Yes, I keep it in my cellar until it is carbonated, then toss a few in the fridge as needed. I didn't notice that the pasteurization changed the flavor, there are several different ways to pasteurize that are being posted, a few of which actually keep the bottles at 150° for an extended period of time, I've never tried that method, but it would seem that it would cook the cider.
I usually bring a pot of water up to 190° and remove it from the heat, I submerse my bottled cider (bottled in beer bottles) in the water and cover, I leave them in for 10 mins, I haven't had any broken or exploding bottles.
This is the recipe, It is fairly straight forward, if you've made wine, you can make this.
My cider recipe is fairly easy, for 6 gallons:
Cider - 6 Gallons - Fresh Pressed, no additives.
Nottingham Yeast - 2 Packets
Sugar- Granulated
Fermaid O - 4 grams - you can use whatever yeast nutrient that you prefer
Fermaid K 4 Grams - you can use whatever yeast nutrient that you prefer
Pectic Enzyme - As per manufacturers instruction.
Yeast Hulls - as per manufacturers instructions.
Potassium Metabisulfite.
Brown Sugar -Optional
Honey - Wildflower
Apple Juice concentrate - 100% pure, unsweetened, no preservatives - Optional.
Oak Infusion Spiral or cubes - Medium Toast
Oak Chips - Untoasted - approx. 2 oz.
Put 5.5 gallons of Cider in your fermenting bucket, let it get to room temp.
Take ½ gallon of cider and heat on stove, when heated (not boiling) slowly add 4-6 cups of sugar, mixing well until dissolved.
Add Half of the diluted sugar and apple cider solution to the fermenter and mix well, take a SG reading, I usually bring my cider up to 1.060 -1.075, if you need more of the sugar solution, add it and mix well, take another gravity reading until you reach your desired SG.
If you need to raise the SG more, take a few cups of cider and warm on stove top again and dilute 1 cup at a time, adding it to the fermenter, stirring well and take another SG reading. I highly recommend against a SG over 1.080
Add the pectic enzyme (dilute it first) to the fermenting bucket.
Add the Fermaid O, dilute before adding it to the fermenter. I use Fermaid O as the first nutrient addition, the organic source of nitrogen will not harm or shock the yeast.
Add 1 oz Untoasted oak chips, and 1/2 oak spiral or 1 oz oak beans/cubes - Using chips in the primary , the active yeast metabolizes and buffers the oak. much like a barrel ferment (Credit Zac brown for this), this gives the cider a nice layer of complexity, the oak is hardly noticeable, just enough to give the cider a very light oak.
If your cider temperature is between 57° - 70°, hydrate the yeast and pitch it.
Two three days into a healthy fermentation, add the Fermaid K, split the amount into two or three applications, this will keep the yeast from getting stressed.
When fermentation is complete, rack off of the sediment into a carboy to clear, approximately 3-6 weeks.
If you choose to put the cider through Malolactic fermentation, this is the time that you want to do it.
Add ¼ tsp Potassium Metabisulfite (Meta) to stabilize when fermentation is complete, if you are going to put the cider through MLF, wait until MLF is complete.
At this point If necessary, I back sweeten to with Brown sugar and honey. (you can back sweeten with sugar if you prefer, honey will give the cider a little body, and brown sugar goes real well with apple).
If the flavor needs a little boost, I'll add a can or two of 100% pure concentrate, thawed.
Once fermentation is complete, and I've back sweetened and added the apple juice concentrate, I cold crash and use gelatin to speed the clearing process.
I filter the cider with a 1 micron filter, and bottle in beer bottles.
The honey and brown sugar used to back sweeten will carbonate the cider, I check a bottle each week, when it reaches our desired level of carbonation, I pasteurize the bottles to stop any further carbonation.
**You can add a little cinnamon if you like, I find that 1/4 cinnamon stick for a few hrs is plenty, it can over power the apple real fast.
**If you start to get off odors during fermentation, add the yeast hulls, they can absorb off flavors and odors.
**To hydrate the yeast, warm ½ cup of water between 86° - 92°, add the contents of the yeast packet into the water, gently mix it until no dry yeast is visible, make sure that there aren't any clumps, these can have dry yeast inside.
After approx. 5 minutes, you will see the yeast start to foam, after 5 minutes, slowly add ½ cup of cider that has been warmed to 86°, this will give the yeast the nutrients that it needs to multiply, creating a larger, stronger population.)**
*** To pasteurize the cider, take a pot of water and heat to 190°, when it reaches 190°, remove the pot from the heat, and submerse the bottles in the water for 10 mins, covered.
After 10 mins, remove the bottles from the water.***
