Hello! Best way to carbonate 1 gallon of Hard Cider

I plan on bottling into 22 ounce bottles.

I was wondering the best method to carbonate cider along the lines of champagne.
nice bubbles but nothing crazy.
I only have one gallon to bottle and was curious is I should add simple syrup to the bottling bucket....im just really new at this.

Since you will probably be dealing with 5 full 22 ounce bottles, your best way will be to add 1 - 1.5 teaspoons of priming sugar (dextrose, corn sugar) to each bottle before filling.

Does it matter if the priming sugar goes in the bottle or the batch?

Would a can of concentrate be overkill for this? If you wanted to backsweeten, you could kill 2 birds with one stone.

Nannerfox said:

Would a can of concentrate be overkill for this? If you wanted to backsweeten, you could kill 2 birds with one stone.

Click to expand...

And kill someone in the process...
Back sweeten and Carbonation are 2 different processes.
Carbonation requires active yeast.
Back sweeten requires none/dead/inactive yeast.

1oz of dextrose/sugar per gallon is medium carbonation.
For high carbonation like champagne, I wouldn't use more than 1.5 oz per gallon.

The best method of making a fizzy cider like a woodchuck is to have a kegging system.
I will assume that you don't since you are a Newbie. It isn't impossible but requires a lot more work and risk.

Shopping list:
100% pure apple cider/juice in 1 gallon jugs.
2 cans of apple juice concentrate per gallon of apple juice.
1 package of Ale yeast; preferable Nottingham.
yeast nutrient (optional)

Check ingredients make sure there is no preservatives (like potassium sorbate) other than vitamin C.

Fermentation:
Sanitize fermentor (read up on this if you don't know how to sanitize properly)
Re-hydrate dry yeast (instructions on back of package of yeast)
mix 1 gallon of apple juice and 1 can of concentrate; keep it 1:1 if you are doing more than 1 gallon.
measure OG with hydrometer; you want it between 1.055-1.065, add sugar in small increments until you get in this range.
optional add 1 tsp of nutrient
shake
keep shaking
shake a little more
stop shaking
add yeasties and attach airlock
place it somewhere that is 65F-70F for 2 weeks
forget where you placed it for 2 weeks
don't look at it, leave it alone
note FG with hydrometer, should be close to 1.000

Backsweeten/Carbonation (no keg method):
siphon cider into a sanitized bottling bucket, don't splash
mix 1 can of concentrate per 1 gallon of cider to sweeten; keep it 1:1
no shaking this time! stir gently
don't splash it! no bubbles
bottle like beer, no corks
Navigate to the following thread and follow it very carefully (note that I have never done this); failure to pasteurize will result in explosive glass shards.
I would start checking bottles after 2 days instead of 1 week as suggested. With this much extra sugar from the concentrate it should carb up very quickly.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/
chill
Enjoy!


Things to try for flavor enhancement:
Experiment with juicing some little apples, they are a little bitter.
Experiment with juicing granny apples, they are a little tart.
Add with the juice before fermentation.



This thread may help as well:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/newells-groundhog-cider-woodchuck-amber-clone-85887/

Don't try to sweeten unless you have a kegging system. The only reason that I go to the pasteurization thread is to get some laughs at people blowing themselves up with glass bombs.

1. Ferment cider completely (2 or more weeks)
2. Add an appropriate amount of sugar to cider for carbonating (google for priming sugar calculators)
3. Bottle
4. Wait 2 weeks
5. Refrigerate a couple days
6. Drink

It won't be woodchuck though...

I agree that pasteurization is risky; I am not adventurous enough to do it but others may be.


Backsweeten/Carbonation (keg method):
cold crash fermentor
mix 1 can of concentrate per 1 gallon of cider to keg to sweeten; keep it 1:1
siphon cider into keg carefully, don't suck any yeast if you can help it
add potassium sorbate (dosage on bottle)
stir gently
chill to near freezing
force carb 10-15psi
wait 1-2 weeks
Enjoy!

m_stodd said:

Don't try to sweeten unless you have a kegging system. The only reason that I go to the pasteurization thread is to get some laughs at people blowing themselves up with glass bombs.

Click to expand...

Ignore the above naysayer. As long as you check the carbonation level frequently and pasteurize before it is tool late, you will not have any problems. Use a couple plastic pop bottles to gauge where you are in the carbing process. When they firm up, it is time to pasteurize.

I'll rephrase

I wouldn't backsweeten unless I had a kegging system. I make awesome dry cider, and making sweeter cider isn't worth the hassle, time, and risk of pasteurizing pressurized glass bottles in my kitchen.

I've done about 9 batches with the stovetop pasteurization method with only one blow up. It was in my pot resting in the water with a lid on. Didn't make a huge mess and have never had glass shards flying at me. Don't heat the water with the bottles in there and stick a tea towel in the bottom of the pot. Blowing up bottles is rare if you take steps to remedy some of the problems. I also don't heat the water to 190 like they say. I only go to 180 and have not had a problem.

I will say though that when I add the bottles, I do make sure that I have a decent shirt on and my safety glasses. Haven't needed them yet, but you never know.

Another thing that you can try to avoid pasteurization is to back sweeten with an artificial sweetener and carb up normally.
I bought some sucralose but haven't really tried it yet; it would require some experimentation. I wouldn't use splenda because the filler may effect the batch negatively.
Sucralose is available in pure form; be careful with the dosage:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006NFXQB6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Im relatively inexperienced with cider so this might seem off the wall, but can you use lactose to backsweeten? Its a non fermentable sugar but Im not sure how the taste would play in a cider as opposed to a beer. You could ferment out the batch and add lactose to sweeten to taste with your priming sugar.

Another thought is to use a lower attenuating yeast, like maybe windsor? Although a yeast that hits its limit might not be able to naturally prime a batch.

I have my first cider going and am looking for the simplest method of carbonating/conditioning. Here is what I have done so far...

1 gallon organic/preservative free cider from my local Whole Foods
removed ~20 oz for head space (and because my kids like it)
mixed 1/2 cup turbinado sugar into another 10 oz of juice and added that to the jug
1 tsp yeast nutrient
pitched in some Nottingham Yeast leftover from a recent brew

After 5 days when the initial fermentation settled down from a slight blow-off, I topped off the gallon with another 10 oz juice and one cafe packet of turbinado sugar (that got things going again)

It has been 10 days since my yeast pitch and I am still getting some bubbles, so I guess that is good. I am hoping that it settles down a bit more in the next 3 - 4 days so I can rack into a secondary for another 2 weeks.

To carbonate I am thinking of just using another of my 10 oz bottles of Martinelli's Apple Juice. That will be about 39 grams of sugars (according to the label) with a total volume of roughly 138 oz.

Will this be adequate, too much, or will I need to add more sugars (most likely more turbinado)

Thanks!

Not sure about your sugar quantities as I generally work on SG. You don't mention a hydrometer or what your SG was. You could try punching your numbers into the Brewer's Friend calculator and see what that tells you.

If your cider ferments down to 1.000, then you need to add around SG 0.005 of sugar, juice, AJC etc to get back up to 1.005 (or just bottle at 1.005 on the way down). This should give you between 2 and 3 volumes of CO2, which is just about right. Bottle pressure at room temperature will be around 40 psi.

If you want a sweeter carbonated cider, then you need to bottle at a higher SG (something like 1.010), but you then also need to heat pasteurise at around SG 0.005 below this (see Pappers post at the top of the forum). If you don't pasteurise, fermentation will continue down to 1.000, the sweetness will be gone but the bottle pressure will now be getting up towards 90 psi... VOLCANO when you open it!

Something that I have found for another occasion (you are using Notty now), is SO4 yeast... this typically finishes around 1.003 which leaves a bit of sweetness. Top this up to 1.008 and bottle for carbonation... YUM!

Check out this thread. I just transferred 5 gallons of cider to secondary and bottled the last gallon using 1/2 tsp per 12oz bottle, but there are tried and true measurements in there for doing 22oz bottles.

Although, this method will not be a sweetened cider. Cheers!