Question about checking carbonation

I am doing a 1 gallon batch to test out the pasteurization technique. I am taking it down to about 1.012ish, priming, and then bottling.

Since it will only yield about 10 bottles, I am curious at what point should I start to check the carbonation? Bottles will be sitting in a tupperware container at about 68 degrees. Can I recap after checking it or is it a wasted cause to do that?

Like I said, I would not be overly concerned if I were doing a 3 gallon or 5 gallon batch but since this is a tester batch of 10 bottles, I don't have a lot of room to spare.

David

 

You could always do to the ol' plastic bottle trick. Fill one soda bottle with cider and give it a squeeze every day until it feels firm. You won't be able to pasteurize it, so at least you have one to sample.

 

Just remember being high grav it's going to take longer than, let's say a 12 ounce bottle of a low gravity beer, that may take 3 weeks at 70 degrees to carb up....you might wanna think, I'll crack a bottle at 8 weeks....then again in 2 more months if it's not carbed, and again at 6 months.....Just expect it to take awhile and don't worry about it.

 

Revvy,

I am bottling cider that has fermentation still active. I am assuming I need to check them on day 3-5 in order to check carbonation before pasteurizing so I do not have bottle bombs.