A few carbonated cider questions????

[VincenzaV]

I have read several thread here about carb'ing cider in bottles.

I am in school full time so I trying to balance learning about making hard cider and still getting good grades. I now realize I should have waited until break to start this. So much science to cider making.

I am making two 1gal batches. Here are the specs

Batch A
OG 1.060 (11/14)
added 10 tablespoons white sugar syrup before adding yeast (Red Star Champagne) and nutrient.
FG 1.004 (11/17)

Batch B
OG 1.056 (11/14)
added 18 tablespoons white sugar syrup before adding yeast (Lalvin EC-1118) and nutrient.
FG 1.010

If my calculations are right, I have 7.08% ABV batch A, and 6.036% ABV batch B.

I want it cleared so I added the Sparkalloid clearing agent from my local shop. I also (maybe in error) added about 1.5 cups of unfermented cider to take up some air space when moving the batches to the secondary carboys.

Is it safe to bottle in my flip-top bottles now?

If not, how log should I wait?

All this talks of bottle bumbs scare me!

Did the 1.5 cups of unfermented cider wake up the yeast?

Should I just add the yeast killer ingredient and have a still batch?

Will pasteurizing it in the dishwasher stop the accumulated carbonation too? Or just kill yeast?

Thanks for your guidance!

 

[MarkKF]

your best bet is to ferment dry. Wait til no bubbles in airlock then measure gravity. If close to 1.000 you are good to bottle.

 

[rocketsan]

The added juice most definitely needs to be fermented out or you will run into trouble


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[VincenzaV]

Got it, thank you. I knew it felt wrong after I did it. Homer Simpson moment, Dough!

Just so much going on with school, my mind isn't in the game right now. Still cider is still good, as long as I can sweeten it with xylitol or equivalent.

 

[phug]

Got it, thank you. I knew it felt wrong after I did it. Homer Simpson moment, Dough!



Just so much going on with school, my mind isn't in the game right now. Still cider is still good, as long as I can sweeten it with xylitol or equivalent.

If you sweeten with xylitol you can have sweet fizzy cider without fear of bottle bombs. Just add the calculated amount of priming sugar after you sweeten with xylitol


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[VincenzaV]

Sweet, thank you phug.

I have a different question.

I started bottling now, and am using a new siphon hose (nylon) to transfer cider to the bottles, from the carboy.

I did about half the carboy, ran some errands, and left the half full carboy with the airlock on.

I came back and noticed this on the surface of the cider. It may have been there, just at the very to when it was full, and then not as noticeable?

Should it cause concern? The only thing I added a day ago was a clearing "fining" agent from my local brew shop. Other than that, it's organic store bought cider, white sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrient.

Am I overthink this "pond scum"?

JUST the stuff on top has my eyebrow raised....

 

[bernardsmith]

Given the dates in your first post it is very unlikely that much of the CO2 produced by the yeast has dissipated. That takes time. If you agitated the cider then some of the lees and sediment that had dropped earlier may be carried back up to the surface with the CO2. (I am guessing that the drop in volume may also allow more of the CO2 held in place by the weight of the liquid to escape but that is a guess)... In short, what you see is not "pond scum" but particulates of fruit and yeast that had previously flocculated and dropped out as sediment - one reason that many folk rack to a bottling bucket and then bottle: they avoid disturbing the lees (beer has trub, fruit produces lees) .

 

[VincenzaV]

That makes sense, thank you for taking the time to answer the question