Carbonating on the bottle please help

[glenncol]

Hi all,

I have created my first batch of anything in this case cider and i am needing a little direction in carbonation in the bottle as i have no co2 or kegs and so on.

I was going to add sugar to each bottle (Krolsch 500ml bottles ), i have read that keeping your bottles at around 21c while carbonating for 2 weeks will see it done well.

I was going to put all the bottlers into a fridge and keep the fridge at 21c with a heating pad, i tried it out by placing the heating pad at the bottom of the fridge and set the external thermostat to 21c and it took for ever for the ambient temp to get there.

The heat mat i am using is this one http://kegking.com.au/heating-mat-40-watt.html

The mat is not hot to the touch rather just warm,So i was wondering if i put the bottle directly on the mate standing up and used some neoprene on the side of one bottle with the temp send place in it to keept the temp, would this be ok?

 

[Ogroat]

That all sounds fine to me, but you may be overthinking this. It's my experience that bottles will carbonate just fine at ambient temperatures without any apparent change in flavor. I suppose that may not be true if your house is kept at 10C or 30C, but at what I'd consider normal house temperatures (say... 15C to 26C) I would personally just leave the bottles in a basement or closet somewhere unless you've got plenty of fridge space to spare.

 

[HopGobbler]

If you're not using a priming sugar to the whole batch, I like using premeasured drops like these, 1 per bottle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E5ZYB8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I agree that I think you're overthinking it with the heating pad

 

[Shawnrog]

If you're not using a priming sugar to the whole batch, I like using premeasured drops like these, 1 per bottle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E5ZYB8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I agree that I think you're overthinking it with the heating pad

I've seen the Sugar Drops and they look like a good way to go. If I wanted to use corn sugar on the entire 6-gallon batch do I need to add in any new yeast before bottling or is the existing yeast in the cider still alive enough to carbonate in the bottle?

Thanks for the help!
Shawn

 

[Maylar]

If the cider is less than 4-5 months in secondary you don't need to add any yeast for bottle conditioning. Those little yeasties seem to hang around for a long time just waiting for more sugar.

 

[Shawnrog]

If the cider is less than 4-5 months in secondary you don't need to add any yeast for bottle conditioning. Those little yeasties seem to hang around for a long time just waiting for more sugar.

Thanks for the help I'll let you know how it comes out!

Shawn

 

[HopGobbler]

If the cider is less than 4-5 months in secondary you don't need to add any yeast for bottle conditioning. Those little yeasties seem to hang around for a long time just waiting for more sugar.

Agreed

 

[bmd2k1]

How'd ur carbonation efforts turn out?

 

[Kees]

I don't want to add sugar but I would like my cider to be a bit fizzy. At what SG is it safe to bottle the juice in swing top Grolsch bottles? I would like the remaining sugars to take care of the carbonation of my cider. Or should I add some apple juice when SG is around 1.0? How much should I use?

 

[myndflyte]

I don't want to add sugar but I would like my cider to be a bit fizzy. At what SG is it safe to bottle the juice in swing top Grolsch bottles? I would like the remaining sugars to take care of the carbonation of my cider. Or should I add some apple juice when SG is around 1.0? How much should I use?

Unless you've brewed something before and consistently get the same FG, you're just asking for trouble trying to gauge the right time to bottle. It's ok to add to sugar to carbonate. It's not going to change the flavor in any noticeable way.

 

[Kees]

Thanks for your reply. Acronym wiki is out of order. Am I right to presume FG equals fermentation grade?

 

[docbot]

Thanks for your reply. Acronym wiki is out of order. Am I right to presume FG equals fermentation grade?

FG=final gravity, the specific gravity at which your fermentation stops.

 

[Kees]

Just got my hydrometer from our off license that doubles as a distributor for Brouwland, a Belgian home brewers supply store. SG of the juice that is still bubbling is 1.002. Yes, I did spin it round before reading. The off license's owner told me you can safely bottle in Grolsch bottles at a SG of 1.015.
So I put the plastic bottle in the fridgs for a cold crash. Any thoughts how long that might take to clear?

 

[Kees]

When the cider has cleared I want to put in on a frozen cooling element instead of using a racking cane and tube. Anyone ever tried that? I have the fermenting juice in 1 liter PE bottles and wine bottles.
I started very low tech with stuff available in the house.