Bottle carb without yeast

[dharward]

I have hard that there are tablets or drops that can be used to carbonate in the bottle.

Basically I have a cider batch that is extremely dry and has very little apple flavor. It's working on week two in the secondary. I want to be able to sweeten it with a natural sweetener but want it carbonated.

Someone mentioned that there are tablets or capsules that could be used to carb in the bottle. But I don't want to loose any of the sweetness. Are there carbonation tablets that don't contain yeast? If so do they work well?

Thanks.

 

[MarkKF]

If you already made hard cider you have yeast in there. Carb tabs are just measured sugar. If u like the sweetness your cider is now and it's done fermenting just add the appropriate number of tabs or measured priming sugar and bottle. It will carb at the same level of sweetness.

 

[dharward]

I don't like how dry and unsweet it is currently so I would need to add some additional apple juice and or honey to achieve the flavor I'm looking for and kill the living yeast before bottling so I can keep the flavor I'm looking for. my concern is if the carb tabs contain yeast then the yeast will consume my added sugar and possibly create a bomb. I was not sure if the tabs contained yeast or not or if there was possibly one that didn't and was more of a dry CO2 producing powder that would carb in the bottle without changing the flavor once achieved.

This may not be possible and I could just be dreaming here I was just hoping it's possible. I'm a total noob at cider so I'm just figuring this out. Sorry.

 

[paperairplane]

You can bottle dry, fizzy cider.
You can bottle sweet, still cider.
You can bottle sweet, fizzy cider by using non-fermentable sugar like splenda. (gross)

The only real way to get sweet fizzy cider is to keg it.

 

[Yooper]

The only real way to get sweet fizzy cider is to keg it.

Or, follow the sticky at the top of this forum on how to pasteurize the cider in the bottle so it can be sweetened and carbonated.

Killing yeast requires temperatures upwards of 140 degrees, so it's not easy to do without pasteurizing it.

You can stabilize a cider when it's done fermenting with sorbate and sulfite (it doesn't kill yeast, but it inhibits yeast reproduction) if you want a sweetened cider but then you can't carbonate the cider in the bottle due to the yeast being inactive.

If you want to bottle a cider, and have it carbonated, your only choices are to have it dry (unsweetened) or to pasteurize it once it is carbonated.

 

[paperairplane]

Good call Yooper, forgot about pasteurization.

There is also the "danger" method - ferment, backsweeten and bottle. Let sit at room temp for X amount of time and then refrigerate and drink quickly.

X = amount of time needed to carb cider, without exploding bottles or overcarbing. Sometimes judged with the scientific plastic bottle method.

 

[Maylar]

I don't like how dry and unsweet it is currently so I would need to add some additional apple juice and or honey to achieve the flavor I'm looking for and kill the living yeast before bottling so I can keep the flavor I'm looking for. my concern is if the carb tabs contain yeast then the yeast will consume my added sugar and possibly create a bomb. I was not sure if the tabs contained yeast or not or if there was possibly one that didn't and was more of a dry CO2 producing powder that would carb in the bottle without changing the flavor once achieved.

This may not be possible and I could just be dreaming here I was just hoping it's possible. I'm a total noob at cider so I'm just figuring this out. Sorry.

Carb tablets don't contain yeast. They'e just sugar.
You can't kill yeast and still bottle carbonate.

The simplest, safest way to proceed is to let the cider ferment till it's done then add non fermentable sugar like Xylitol to sweeten it. I find that 3 TBSP per gallon is good. Then add a measured amount of fermentable sugar (or carb tablet) for carbonation.

Or, as mentioned, use your juice/honey for sweetening/priming then toss the bottles in the fridge when they're ready. That'll slow any further fermentation to a crawl.

If you still want to try pasteurizing, consider making a carbonation monitor like this:

When the pressure gets to 20 PSI it's time to pasteurize. You might still get a bomb, depending on how good your bottles are, but your chances will be much better than guessing.

 

[dharward]

Ok thanks for all the info guys cider is harder than I expected.

 

[bernardsmith]

Naw.. Cider isn't harder than you expected. But wanting both a sweet and a sparkling cider is...

 

[wilson42203]

I haven't yet had a problem by backsweetening with 1 can of apple juice concentrate per gallon of cider. I bottle it directly after adding the concentrate, and at the same time, fill a 16-oz soda bottle (plastic). When the plastic bottle is firm like an unopened soda, I check one of the glass bottles for proper carbonation. When it's just right, I refrigerate at 36 deg or less. I haven't yet had a bottle bomb, even if they sit in the beer fridge for months.

 

[D-west]

1 can of concentrate per gallon?! easy there! I suggest testing that before you proceed. 3 cans in 5 gallons is super sweet, also depends on the FG.