Bottle carbonation without priming

So, I'm very new to brewing in general (2 pale ales from extract), and this is my first cider. 4 Gal apple cider from a local orchard, 1 gal of water with 2lbs of white and 2 lbs of brown sugar simmered in, poured that in with the cider and tossed in some campaign yeast from a local brew supply store. Nothing fancy and I’m not expecting it to be amazing, but I have what I think is an odd question. I ran a little test when I took my grav reading a week into fermentation by filling 1 -12 oz. bottle, capping it, letting it sit at room temp for a couple days. Then I popped it in the fridge for a couple more, and out came a sweet and wonderfully carbonated beverage! About 40% of the sugar had been eaten up by the yeast at this point, which is not what I’m going for as far as alcohol content, but my questions is this; is bottling before the primary fermentation is over a way to keep away from a dry cider in the end? I know it’s probably not recommended, but what issues might I run into if I was to bottle when lets say there’s only 20 % of the sugar left? Would I be safe to assume if I taste a sample and it is good, and I was to bottle it right then the product would be sweet as well?

Thanks for any insight!

Actually this method is how I bottled the best cider I ever made....

Do you have a hydrometer? My very first batch I just bottled the suckers right from the carboy at a reading of 1.002-1.004. They carbed up well and had that slightly residual sweetness that rules, which you just don't get from bottle conditioning a dry cider.

This IS the way to get slightly sweet, carbed cider. Just be careful and don't bottle it too high or you will get bombs.

Yes you need to be very careful. Do your best to stay under 1.005.

Why would you take 4 gallons of great fresh cider and water it down with a gallon of water? You could have added the sugar to the juice instead of watering it down. Its not like beer where you are going for an exact volume. How ever much juice you have is your target volume.

Thanks for the quick replies. I basically just looked online and mocked someone's recipe. It's tasting pretty good based on my sample today. I'm at 1.024 right now, I'll bottle at 1.01 and let you guys know what happens!

I don't think bottling at 1.01 is a great idea...

lapaglia said:

Yes you need to be very careful. Do your best to stay under 1.005.

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HokieBrewer said:

I don't think bottling at 1.01 is a great idea...

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Me neither. I think a bottle carbed sweet cider is a bad idea. A few people seem to have done it without injury, but I wouldn't do it. At the very least, if you still insist on doing this, bottle in plastic soda bottles so if there are bottle bombs no one gets hurt.

For the record I agree also. Its not a good idea. I mentioned 1.005 as the level not to exceed as that produces the amount of CO2 in a normal beer bottle. Anything higher and you have to go to a champagne bottle. That being said there is no way to be sure where you are at when you bottle early. Its not worth the chance. Its hard to brew with only one hand or eye.

Hahaha thanks for the heads up everyone. To be honest i didn't even mean to type 1.01.

If you don't mind pasteurizing your bottles after proper carbonation was reached I wouldn't be afraid a sweet bottle conditioned cider. You do have to be thorough and careful but I know for a fact that this is how it's done by more than a few professionals.

You know I was thinking even if you used sorbate and force carbonated your sweet cider you would still want to bottle pasteurize to be absolutely sure the yeast was dead and gone.

Couldn't you just drain the carboy back into a pot and mass-pasteurize from there to ensure the yeasties are dead, then cool and into a keg for pressurized filling?

Probably could but the large volume of liquid would take some serious time to bring up to temp. I'd sure rather bust a bottle of cider pasteurizing than the whole batch in a carboy if it were to break.

Also with bottles you can rig a thermometer up to a bottle and fill it with water to determine temperature whereabouts of each batch.

Who said IN the carboy? I said out of the carboy into a pot. And it probably takes 45 minutes to get up to temp and another 15 to cool.

How long does it take to bottle pasteurize? (never tried, so I have no idea)

So the cider is done. I bottled at approx 1.001. It took approx 5 days to get carbed the way I like it, and I put it in the fridge. This is my first cider so I was looking for a quick turnaround, and I got it! It tastes great, lightly carbonated, and I think a higher alcohol content than I expected (judging by the night a few buddies and I had the other night). Thanks to everyone who replied throughout, this forum is really helpful.

I'll post again if I have questions about the next batch!

Kevin