Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics

[Ike]

For anyone wanting to have a bit more control over what your carb level is before chilling or pasteurizing, you can make a simple carbonation monitor for your PET soda bottle. Much less subjective than squeezing the bottle for firmness.

YEP, that is definitely getting built when carbing up the next batch!

QUESTION: What pressure in a room-temp, carbing bottle yields a good level of carbonation in a chilled bottle? As in: what's your target pressure before pasteurization?

The issue I have had a couple times is that there's tons of pressure while carbing at room temperature, I pasteurize the bottles, chill them, and the colder cider allows more CO2 into solution. Result: flat bottles.

 

[Maylar]

YEP, that is definitely getting built when carbing up the next batch!

QUESTION: What pressure in a room-temp, carbing bottle yields a good level of carbonation in a chilled bottle? As in: what's your target pressure before pasteurization?

The issue I have had a couple times is that there's tons of pressure while carbing at room temperature, I pasteurize the bottles, chill them, and the colder cider allows more CO2 into solution. Result: flat bottles.

Honestly, I don't pasteurize. I let pressure build up at room temp then throw them in the fridge at 25-30 psi. There are charts for pressures vs CO2 levels and I like about 2.4 volumes in my ciders. But at that level you'll likely blow bottles at pasteurizing temps.

Simple enough formula -

From http://www.brainlubeonline.com/GasLawsBeer.html

P = -16.6999 - 0.0101059 T + 0.00116512 T^2 + 0.173354 T V + 4.24267 V - 0.0684226 V^2

That says you'll get to 95 psi in the bottle at 170° if you have 2.4 volumes. I don't trust beer bottles to handle that.

 

[Ike]

From http://www.brainlubeonline.com/GasLawsBeer.html

Holy COW. That link has TONS of awesome data. Thank you very much!

I see your point about high pressures during pasteurization. I've pasteurized a few small batches so far, and only had one failure (a bottle cap didn't hold up to the pressure, fortunately the bottle did so cleanup was easier than feared) but when I do pasteurize a batch I dress up like someone from a bomb disposal unit for fear of a bottle going off in my hands. One thing I think I will do is start using your pressure gauge along with the tables provided to shoot for the lower range of carbonation (maybe 1.8 - 2.0). Ciders aren't going to hold a thick, creamy head: I just need a bit of carbonation taste and a few happy bubbles trickling up from the bottom of the glass.

Thanks again! This could end up being just what my former-engineering brain needed to get the bottle carbonation of my ciders under control!

 

[Bombo80]

So I successfully pasteurized a batch of cider last night.

I let the cider completely ferment to 0.996. I then added some cider concentrate with a bit of honey, to bring the SG back up to 1.020. I let it continue to ferment until the SG was 1.014 and then bottled it. My thoughts were this would be sweet enough, but would not need the addition of priming sugar.

It took a while for them to get to the proper carb level. I think it was a little cool in the basement, so I moved them upstairs for another few days. The last tester was perfectly carbed and had a nice sweetness.

The pasteurizing method I decided to use was a bit different from the OP. I put 6 bottles in the sink, plus a tester bottle to monitor the temps. I then filled the sink with the hottest water out of the tap. I let them temper in this water until the hot bath reached the temp of 175*. I placed the 6 bottles, and the tester, into the hot bath and put a temperature probe into the tester bottle. Covered the pot and put a large folded towel on top, just in case of a bottle bomb. At this time I got the next set of 6 bottles placed in the sink to pre-heat them for the next round.

The bottles I use are old school returnable beer bottles that I have accumulated over the years. These seem to be more heavy duty than some of the new bottles that you can get at the brew supply stores.

I set the stove timer for 20 minutes, but also monitored the temperature probe as things moved along. Once the temp reached 140*, I adjusted the timer down to 10 minutes at that time. When the 10 minutes past, the probe was at 152*. With the pasteurizing info on page 7 of this thread, I was very confident the process completed successfully.

I removed them from the hot bath and set them on the counter to cool. Even though these bottles are heavy duty, I still had 2 bottle bombs. These obviously had weak glass, because they didn't explode severely like the over carbed ones I did a long time ago.

All in all, it was a successful night. Now I can get the next batch back sweetened and do this process again. I only have 4 more batches of cider to go. Should be an interesting next month or so.

 

[DirtDiver]

Kahuna, I think it is a good, simple answer to the challenge of making a sweet, carbonated, bottle conditioned cider. It's not the only approach, though. For example, you can let the cider ferment to dry, backsweeten with a non-fermentable like lactose, prime and bottle. Another option is to cold crash the bottles.

Both of those options have downsides. Backsweetening with a non-fermentable affects taste - I think using the juice's natural sweetness adds to the apple-flavor of the juice. With cold crashing, you need a lot of frig room and you can't give the cider away or take it to a party.

Will cold crashing (putting bottles in standard temp fridge) completely put yeast into dormancy? Or just slow them down? So, it it possible to eventually have a bottle bomb in a fridge?

 

[Maylar]

Will cold crashing (putting bottles in standard temp fridge) completely put yeast into dormancy? Or just slow them down? So, it it possible to eventually have a bottle bomb in a fridge?

It slows them down, and how slow depends on the yeast.

Cold crashing an active ferment would leave more yeast than clearing in secondary and back sweetening / priming. I let my ciders clear completely then sweeten with FAJC and refrigerate when carbed. I've had them in the fridge for over a month with no over carbing with S-04 yeast.

 

[gprop3]

I just tried this yesterday and lost four bottles. Any input on why would be appreciated, even though replacing those bottles is a chore i dont mind. I heated a larger enamel canning pot to 190, turned off the heat, and submerged my bottles, 22 oz each, up to the neck for ten minutes in batches of seven bottles per bath. In my first batch, i heard a loud pop and had one of the bottles pop the cap right off the top. Second batch, i reduced temp to 185 and had another bottle shatter in the pot right towards the end of the ten mins. Not sure it helps, but this was a 32 oz big boy. In the last batch I dropped the temp to 180 and I had a combo, popped cap and shatter bottle, both 22oz. Any ideas? Method notes: I did use a rag in the bottom of the pot for the first bath but got rid of it because it crowded the beers too much. I took the pot off the glass top stove burner after cutting the heat. I fermented my cider to .99 and backsweetened to 1.01 and bottled. I pasteurized 6 days after bottling, bottles sat at 63 degrees during that time. Any helpful feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Use much lower temps, less carbonization, avoid thermal and physical shocks, use only bottles known to handle the pressures reached.

 

[gprop3]

Use much lower temps, less carbonization, avoid thermal and physical shocks, use only bottles known to handle the pressures reached.

What is a recommended temp outside of the 180-190 range? 165 for 30 mins? I shook a bottle up last night and the carb level doesnt seem terribly high, actually may be low. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Blue-Frog]

I am not that familiar with degrees F but just a few posts above s.o. suggested
mentioned using 175... I'd go even lower for longer if you are having trouble.
the 180-190 F. range you began using might be used for times of say 1 sec... so control would likely be difficult and very fuzzy using bottles....

start cool and increase the temperature slowly, find what works for you.

It sounds like your CO2 level wasn't that high, but how did it actually behave when poured? Determining how much carbonation is in the bottle may be difficult and not always obvious on first glance... depending upon various factors, the gas can seem "deep inside the liquid" and come out quite slowy or it can appear to "sit on the surface" and explode right away in a fizzy flury. I am still trying to find a simpl way to measure it myself.

What does it sound like when a bottle explodes?
Is it muffled or quite loud, like a balloon burst?

 

[gprop3]

I am not that familiar with degrees F but just a few posts above s.o. suggested
mentioned using 175... I'd go even lower for longer if you are having trouble.
the 180-190 F. range you began using might be used for times of say 1 sec... so control would likely be difficult and very fuzzy using bottles....

start cool and increase the temperature slowly, find what works for you.

It sounds like your CO2 level wasn't that high, but how did it actually behave when poured? Determining how much carbonation is in the bottle may be difficult and not always obvious on first glance... depending upon various factors, the gas can seem "deep inside the liquid" and come out quite slowy or it can appear to "sit on the surface" and explode right away in a fizzy flury. I am still trying to find a simpl way to measure it myself.

What does it sound like when a bottle explodes?
Is it muffled or quite loud, like a balloon burst?

Thanks for adding to this. I havent opened up a bottle yet. I was planning on waiting a week at least since I have read that some have experienced off flavors and opening immediately. When the bottles were in the pot, it sounded like a ballon but that could be accentuated by the enamel pot. When the caps popped on the two, it sounded like a decent fire cracker. Ill open up a bottle soon and post carb results. Thanks.

 

[Blue-Frog]

By all means, open a sample bottle before pasteurization.

You can designate one special bottle as a "tester" and if needed it can be repeatedly resealed for multiple "evaluations" of carb level.

By opening bottles at various times post fermentation, you can see when, how and if, things change.

Interesting comment about off flavors...
I know what I am brewing is different from what others are but I too have noticed that some slight sulfur (?) does seem to be cleared up quite quickly post pasteurization.

This is interesting as maturation is usually explained as a function of bioprocessing by the yeast.

Thanks for the description of the sound; I often work in the middle of the night and worry about waking the sleeping dragon....

Safety First

 

[torilen]

Hope I'm not repeating anything here...126 pages is a lot to trudge through for an answer. Sorry.

I have two questions, based on all of the reading I've done.

1 - Does pasteurizing change the flavor of brews much?

2 - Can you simply pasteurize straight in a pot, let it cool, then
put the brew into bottles? (I do almost entirely ciders and ginger beer and such things...without carb. So, losing carbonation is not an issue for me).

Thanks
Matthew

 

[torilen]

You know what - never mind about my question #2. I realized this morning I have a very easy way to do this. Since I'm not worried about carbonation, I can use canning jars for the pasteurization process. I was actually thinking I could bottle in canning jars, since I wouldn't have to worry about them blowing up after pasteurization. I have a ready supply of those...my wife and I can preserves A LOT during the summer. So, buying a few extra jars would be nothing...and for my gallon batches, it would probably be cheaper to do that than buy special beer bottles.

I am still curious, though - does the pasteurization change the flavor at all? How about the ABV?

 

[Blue-Frog]

Well, I guess it depends.

All I can say is that I would never choose a pasteurized beer over the same beer un pasteurized, given a fair choice.

Without exception, I found I did not like them. Not that they were bad or had off flavors... I knew much less about beer then than I do now; I actually disliked them, finding them to be bitter & repugnant in a way hard to describe. This was years ago, in Munich, so things might be different now, but I still don't like pasteurized BEER. They have a Muffled, or Dull flavor to me.

That said, I haven't done a fair side by side test with the same formula. What I brew now still tastes good pasteurized, but plan on doing an unpasteurized version side by side someday.

So for now, my best guess is, it depends.

 

[gprop3]

By all means, open a sample bottle before pasteurization.

You can designate one special bottle as a "tester" and if needed it can be repeatedly resealed for multiple "evaluations" of carb level.

By opening bottles at various times post fermentation, you can see when, how and if, things change.

Interesting comment about off flavors...
I know what I am brewing is different from what others are but I too have noticed that some slight sulfur (?) does seem to be cleared up quite quickly post pasteurization.

This is interesting as maturation is usually explained as a function of bioprocessing by the yeast.

Thanks for the description of the sound; I often work in the middle of the night and worry about waking the sleeping dragon....

Safety First

Thanks again Blue Frog. Opened a bottle Saturday night and the carb level was pretty good. Not a ton of bubbles but roughly 2/3 of the way between still and full carb. With that, I dont think these were bombs. I am leaning to temperature now. Next time, I will let the bottles sit for lower and longer than this batch. I had used a plastic bottle before pasteurizing and I think that worked really well. Next time I think I will stay in the 170s and try for 15-20 min soak. BTW, the cider turned out extremely well. Bummed I lost a few soliders pasteurizing, but next time I will adjust. You're my boy Blue.

 

[jiMithing83]

Any way to pasteurize and keg? Some of my friends like it still and some like it carbed, I'd like to backsweeten then keg and bottle half then let the other half carb.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Thats what I want to do but don't have a keg system set up yet.
($teep Learning Curve)

Couldn't you just heat it in a kettle as needed to do the job, then keg & artificially carbonate?

 

[jiMithing83]

So pour from fermenter into kettle, heat to 168, keg? I could brew it a little strong since some alcohol will boil off, might take some trial and error to figure out how much I'd lose. This is when I really wish my brew kettle had a thermometer built in.

Edit: start kegging. It's really not hard to learn, and so much easier if a process than bottling. I wish I had done it right away after starting to brew.

 

[gprop3]

So pour from fermenter into kettle, heat to 168, keg? I could brew it a little strong since some alcohol will boil off, might take some trial and error to figure out how much I'd lose. This is when I really wish my brew kettle had a thermometer built in.

Edit: start kegging. It's really not hard to learn, and so much easier if a process than bottling. I wish I had done it right away after starting to brew.

I think you backsweeten all of it then keg half and bottle half. As long as the keg is cold, you keep the yeast from working their bomb magic (and the keg can hold way more psi than a glass bottle). After a few days of the bottles sitting around I would pasteurize. I learned the hard way about temps for me but everything else I did worked extremely well. I keg my beer but havent done a cider if that helps at all.

 

[mtnman68]

Can you use this method with plastic pop bottles?

Thanks

mtnman68

 

[torilen]

I'm not the one who wrote this thread, and I am new to pasteurizing. But I would not suggest it. To get the water hot enough to pasteurize, roughly 160F or so...there is a good chance you're going to start melting the plastic. Plastic bottles don't do well in heat like that.

 

[Blue-Frog]

Interesting question.
Don't know the answer.
Agree with previous commenter, perhaps not melting per se, but decreased resistance to the the increased pressure, leading to early failure of the cap --> bullet shooting... WARNING!
I may do some tests next time & will post any observations
if so....

 

[Maylar]

When a plastic bottle gets to about 45 PSI the pressure will make it "pop" out the bottom.

 

[Blue-Frog]

45PSI for the bottle to disfigure?
Interesting.

Have you found this true for most all "soda" bottles or are there sig. differences?

Other thoughts...
Any idea what the pressure of plain water is at 70 C.?
How much carbon dioxide would be needed to get to 45 PSI at room temp?
and how much does it increase when the temp is 60~70C?

 

[Maylar]

45PSI for the bottle to disfigure?
Interesting.

Have you found this true for most all "soda" bottles or are there sig. differences?

Other thoughts...
Any idea what the pressure of plain water is at 70 C.?
How much carbon dioxide would be needed to get to 45 PSI at room temp?
and how much does it increase when the temp is 60~70C?

I drink Sprite, so I had green bottles. Haven't tried any others. That one in the pic had been carbed to about 2.4 volumes of CO2 (25 psi at 65F) and plunked into a pot of 175F water. Two other samples did the same thing.

Water doesn't have pressure unless it's carbonated (or boiling).

The formula for pressure vs temperature for a given carbonation level is

P = -16.6999 - 0.0101059 T + 0.00116512 T^2 + 0.173354 T V + 4.24267 V - 0.0684226 V^2

Where,
P = Pressure in PSI
V = Volumes of CO2
T = Degrees F

 

[Blue-Frog]

Oh OK so that was at almost 80 C.

Water doesn't have pressure unless it's carbonated (or boiling).

???
I guess you mean of any real significance (?)

I would imagine that as the temperature rises there is always an increase in the vapor pressure but that at some point it becomes "significant" enough to "lift" more than just the water molecules near the surface.

On the other hand, I am falling asleep as I write this - maybe I should take another look in the morning.

Thanks for the formula!

 

[torilen]

I doubt you'll be using normal drinking water bottles - but just in case:
I put water from a kurig into one, and while it didn't melt, it deformed
greatly and easily. Can't say what it leached into the water, but it
can't be good.

 

[bembel]

I use an Excel sheet to actually monitor the accumulated PUs that my ciders undergo during pasteurization and I have found that high temps are overkill and can lead to dangerous levels of pressure, as well as off flavors

Here is a link to my thread that goes into the specifics of time and temp required to adequately stabalize your ciders at much lower temps than have been discussed in various other threads.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=581913

I will post a download link to the Excel file shortly

 

[Ike]

Here is a link to my thread that goes into the specifics of time and temp required to adequately stabalize your ciders at much lower temps than have been discussed in various other threads.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=581913

oooooohhhhh... the ex-engineer in me just had a little bit of a nerdgasm. Great data, that.

I've run a similar test, albeit a bit less technical, and included my data a page or two up-thread. Although I do not have sous-vide available (wish list!) I found that batch treatments were effective at much lower temps. I was reaching 140* internal bottle temp in my batches (10 bottles in my brew kettle, filled to 1" below caps) after 10 mins if I started at just 175* "strike water temperature" , and after 15mins if I started as low as 165*. So far, only one blown cap and one broken bottle.

Obviously, your data would suggest even lower starting temps would be possible. Do you have any links to threads or pages that discuss variables (yeast variety, ABV, and/or SG) and the related PUs necessary?

 

[Ike]

I use an Excel sheet to actually monitor the accumulated PUs that my ciders undergo during pasteurization and I have found that high temps are overkill and can lead to dangerous levels of pressure, as well as off flavors

FURTHERMORE: What is this magical mango and cherry cider of which you speak, and how can I convince you to post the recipe?!

 

[Blue-Frog]

...I have found that high temps are overkill and can lead to dangerous levels of pressure....

oooooohhhhh... the ex-engineer in me... So far, only one blown cap and one broken bottle... Do you have any links to threads or pages that discuss variables (yeast variety, ABV, and/or SG) and the related PUs necessary?

I am writing without thinking this through so please cut me some slack if I say something stupid... but I suspect the differences in temperature are not the primary source of danger in the unwanted creation of bottle bombs... Primary consideration is the amount of carbonation at the start of pasteurization.... this is the biggest determining variable in my opinion.... imagine if you were "pasteurizing" pure water... at what temp would one begin to get bottle bombs? I imagine someone out there has sufficient mastery of the science and physics to calculate this, given accurate bottle specs (which I haven't found yet) nevertheless, I can only imagine that plain (uncarbonated) water could withstand a much higher temperature before becomming an exploding catastrophy.

I am not saying temperature is not important, just that bottle bombs and PUs are different animals.

I haven't seen any mention of yeast type, (different yeast die at different temperatures) cell counts etc.
Where is the hard core science stuff? I would like to see the full (with exponents and all) formulas to the PU theory...
if you have a nice concise link.

 

[bembel]

Yes the existing carbonation is a key factor, you have to know that before hand, that's the point. The other factor in getting your requires PUs from less temp/time is flavor retention, you don't want to cook your cider.

As for a chart of PUs required for different yeast strains, that's up to you. I found that beer makers use 12-15 PUs, milk and dairy more, and in conversations with small scale commercial cider makers that 25-50 is the rule of thumb. More so for fresh juice.

Maylar mentioned possibly testing out bottles at different PSIs to see what they can take before blowing up. This will be good info to share

If I can rig up a pressure gauge a set of experiments will follow with water carbonated to diff. Volumes and heated till explosion. I just have to rig up an old cooler to do this in, since I don't want to destroy my kitchen just yet

 

[bembel]

I am writing without thinking this through so please cut me some slack if I say something stupid... but I suspect the differences in temperature are not the primary source of danger in the unwanted creation of bottle bombs... Primary consideration is the amount of carbonation at the start of pasteurization.... this is the biggest determining variable in my opinion.... imagine if you were "pasteurizing" pure water... at what temp would one begin to get bottle bombs? I imagine someone out there has sufficient mastery of the science and physics to calculate this, given accurate bottle specs (which I haven't found yet) nevertheless, I can only imagine that plain (uncarbonated) water could withstand a much higher temperature before becomming an exploding catastrophy.

I am not saying temperature is not important, just that bottle bombs and PUs are different animals.

I haven't seen any mention of yeast type, (different yeast die at different temperatures) cell counts etc.
Where is the hard core science stuff? I would like to see the full (with exponents and all) formulas to the PU theory...
if you have a nice concise link.

Just did a quick look at temp /pressure using the spreadsheet that Maylar created, and there is a definite advantage to staying at the lower spectrum of temp to reduce pressure, regardless of carbonation levels, ill plot them out later but look at the data here. At starting volume of 2, which is about where my ciders are, if I keep the max temp to 150 I still get the required PUs but the pressure never goes about 68, as soon as I climb past 160F im getting into explosion territory. Maylar learned that breweries test new bottles to 100PSI and that used bottles are considered safe up to 58, def need to get more data on that, but either way, safe to say that if you want less than 100 PSI stick to lower temps

 

[bembel]

FURTHERMORE: What is this magical mango and cherry cider of which you speak, and how can I convince you to post the recipe?!

In my past I have been lucky enough to work in the kitchens of some well known restaurants in both Germany and the US and have survived under the tutelage of some amazing yet egotistical chefs. One of the most valuable lessons I learned was that if you wanted any dish to feature a flavor or aroma, you added the aromatic element as close to the end of the process as possible, so as not to degrade the nature of it. ( OK, except garlic)

When I started making ciders I added all sorts of things a the beginning based on my brewing experiences, and never had any control over the final outcome, as fermentation is just too transformative. Plus you need huge amounts of additions in the primary to get much result in the end.

So now I make ciders straight, nothing added ( except for New England Style which I do have a 'recipe' for ) and add any flavor elements ( dried fruit, freeze dried fruit, fresh fruit, spices, herbs) just prior to bottling or kegging, based on experimenting with 100ml at a time of the straight cider and adding small amounts of infused 'teas' to get the flavor & color & aroma I am looking for, then scale up the batch.

The Mango and Cherry were actually 2 separate ciders I just happened to be pasteurizing at once, but in hindsight it sounds like a combo that would be fantastic!

The mango cider was flavored with Trader Joe's freeze dried mango, about 2g per 100ml, .25ml green cardamom 'tea', .5g fresh ginger and 2 drops of rose water.

The cherry was just Kirkland dried, sweetened cherries added at about 2g/100ml.

I then scale up the aromatics, put the solids in a fine mesh hop bag and place that in a small keg that I have purged the oxygen out of, then I pressure transfer the straight cider from the larger keg into the smaller one until I get the right amount (postal scale is a lot cheaper than a flow meter)

I let that sit a few days and then filter, bottle and pasteurize.

For small batches, the 1.6 gallon 'Torpedo Keg' is a fantastic tool for doing this, and allows you to create 4 batches of different ciders from one 5 gallon starter cider.

 

[echardcore]

Great thread. Was looking around for this info for awhile.

Info: I have a 3 gallon batch of 100% natural cider that I have added nothing to. I let it go with its native yeast since November. The juice was brought to me from CiderDays. OG 1.050, Last time I checked, FG was 1.002ish. I also have 3 separate gallons to experiment with.

Here is my plan.

I am going to heat up water in my brew kettle to 180 - 190 and put it in a big cooler. When it reaches 175ish, I'll put the prewarmed bottles in and let them sit with the lid closed for safety.

My issue I am struggling with is the addition of sugar. I plan on using raw honey mixed with preboiled water. I saw Pappers say that he now does one gallon of fresh juice to 3 gallons of fermented juice. I wanted to keep it simple like this but I really dont want to change the flavor of what I have. This is a special blend of apples specifically for hard cider. In fact, it tastes better than any other still, dry cider I have had so far.

For the big 3 gallon batch, we have decided on 8 oz of raw honey in half a gallon of boiled distilled water. We are looking for a low carb, low sweetness beverage showcasing the cider as plain and enjoyable as possible. We have a short window to pasteurize in. We plan on bottling on Friday and pasteurize on Sunday or Monday.

Some info we used to figure out 8 oz of honey -
Natures Promise AJ - 240 grams of sugar in half gallon.
Raw honey - 374 g. in 16 oz.
This would equal 10.26 oz. honey for the same amount of sugar (according to my accountant/SO). We are going with 8 to keep it safe, on the dry side, and low carb.

Does this sound good?
Anything wrong with raw honey?
Thanks in advance.


P.S.

I think it would be REALLY REALLY helpful to include some baseline numbers (in the OP) to go by when calculating sugar amounts for back sweetening / carbing.

This might even help people prevent some of the bombs.

EDIT:

After reading through more of this long thread I found some useful info.

The philosophy is that you want to sweeten until you are happy, then add the amount of carb sugar you need.

We sweetened 1.003 FG to about 1.008. We used organic brown sugar from whole foods in boiled water mixed in the bottling bucket. 6 oz. /4 c. (only used about 3 c. of the mixture). It still tastes dry but has more apple flavor. Exactly what we want.

We used the NB carb calculator (http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator) to get to about 2 carb vols. This was about 0.25 c in about 2 cups of water.

We did this last night and the plastic bottle is slightly firmer than an identical bottle filled with water this morning.

We only filled the bottles to just over the bottom of the longnecks. I even went so far as to weigh out the bottles. Empty, some were under 7 oz and some over. We kept the heavier bottles.

The batch is safe in a tupperware tote with some dumbells on top. Finally found a good use for them.

This is fun.

 

[eigua]

Just did a quick look at temp /pressure using the spreadsheet that Maylar created, and there is a definite advantage to staying at the lower spectrum of temp to reduce pressure, regardless of carbonation levels, ill plot them out later but look at the data here. At starting volume of 2, which is about where my ciders are, if I keep the max temp to 150 I still get the required PUs but the pressure never goes about 68, as soon as I climb past 160F im getting into explosion territory. Maylar learned that breweries test new bottles to 100PSI and that used bottles are considered safe up to 58, def need to get more data on that, but either way, safe to say that if you want less than 100 PSI stick to lower temps

I have to add my voice to the cautions when pasteurizing in glass as described by the OP. I did my first attempt at pasteurization last night, using a much safer, less stressful process, and yet I still had 3 of 4 bottles develop what looks like a long stress crack.

Pasteurizing rice wine (not carbonated).

My method:
To reduce pressures and risk of explosions, I slowly heated water up to around 150 in two separate pots in stages, starting around 100, then 120, 140, 150. I added my uncapped beer bottles of rice wine to the water, moving the bottles between each pot as I need to step up temperature in the other to avoid adding heat with the bottles in the water. I did this over the course of probably 1 1/2 hours. When I got to around 150, I removed each bottle and capped. The idea was to cap at an already warm temperature to avoid the pressures of increasing 100+ degrees with a cap on. This way I'd only have to deal with pressure increases of +20 degrees. I then stepped up the water to about 170, transferred the capped bottles, and let them cool to around 125 in that water before removing. To my great surprise, it appears that 3 out of 4 bottles STILL developed what I believe are stress fractures. (see pic - it's the wavy, hazy looking line running vertically all the way up) Each bottle has one of these stress lines running up the entire length of the bottle, not all in the same place and not all shaped the same. These bottles were from commercial beer, but have never been reused before this.

If my gentle, low-temperature pasteurization process with non-carbonated liquid can produce stress fractures in these bottles, I imagine they would have exploded for sure if pasteurized as described by the OP with carbonated liquid inside.

I may be wrong about these being stress fractures, but I do not recall seeing them before this and none of my other unused bottles show anything similar.

 

[highplains]

Eigua, your gentle method may have been gentle in heating, but you created a vacuum in the bottles! Unlike heating a closed system that then returns to a reduced state of pressure, you have bottles that had essentially no pressure, which increased (negatively) as they cooled. Beware of putting these bottles in your fridge......

 

[eigua]

Eigua, your gentle method may have been gentle in heating, but you created a vacuum in the bottles! Unlike heating a closed system that then returns to a reduced state of pressure, you have bottles that had essentially no pressure, which increased (negatively) as they cooled. Beware of putting these bottles in your fridge......

I knew the pressure would be less once sealed and cooled, but I doubt that the negative pressures are that great. This is the same thing that happens when home canning or doing preserves. You bottle at high heat and cool afterwards. I've never heard of a bottle of preserves imploding. In addition, the lines on the bottles were already there when the temperature was still in the 150's. I'm beginning to doubt these are cracks however.

 

[bembel]

"The philosophy is that you want to sweeten until you are happy, then add the amount of carb sugar you need"

Echardcore

I'm sure your cider will be fantastic, the juice is likely from Pine Hill farm and last years blends are turning out great!

One thing, you can't sweeten to taste, and then add more sugar to carb unless you precisely measure the pressure being created and then stop the yeast by pasteurization at exactly the level of the SG that you back sweetened to. Without a pressure gauge hooked up to a test bottle this is next to impossible. Especially with 3 gallons worth.

It is very difficult to try this out first time. Essentially you are trying to guess when the yeast have eaten enough sugar to get to your desired carb level, then stopped them by pasteurization. Now sure, you can guesstimate and just pasteurize when the bottles feel firm, but you probably won't end up with the FG that you intended based on the sweetening to taste. - you might, but this would be good fortune and hard to replicate-

If you were just trying to stop fermentation at a desired sweetness without worrying about carbonation I you can simply taste the cider and then bottle and pasteurize when it's to your liking, but once they are bottled you loose the ability to take samples unless you open a bottle, and with just 3 gallons worth that's a high cost sample.