bottling and carbing attempt #3

[Apple_Jacker]

I had a 1 gallon tester batch of cider with brown sugar. I let it go dry to .996, cold crashed for 2 days now, backsweetened with 1-1/2 cups of apple juice to get the gravity up to 1.002, then bottled. I'll keep an eye on them and open one up in a few days.

 

[agent44]

What happened with attempts numbers one and two?

 

[Apple_Jacker]

The first time was 2 years ago. I backsweetened and let it so for almost 2 weeks and there was barely any carbonation. The second time I added too much sugar and all 68 bottles were gushers. I was lucky I had no bottle bombs.

 

[MarkKF]

Stove top pasteurize. See the sticky. It's the only way to go and no fear of bugs.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Yes, this batch will actually be my first attempt at pasteurization too. I wanted to do a 1 gallon trial before I do 5 or 6 gallon batch. If this works, I won't even care if it doesn't taste that great...well, maybe a little.

 

[smegger]

Maybe double check the amount of priming sugar you are adding?
There are plenty of calculators online and if you're using apple juice there should be an approximation of how much sugar is in there.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Yeah I know for sure that my second attempt was several times more sugar than necessary. This time is a little on the low side, but I'm going up to Chicago for a couple days and don't want to come home to a mess and an angry girlfriend.

 

[smegger]

If you're working with a dry cider (already fully fermented out) then exploding bottles shouldn't be an issue.
As for gushers, I'd suggest keeping the carbonation under 3 volumes. I've found any more than that and it gets a little too foamy. 3 volumes is borderline for me, if its not chilled enough it will gush everywhere.