Backsweeten carbonated Cider?

[Glester]

It would seem that the standard would be to stabilize, backsweeten and then carbonate. However, I was considering fermenting under pressure and using the naturally carbonated cider, stabalize and then backsweeten while still carbonated. Thoughts? Experience doing this?

 

[hawkwing]

I’m guessing it might turn into a volcano.

 

[pvtpublic]

You'll lose a lot of your carbonation adding anything to it. When you open it up, you release the the headspace pressure. Then when you add your sweetener, you scrub the CO2 out of solution. And as @hawkwing said, you could have a volcano.

 

[CKuhns]

Agree with @pvtpublic Mentos and diet cola comes to mind.

Similar to adding nutrients to an active ferment without releasing the CO2 first.

 

[Chalkyt]

As suggested above, if you want to keep the carbonation in the bottle, opening then resealing is likely to be unsuccessful. More CO2 will be retained with very cold bottles so it might be worth a try.

I bottle carbonate but it is a bit of a balancing act between effectively stopping fermentation and developing too much bottle pressure. You can make a sweet, carbonated cider this way and over the past year or so there have been quite a few posts about this... use the search option at the top of the forum.

My approach is to bottle when the SG has fallen to the sweetness level that I want, then add priming sugar or juice to lift this by 0.004 which gives me about two volumes of carbonation when this is fermented, Monitor the carbonation in a sealed bottle with a pressure gauge (a soda bottle also works, using the squeeze test to monitor pressure), then pasteurise.

Alternatively, you can fully ferment then back sweeten for flavour and carbonation. I only like a touch of sweetness in the order of 1 -2 g of sugar per litre, which is around SG 1.004 or 1.005. I have a trial underway using Fermentis TF6 to see if this retains a touch of sweetness when fully fermented, which would simply mean adding priming sugar for a slightly sweet, carbonated cider. This will be a game changer if it works.

Currently I like to keep the CO2 to not more than 2 vols (about 30psi) at room temperature and heat pasteurise to stop fermentation (see Pappers post at the top of the forum or do a search for some of my posts). Very roughly, heating the sealed bottles to 65C will stop further fermentation and hence bottle bombs. Beware that the bottle pressure increases exponentially with temperature so going above 65C can quickly get you into bottle bomb territory.

Generally, beer bottles are rated at 4GV (gas volumes) by most manufacturers. Some published bottle specs show ratings for new bottles of 1.2MPa to 1,6MPa (170 - 230 psi), but beware that there can be "below-spec" bottles out there, especially used ones.

I know everyone is concerned about bottle bombs but keeping carbonation to 2 volumes and heat pasteurising to 65C should limit bottle pressure to less than 100psi. However, PPE (goggles, gloves etc) are always recommended. when heat pasteurising

 

[Glester]

As suggested above, if you want to keep the carbonation in the bottle, opening then resealing is likely to be unsuccessful. More CO2 will be retained with very cold bottles so it might be worth a try.

I bottle carbonate but it is a bit of a balancing act between effectively stopping fermentation and developing too much bottle pressure. You can make a sweet, carbonated cider this way and over the past year or so there have been quite a few posts about this... use the search option at the top of the forum.

My approach is to bottle when the SG has fallen to the sweetness level that I want, then add priming sugar or juice to lift this by 0.004 which gives me about two volumes of carbonation when this is fermented, Monitor the carbonation in a sealed bottle with a pressure gauge (a soda bottle also works, using the squeeze test to monitor pressure), then pasteurise.

Alternatively, you can fully ferment then back sweeten for flavour and carbonation. I only like a touch of sweetness in the order of 1 -2 g of sugar per litre, which is around SG 1.004 or 1.005. I have a trial underway using Fermentis TF6 to see if this retains a touch of sweetness when fully fermented, which would simply mean adding priming sugar for a slightly sweet, carbonated cider. This will be a game changer if it works.

Currently I like to keep the CO2 to not more than 2 vols (about 30psi) at room temperature and heat pasteurise to stop fermentation (see Pappers post at the top of the forum or do a search for some of my posts). Very roughly, heating the sealed bottles to 65C will stop further fermentation and hence bottle bombs. Beware that the bottle pressure increases exponentially with temperature so going above 65C can quickly get you into bottle bomb territory.

Generally, beer bottles are rated at 4GV (gas volumes) by most manufacturers. Some published bottle specs show ratings for new bottles of 1.2MPa to 1,6MPa (170 - 230 psi), but beware that there can be "below-spec" bottles out there, especially used ones.

I know everyone is concerned about bottle bombs but keeping carbonation to 2 volumes and heat pasteurising to 65C should limit bottle pressure to less than 100psi. However, PPE (goggles, gloves etc) are always recommended. when heat pasteurising

This wouldn't be in bottles. This would be in a conical unitank that could feement under up to 15psi.

I think the volcano comments might be true, but I think it also depends on what you throw in there. If it is a bunch of granules, yes. But if it is something other than granules, I wonder how much CO2 would/could be retained.

I may try an experiment here in my next batch.

 

[pvtpublic]

Please post the results of your experiment.