Canning Hard Cider in Mason Jars

[user 176916]

Hi everyone. This is my second year making hard cider and I want to bottle in quart mason jars this time. I would like to "can" them so they are airtight sealed. Can I do this or can the heat required for canning produce adverse effects?

My process is roughly as follows:

Combine 1 gallon of flash pasteurized apple cider with 6 cups dark brown sugar and 6 cups honey over medium heat. Pour in to carboy and add 3.5 gallons of cider. Pitch yeast.

Thanks for any info you guys can offer!

 

[Culbetron]

Check out the guide to stovetop pasteurization which is stickied at the top of the cider page.

You know though that pasteurization will not help you in any way. The reason to do it is to stop yeast from continuing to ferment your must all the way to a dry cider. No harmful organisms can live in the alcohol environment of beer or cider.

 

[Randzor]

Also if your going for air tightness aren't beer bottles air tight?

 

[user 176916]

Check out the guide to stovetop pasteurization which is stickied at the top of the cider page.

You know though that pasteurization will not help you in any way. The reason to do it is to stop yeast from continuing to ferment your must all the way to a dry cider. No harmful organisms can live in the alcohol environment of beer or cider.

I checked that out. Thanks for the info. Will heating the cider that much release pectins and hurt the taste? I basically want to use a traditional canning method that will make the seal tab suck down on the canning jars.

I'm planning on testing one jar first to see how it goes. Again, I've very new to the home brew community so pardon my ignorance.

 

[Randzor]

What is your objective of using jars vs bottles? I think we need more info to be able to help you.

 

[cluckk]

If you are using mason jars because of a rustic aesthetic keep in mind that alcoholic beverages traditionally packaged this way are not canned, but are simply "capped" with the lid and ring. If you are wondering how I know this I can invite you to a family meal and show you.

If you are worried about oxidation canning will not help that because you will still have oxygen under the lid--it will simply be lower pressure than the surrounding atmosphere.

 

[ptafan]

I'm also wondering the same thing, as I think bottling in mason jars would have a fun aesthetic to it, sort of like a moonshine. I've also wondered if boiling the jars full of cider (which is needed to seal the canning lids) will have an adverse effect.

 

[ong]

Don't try to carbonate in mason jars, either. They can't really take pressure.

Come to think of it, you must be taking still cider. Carbonated cider would release CO2 that would defeat the vacuum seal.

 

[WVMJ]

The heat will drive off the alcohol, the lids are not sealed before they are heated so you will boil off the alcohol, it gets much hotter in a canner. And then the alcohol will come out the top vent, catch on fire and blow up your kitchen. You sound like an accident waiting to happen

An alternative if you have a still cider that is going to stay still is to use a vacum pump like for deer hunters and they have an attachment for going over the top of quart jars, you put the regular lid on, put the attachment on top, it draws a vacum under the lid and it seals. WILL NOT WORK IF YOUR CIDER HAS CO2 or if it keeps fermenting even a little like even MLF would probably pop the seal.

WVMJ

 

[MindenMan]

Everything I have read states a hard cider with an ABV of 8-10%, will age nicely for a very long time. I guess "a long time" is subjective. As long as your sanitation technique is top notch, "canning" your cider should be just fine.

 

[Yooper]

Canning cider in a canner, so that the lids seal, means that the alcohol will boil off. This is fine for juices, and non alcoholic beverages and is commonly done. But by bringing hard cider up to boiling+ (pressure canners get up to 240 degrees at 10 psi) temperatures, the ethanol will boil off and ruin the cider.

 

[Homercidal]

Would pressure canning me necessary for this? I would think that a simple hot bath process would suffice for something that has a low enough pH, and lots of alcohol. True, you'd lose *some* alcohol, but maybe not too much.

I think it's a neat experiment. Sounds simple, but I'm not sure how it would turn out in the end.

 

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I don't think you would need to do a full-on water bath canning procedure. I make dilly green tomatoes and green beans using a cold canning process. This is done by having the jars loaded with the garlic, hot peppers and beans or tomatoes and then pouring a boiling brine solution in the jars and sealing with lids that are sanitized in boiling water. I bet you could use the stove top pasteurization process at about 180 and once the jars are cool they will be sealed.

 

[WVMJ]

Do you guys have any idea at what temp alcohol boils off? Here is a hint, its a lot lower than water, like lower than the water in your water bath. Your experiments are already doomed! WVMJ

 

[user 176916]

Thanks for all of the replies. I will be giving some of my cider away as Christmas gifts and so I wanted to use mason jars for aesthetic purposes. Basically I just think it looks cool and its a good amount for a gift. I figured if I could can them it would make it look more professional.

It sounds like it would carry significant risks at the very least, so I don't think I'm going to try it. I'll probably just "soften" the seals in boiling water then put them on and tighten the lid. That should provide a good seal.

Also, just to clarify, it is a still cider. I carbonated some of my first batch last year and didn't care for it.

Thanks again for all of the info!

 

[WVMJ]

It would look much cooler in a flip top bottle with its little red seal. They even make a flask shaped one, like a hip flask flat style, much cooler than a mason jar. WVMJ

 

[Homercidal]

Unless the whole point is to have cid3er in mason jars, I like to mention that I bought a very simple corker for like $12. You just place the thing on a bottle, load a cork, and press down (hard). It really works pretty good. I bet you could buy some clear soda bottles and use the proper sized cork for them, and have corked cider.

I'm not sure how hot you have to get it to seal some canning jars. Might be you could keep the temp low enough to avoid boiling off the alcohol (about 170 I think) and still get the lids to seal.