolsch type bottles. But I did fill one clear Growler so I could keep an eye on things.

Should I see carbonation? If so when and what will it look like?

The other option is to shake the bottle a bit and see how much it fizzes. But not the most reliable technique.....
 
Pappers...Sorry for seeming stupid with the questions,but this is my very first time of making cider. How do I make a sweet or semi sweet cider that isn't carbonated without making bottle bombs if there's no need to pasteurize it after back sweetening it,I really don't want to use any chemicals. I'm not opposed to sparkling but I think I would enjoy still cider more. If I make it carbonated how do I know how long to let it set before pasteurizing it so that it's not over carbonated.
 
Pappers...Sorry for seeming stupid with the questions,but this is my very first time of making cider. How do I make a sweet or semi sweet cider that isn't carbonated without making bottle bombs if there's no need to pasteurize it after back sweetening it,I really don't want to use any chemicals. I'm not opposed to sparkling but I think I would enjoy still cider more. If I make it carbonated how do I know how long to let it set before pasteurizing it so that it's not over carbonated.

You can either knock out the yeast before backsweetening or you can backsweeten with a nonfermentable. If you look at www.makinghardcider.com, she talks about backsweetening with a nonfermentable sugar (although she is making sparkling cider, the same would apply to still cider.)
 
Is it safe to pasteurize in EZ-cap bottles, or will the plastic / rubber part melt or get ruined?
 
Ok .. If I back sweeten with apple juice concentrate,can I just add it then pasteurize it? I don't care how much carbonation it has.
 
Ok .. If I back sweeten with apple juice concentrate,can I just add it then pasteurize it? I don't care how much carbonation it has.

You can...you'll have sweet juice...if you want to make it alcoholic you need to fermented first...rack...then pasteurize to kill yeast
 
I am very new to this. I have my first batch of anything (Mike's Carmel Apple Cider) fermenting right now. I have pretty much read through all of this and didn't see the answer. So if just putting them in the fridge accomplishes the same thing as pasteurizing, what is the advantage to pasteurizing? It seems a lot easier just to throw them in the fridge so I am sure there is one, I am just not sure what it is.
 
I am very new to this. I have my first batch of anything (Mike's Carmel Apple Cider) fermenting right now. I have pretty much read through all of this and didn't see the answer. So if just putting them in the fridge accomplishes the same thing as pasteurizing, what is the advantage to pasteurizing? It seems a lot easier just to throw them in the fridge so I am sure there is one, I am just not sure what it is.

Only that you have to keep them cold - store all of the bottles in the fridge, can't give them to other folks, etc. If the bottles warm up, the yeast will wake up and get back to work.
 
Pappers... you are the man! (assuming you are a man ;) THANK YOU!!!

my experience was favorable!
~6 gallons
no sugars or addition in fermentation
2 cans of concentrate added before bottling (final gravity around 1014 i believe)
I filled one water bottle as a tester (squeezing the bottle some so I would know when it was bloated)
4 days and the water bottle was bloated and tight and the bottom was bumped out (thin plastic so i let bottles go another day)
cider gushed out of the top when I opened a tester at 5 days... good to go!?

I was able to fit up to 12 bottles in my boiling pot and the only issues I had were some bottles bubbled up from the caps. It turned out it was the stella bottles and woodchuck bottles I was re-using that didn't cap very well. only other issue was one of the flip top (grolsch) style bottles blew its rubber seal but disaster was averted since I had a lid on the pot.

thanks for these instructions!! I just did this tonight so I can't speak to the (hopefully) absense of bottle bombs.
 
Depends on how old or worned are your rubber rings

I use old grolsch style bottles like this that have been kicking around (some used 10+ times in different batches of homebrews) for years. when pasteurizing I had one blow a rubber seal but I think the seal was off center because it sort of squeezed it up on that side. my bottles also might have had too much carb. in them when I past. but out of 20+ of this style bottles that was the only trouble one.
 
I love this method, but always end up with some lees in my bottles after the week of carbonating. Does anyone else run into this, and is there a way around it? I want to check because it could just be sediment, as I only filter through a mesh bag, which is not very fine.
 
Back
Top