Bottling/Priming/General Questions

[Dhelderman]

Hey all. So I started a 5 gallon batch of cider on 2/20. Took the third SG reading today and it was fermented out to 0.096. Planning on racking to secondary tomorrow, letting it sit for another couple weeks, and then bottling. I've got a couple questions about priming sugars and carbonating the bottles. I'm planning on using table sugar because I have it and don't have to buy anything.

Here are my questions:

1. When figuring how much sucrose to use in priming, what is a typical volume of pressure for cider? I know some beers are up in the 3's, but I don't want bottle bombs. Should I calculate my CO2 volume around 2.0?

2. I'm going to mix sucrose and water to make a simple syrup, then mix that into my cider and bottle. Do I just use a typical simple syrup sugar to water ratio? How much water do I need?

3. If I want to backsweeten with a non-fermentable sugar like xylitol, etc., can I also just dissolve this in water in the same manner as the table sugar and add to the cider before bottling?

4. When I rack to secondary tomorrow, the cider needs to come all the way up to the neck of the carboy, right? I bought some extra cider in case I need to top off--is it ok to just use extra cider?

Thanks for all your help--ya'll are super helpful for a first time fermenter!

 

[Carusoat]

1. Depends how you like your cider. They have a big range. I like mine higher in the keg, but in a bottle I'd say 2.6 or so would be good.

2. Search for a bottle carbonation calculator. (I use brewer's friend or Northern Brewer) It will tell you how much to add and give you different options of sugar. I usually just mix it in a cup of water for 5 gallons. Just enough to get it all to dissolve. Add this to a bottling bucket, then rack on top. It will mix more evenly.

3. Never done this, but I would guess yes.

4. No, you can leave a little head space and it will be fine. If you add non-fermented cider it's just going to dilute the fermented cider and add sugars for the yeast to eat. This will result in waking the yeast back up and fermentation beginning again.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

1) I pretend it's an ale and treat it as such. 2.5 works great for me. Try to stay in the 2 range.

2) What carusoat said

3) Yes....Kinda....Some non-fermentable sweeteners will take on that 'artificial sweetener' taste once it's heated up. So you could take one of two schools of thought. One: throw the sugar in some room temp water to dissolve, then in your bottling bucket...no boiling. Two: boil your priming sugar as you normally would. Once you turn off the heat, add the non-fermentable to the hot water and dissolve.

I prefer option one. And no, I'm not in the least bit concerned about infection. That alcohol rich environment is waaaay too hostile for any baddies to survive, if there were any. (I use Truvia, btw)

4) No top off needed. What you have is a mini CO2 factory. Once you put it into secondary, the O2 with start to be pushed out by the CO2 being created. Just not too much head-space. About were the carboy starts tapering up to the neck is fine.

 

[Dhelderman]

So a couple questions about the picture below:

Is this too much foam from the Star-San? I let the carboy dry for a few minutes but just could not get all the suds gone before racking to secondary. Is this going to affect flavor? I know they say it doesn't but man...

Have I filled the carboy enough? Is there too much headspace?

I was expecting my cider to clear a little more before going to secondary but I may have siphoned up some of the lees. I will bottle from the carboy as I can see where the lees start exactly.

Thanks.


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425661699.339735.jpg

 

[FloppyKnockers]

You're good. DWRHAHB.