Bottling a still cider question

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russb123

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Can you bottle the same way you do beer?

With no fermentation(no CO2) do you have to use the oxygen absorbing caps?

Should I fill bottles right to the top to eliminate as much headspace as possible?
 
What's an oxygen absorbing cap?

I just bottle my cider same's I used to do beer, without carbing 'cause that's the way I wanted it. Very happy with result, so I'd say yes, ?, and yes.
 
Oxygen absorbing caps have yet to be proven in my eyes as beneficial or worth it. Wait out your fermentation. When it is complete and clear, bottle as per normal -priming sugar and you will be fine. Don't worry about the tiny bit of headspace.
 
Oxygen absorbing caps have yet to be proven in my eyes as beneficial or worth it. Wait out your fermentation. When it is complete and clear, bottle as per normal -priming sugar and you will be fine. Don't worry about the tiny bit of headspace.

But he's asking about a still cider (non-carbonated). I've often wondered if just bottling and leaving that small bit of oxygen at the top would lead to oxidation if aged for very long at all.

I would say, in my uneducated guess, is to fill the bottles as dang full as you can, eliminating much of the oxygen by simple having less airspace.

Just be SURE it is done. You don't want bottle bombs.

I've heard the oygen "absorbing" caps don't actually absorb oxygen but only provide a better seal/barrier against oxygen from OUTSIDE getting in. Hence some retailers calling them oxygen barrier caps or the like, and not oxygen "absorbing". I'm not sure about all this, just regurgitating info I've read.
 
Any oxygen left in the headspace will lead to oxidation. It is typical to have some little bit of oxidation in a still cider and some would say that it is part of the flavor profile. Its the same in wine. The little bit of air left in the headspace leads to some oxidation over time - ie bottle aging.
 
I dont bottle still cider, i simply put it in a regular plastic contianer which the original juice came in and just leave a very small head space and then drink it quickly after it comes ready... if you want to bottled still cider and have no oxidation then you do not fill your bottles in an O2 enviorment, use gas shileding like nitrogen or a small ammount of C02 which is not enough to provide carbonation... nitrogen is mostly inhert and wont react with your brew and of course a small ammount of CO2 is more common and if you keep pressure at your regular 1 atm (plane room pressue, the gauge will have a line on it for it) then you wont get carbination just a little CO2 in the mix which wont give recognizable carbination. Other then that you get some oxidation because thats the way cider is done, as it was state above its just part of the flavor profile. If you dont want any oxidation you have to take required steps. There is somthing i have heard of called vaccum capping but i can only assum this removes the air from the bottle and bottles at negitive pressure, with O2 barrier caps this method would work very well in preventing oxidation and would keep basically indefiantly as long as the seal on the cap was not broken, and youll still get that cool pop when you open the bottle... I can only assume i have only heard of this method never actully done it or had it explained to me.

O2 barrier caps and O2 absorbing caps are one in the same, caps dont absorb O2 they just creat a barrier which is resessed intot he neck of the bottle and is much harder for 02 to penitrate. Corks, the old fashioned wood kind allowed bottled to breath by allowing O2 to pass out of the bottle and not in for a time which worked quite effectivly, then after a "breathing" time the bottles are sealed in hot wax because the corks loose this temporary atribute and actully absorb O2 like a sponge and it percalates back into the bottle.

Cheers
 
I think Russb is refering to https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/oxygen-absorbing-caps-89570/ which do have a different composition than regular caps and do absorb oxygen when they get wet.

Even if you prime the bottles the oxygen in the headspace won't be driven off nor will the yeast metabolize it. You'll have the same amount in the bottle either way. I've been bottling my still cider in beer bottles with regular caps. But I don't plan to let them age *too* much :)
 
If I may butt in with a simple question, Are you guys all saying that I should NOT bottle cider like wine? Will the wine bottles blow up?

I am not a beer brewer and was hoping to bottle and cork. I have 2 five gallon batches and I think 7 individual gallon jugs. I've saved up a bunch of wine bottles and if I have to save a bunch of beer bottles, I'll have to get to drinking some more beer, I guess.

thanks,

gus
 
No gus that is not a factor. you can bottle cider like wine provided the bottles are able to take the pressure if you are going to carbonate it with priming sugar. If not then jsut make sure you wash them good and your good to go. And your useing champagne bottles and other formerly carbonated wine then you are already good to go on the pressure issue

I would sugest used regular beer bottles i just read on another brewing site that they have recently due to home brew popularity been useing thinner walled glass which dose not stand up will to being constantly presureized and repressured, they are doing this because appently one or two of the comercial brewers are thinking of busting into the home brew market with a series of kits with in the next year or so, and they wish to sell there own brand of "Bottleing Bottles"... this is only a rumor i heard, wouldnt mind if sombody researched it though.

I stand corrected on the O2 absorbing caps, how ever i am sekptical...

Cheers
 
If you bottle with corks and you plan on carbonating, you must use champagne corks. Regular wine works will just be forced out of the bottle in no time. However if you are planning on bottling still as I do mine, just bottle like wine, no need to fret over oxygen much.
 
Leaving some ullage is a good thing if you're planning to store the bottles for any length of time. If you don't leave space, any expansion of the liquid will put pressure on the bottle (less important if you're using beer bottles, since they're designed to hold pressure); since air is fairly compressible, it acts as a cushion to reduce the chance that the cork will push out of a wine bottle.

Even if you prime the bottles the oxygen in the headspace won't be driven off nor will the yeast metabolize it. You'll have the same amount in the bottle either way.

This is incorrect.
Yeasts in Food by T. Boekhout and V. Robert (eds.) said:
The contribution of bottle conditioning to the final quality of the beer are twofold: firstly, the carbonation of the beer (6.0 to 9.0 g of CO2/L) and, secondly the removal of traces of oxygen that have dissolved in the beer during the filling process. [...] Refermentation in bottles eliminates the negative impact of oxygen, which may have been picked up during filling, on the early staling of beer.

Antioxidant capacity of bottle-conditioned (containing live yeast) beer by N. Morris and M. A. Daeschel. said:
t’s well known that bottle-conditioned beer has a longer shelf life. This is likely due to the ability of yeast to metabolize any free oxygen present[...].
 
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