Finn
Well-Known Member
Hi guys, I mentioned pasteurizing my cider in the dishwasher so I thought I oughtta give a full report on how it's going. The experiment is not finished yet -- but I should know soon if it worked as I figured it would.
Background ... my dishwasher has a "sterilize" setting that cooks the dishes at 160 degrees for 9 minutes. This seemed perfect for pasteurizing cider, so I loaded my last two batches into the dishwasher to stop them fermenting short of total dryness.
In both cases, the finished product tastes great and definitely has some residual fermentable sweetness to it. Both batches were bottled in champagne glass and allowed to develop carbonation (way too much, in the first batch).
So far, what I've observed is this:
1. The process generates tremendous pressure in the bottles. My capper puts a small depression in the top of each crown cap; after coming out of the dishwasher, the bottle caps on these were slightly domed. This probably means really stout glass is needed to prevent bursting.
2. So far, none of the bottles have shown any sign of continuing fermentation. My latest batch is quite sweet, almost too sweet, so if any more fermentation happens in any of them (the batch made 12 of them) I expect I will know soon enough.
I'll keep you posted on this one. So far, the results are pretty promising.
Cheers!
--Finn
Background ... my dishwasher has a "sterilize" setting that cooks the dishes at 160 degrees for 9 minutes. This seemed perfect for pasteurizing cider, so I loaded my last two batches into the dishwasher to stop them fermenting short of total dryness.
In both cases, the finished product tastes great and definitely has some residual fermentable sweetness to it. Both batches were bottled in champagne glass and allowed to develop carbonation (way too much, in the first batch).
So far, what I've observed is this:
1. The process generates tremendous pressure in the bottles. My capper puts a small depression in the top of each crown cap; after coming out of the dishwasher, the bottle caps on these were slightly domed. This probably means really stout glass is needed to prevent bursting.
2. So far, none of the bottles have shown any sign of continuing fermentation. My latest batch is quite sweet, almost too sweet, so if any more fermentation happens in any of them (the batch made 12 of them) I expect I will know soon enough.
I'll keep you posted on this one. So far, the results are pretty promising.
Cheers!
--Finn