pasteurization sediment

[kriskkk]

So I filled my sweet cider in the bottles and started pasteurizing so that I would kill the yeast and stop fermentation.
I gradually increase the water temperature untill i reach water of about 160F and the cider has a temp of about 152F.
I was pasteurizing the sweet cider bottles in a 160F water bath, and after 2-3 minutes, this is what happened.
Is that normal and any way to prevent this from happening?
any way to avoid all this or is it bound to keep happening every time I pasteurize.
Any negative effects theoretically ?
Is that the pectin, yeast, combination?
It settled back down after cooling down but still created a chunk of sediment.
I had to shake the bottle and a few days later the sediment became more powdery and didn't look that bad but still..

 

[RPh_Guy]

Was this posted before or am I having déjà vu?

Sediment is *normal* and *unavoidable* for bottle conditioning. (Unless you want to try advanced techniques or devices that remove sediment.)
Try adding pectinase to your juice and see if that helps.

Cheers

 

[Maylar]

Was the cider clear before bottling, or did you pasteurize while the ferment was still active?

 

[kriskkk]

the cider was alot clearer before pasteurizing.
However, before bottling, I had crash cooled the cider for about 8 days to render the yeast inactive and flocculate.

 

[Maylar]

I'm trying to figure out what's happening here. Sediment is always a consequence of bottle conditioning, since the yeast make some lees while making CO2. But I don't think I've ever seen as much as your pics are showing.

If you ferment your cider dry, allow it to clear completely, rack off the lees, sweeten/prime, wait for carbonation then pasteurize you normally get just a dusting of sediment. Not clumps like you're showing.

 

[kriskkk]

I don't prime or back-sweeten.
I'm actually cold crashing a few points before the gravity I want to reach.
i get from 16 degrees Celsius to 0 in a few hours.
I use highly flocculant yeasts.
I leave it at that temp for about 1 week-10 days while removing the lees gradually every day. (from the bottom of conical)
From the time I crash cool to the 10th day, the gravity will have gone from 1.023 to about 1.020.
Then rack to carboy, force carbonate and then fill.
I pasteurize right after bottling.
I like using this technique so I don't have to add any kinds of sugars (fermentable or not) and am therefore keeping the freshly pressed apple juice without those additives.

Side note:
If I were to let it ferment to dry, I would have an alcohol level that I wouldn't want to reach for a sweet cider.
To counter that, I would have to dilute and then it would be watery in my personal opinion (and then would have to add tannin and malic acid etc...)

Any opinion or help would be greatly appreciated on how to reduce that level of sediment.

 

[Maylar]

What do you use for apple juice? And do you use pectic enzyme? The only thing I can think of is that the apple pectin is congealing with the pasteurization heat.

 

[kriskkk]

I get the apples from local orchards, grind and then press them.
I do not pasteurize before fermentation.
I only add the necessary K-meta a day before.
I agree, I think it is the apple pectin and if I used pectic enzyme before fermentation or Isinglass after fermentation, I could reduce the sediment (maybe pectin) substantially...
I have attached a picture of the bottles and after i shook one, the sediment became alot nicer to look at after a couple of days..

one

 

[Awtas]

Registered just to post here. Yesterday I pasteurized my cider and got solid particles in it after the pasteurization. This was my third batch that I pasteurized and it was the first time I got these solid sediments. The only big difference I feel between other batches, this time I added more concentrated apple juice to carb and back sweeten. I also did not boil concentrated apple juice before adding it into the finished product.
Were you able to figure out how to avoid it? Would pectic enzyme help?