crashing in the bottles

Ok, well, not sure if this can be done but here is what I am considering doing.

I have a batch of cider, been fermenting for about 6 days now.
The activity in the airlock is starting to slow down, about 1 bubble in about 15 to 20 seconds.
I started off with a gravity of 1.050, haven’t taken a second one yet.
I would like to bottle the cider in some plastic ½ liter bottles I have and let them ferment for another day or 2 in the bottle thus creating carbonation in the bottle.
Once the bottle feels pressurized to the touch, meaning when I squeeze the plastic bottle it doesn’t bend or push inwards I put the bottles in the fridge to cold crash.

I know I will be left with some yeast at the bottom of the bottle but that doesn’t really bother me.
The end product should be a carbonated semi sweet cider.

Has anyone tried doing something like this?
will this work?

I have never tried anything like that and am kinda curious why you would do it that way. Why not just wait, prime and bottle like normal?

If you were going to attempt this, I would take a gravity reading and base my bottling timing off of how much fermentation was left to complete. I'm not sure how many points priming sugar adds, but I can't imagine it's more than a point or two, which would make even using gravty readings hard to judge by.

I guess the plastic bottles would at least be a little more forgiving than glass.

If you dont mind some sediment in the bottom of your bottles and keep them cold, then yeah, that should work.

You might want to rack one extra time to another gallon jug before you rack to the bottles. In my experience, even if you dont do a cold crash, the cider will drop a fair amount of sediment right after the first rack when it comes off the yeast cake - so if you rack to another jug, wait a couple days, then rack to bottles, you'll have a little cleaner taste and a little less sediment in your bottles when the cold crash is over

6 days huh? I have several batches currently fermenying that are several MONTHS old...you, my friend, are too anxious. It comes across as all you care about it getting high.

Do yourself a favor...let whatever you ferment take its own time and tell you when IT'S ready...just because you are doesn't mean it is. Whatever you are fermenting is not done!!!

If all you want to brew is something to get off on then by all means GO FOR IT, but don't come here asking serious questions about fermentation when all you want is approval to brew crap.

it's as simeple as: YOUR CIDER WILL NOT BE READY FOR A COUPLE MORE WEEKS...

With that said, do what you want.

homebrewer_99 said:

6 days huh? I have several batches currently fermenying that are several MONTHS old...you, my friend, are too anxious. It comes across as all you care about it getting high.

Do yourself a favor...let whatever you ferment take its own time and tell you when IT'S ready...just because you are doesn't mean it is. Whatever you are fermenting is not done!!!

If all you want to brew is something to get off on then by all means GO FOR IT, but don't come here asking serious questions about fermentation when all you want is approval to brew crap.

it's as simeple as: YOUR CIDER WILL NOT BE READY FOR A COUPLE MORE WEEKS...

With that said, do what you want.

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Wow...definatly the most pompous post ive read on this forum sofar. Congrats.


To the original poster:

I would taste the cider first.....if you will enjoy drinking it as it is then go ahead and follow the peoples directions that actually posted useful info. Don't listen to the booze-snob, he's not the one that's going to be drinking it anyways.

Not pompous, just not sugar coated...

IMO, the OP came across as "is this OK" when it definitely isn't...my advice was sound.

As far as the booze snob comment goes...I'm also from Jersey so...you know the rest.

I used to live in Ocean off of Rte 35 when I worked at Ft Monmouth.

6 days is WAY to early, you run a nasty risk of bottle bombs

Nah, for most yeasts six days is plenty of time this early in the season and with gallon batches. Taste it first and dont stop it too sweet, but it could already be too far gone, depending on the yeast and brew temps

Sure, if you dose your cider up on k-meta and other chemicals and then ferment all the apple sugar out so that there is nothing left but the acids, its gonna be a looooong time before that stuff is drinkable. Last year I fermented out five keg batches completely dry, just see what would happen. They tasted like ass for nine months and are just now starting to get barely drinkable. I wouldnt serve them to friends, except as an example of what not to do to cider.

Right now I've got five kegs on tap, made from juice that was pressed on 9/14 and cold crashed 6 to 10 days afterwards at sgs ranging from 1.004 to 1.026. They taste great.

Trust your taste. Ignore the taste of the yeast, as that will drop out in the crash. Just focus on the sugar acid balance. When its where you want it, crash it.

Depending on you yeast, you can ferment it pretty dry in about 6-7 days. The three problems I see are:
1. Crashing it will cause the yeast to drop, so you'll have sediment at the bottom of your bottles.
2. If you plan to keep the cider for an extended period of time, plastic bottles leech, so your flavors might be off.
3. The cider hasn't been given any time to age, so even though it is sweet it could still have a harsh taste to it.

I have to agree with HB_99, and in no way was his response pompus.
6 days is way too early, the fermentation will still be very active for at least another week.
If you are moving it to a keg that can handle pressure and will kept cold forever, then I would recommend crash chilling after another week.
The "truth" is, ciders are difficult to stop fermentation, it is just so much wiser to let it ferment out, then back sweeten to avoid bottle bombs, and just green tasting hot hooch.

As an example, I made a 6 gallon batch on 20090918 using US-05 which is fast and held at 60F.
20091003 Racked to secondary, SG 1.003, fermentation was pretty much a bunch of super tiny bubbles I needed a flashlight to see. My notes - taste a little hot. ABV 7.8% In fridge 62F.

Since I was racking six gallons into a 5 gallon carboy I set up a side ferment using a plastic 2 liter reused soda bottle.

That bottle is fully carbed and I have been relieving the pressure every day to keep it from becoming deformed.
The secondary is still sitting happy in the fridge still with just a bunch of tiny bubbles that you need a flashlight to see. The copper tone is slowing going away and I'm thinking it might be ready to keg or bottle in around 3 more weeks.

Sorry if I come off as a know it all, because I am not one, but ciders, meads, and wines take a little longer than beers to ferment out.

The point is *not* to let it ferment out.

When it ferments out, all of the apple sugar will be gone, leaving nothing but acids. Backsweetening should not be part of a "recipe". It is what one does to salvage a batch that went to far.

We are not making beer here. We are making cider. It has its own process.

I'm not trying to come off as a know it all either, but I've been making cider for close to 15 years now and it pains me to see new cider makers being advised to do things that I learned to stop doing 10 years ago.

I do agree that if you use plastic bottles, you dont want to keep the cider for any length of time. If you crash before terminal sg, you dont *need* to store for any length of time. For experimenting with different yeasts, sugars and juice, what the OP is suggesting is workable

well i took a reading last night and the gravity was 1.015 and it did still taste a bit to sweet for me.
i will rack it to a secondary to let some of the yeast drop and than ill try to bottle.

Thank you for all your information.
This is my first time making cider and im trying to keep it as simple as possible with no added items in to the cider, no back sweetening or adding any tablets, etc’.

phishroy said:

This is my first time making cider and im trying to keep it as simple as possible with no added items in to the cider, no back sweetening or adding any tablets, etc’.

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this is exactly how i plan on making my first batch....hopefully picking up the fresh juice today. :rockin: