Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics

[abeekeeper]

a quick question I have 3 gallons of pear-pineapple mead aged or cleared in carboy almost a year I want to sparkle it using honey will 1/2 a cup added too carboy before bottling work or am I just making bottle bombs

 

[mattmmille]

I would recommend Googling the Northern Brewer Priming Calculator. You'll have to enter a figure for CO 2 volumes you want. There's not one already established for mead.

 

[dannyrodge]

Is there any hope for carbonation after potassium sorbate?

 

[brewski09]

As I understand it technically yes. The k-sorb only makes it dormant.

 

[oljimmy]

In case anyone's interested, I've run my own temp tests using this method. With

- 5 gallons of water in a 7.5 gallon pot,
- Water to 169 F
- 10 bottles of cider (at 1.004, moderate carbonation) at room temp (74F)
- In for 11 minutes

The cider reaches 149 F during the 11th minute, well below the boiling point of ethanol but well above the 140F necessary to begin pasteurization. No exploding bottles for me.

 

[zamo27]

wow this is a long thread
i pasteurized my apfelwein but it s almost flat now
why is this

 

[mattmmille]

wow this is a long thread
i pasteurized my apfelwein but it s almost flat now
why is this

Because I'm pretty new at this, I'm going to address the obvious: 1) Did you have a good test bottle that indicated a good carb BEFORE you pasteurized? and 2) Did you confirm that your seals were good? I had a couple of bottles that, when submerged, emitted bubbles...obviously not well-sealed.

another question that might be relevant are the type of bottles and caps...assuming that you didn't use wine bottles/corks?

i hope those did not come off as condescending...sometimes obvious gets overlooked! I'll leave more involved possibilities to those who have more experience...and I'll be interested in other reeponses as well!

 

[DIXIEBOY1]

Would this work for beer(s) as well? Ales, lager, porter, IPAs, stouts, etc....thanks in advance

 

[homicider]

Long time lurker but I decided to make an account after my first go at bottle conditioning and pasteurized using the pappers method.

I make my own cider, sweeten with white sugar and brown sugar then ferment in two I gallon jugs. I normally ferment until dry and just leave it a still cider stored by the gallon but I recently transferred to Wisconsin, far from those who want some of my cider, so I decided to look into bottling.

This is getting long winded so to cut got the chase, I sampled one last night and it wasn't quite carbed enough, tried another after work this morning(what, ciders not a breakfast drink?) And it was about perfect and went to bed. A few hours later I woke up and popped another, gusher. I popped them all and all but two gushed so I recapped quickly and soaked them in a sink of 130F then transferred to a pot of 170F water for 10 mins. Worked perfectly, not sure how much carb is retained but at least I can share without worry now.

 

[brewski09]

Would this work for beer(s) as well? Ales, lager, porter, IPAs, stouts, etc....thanks in advance

Technically yes.

1) you don't need to. Just mash at higher temps and y you can control the finishing gravity.

2) the hops will isomerize more, losing hop aroma and flavor while gaining bitterness.

 

[redzeker]

So, is the general consensus that pasteurization does not significantly affect carbonation, if at all? Assuming, of course, that the seal on the bottle is good? Seems to me that if the seal is good, the CO2 possibly go anywhere.

That said, does anyone foresee an issue with pasteurizing wine bottles with natural corks?

 

[Thaumatourge]

Wine bottles are not designed to handle carbonation. A safer alternative would be Champaign bottles. As for corks, I seem to remember somewhere in this string about them backing out and popping when heated.

 

[RPowell]

Question: if I elevated the bottles off the bottom of the stock pots I'm using for stove top pasteurization, do you think I could keep the fire on low during the 10 minute waiting phase?

My issue is, I takes a LOOOOONG time to heat/re-heat the water for pasteurization. I mean, it takes over an hour to do 10 bottles in two stock pots, so reducing the heat loss will either reduce the amount of time it takes to re-heat the water after the waiting period or perhaps it would allow me to put more than 5 bottles in the pot. I'm going on the theory that more bottles will hasten the heat loss since they act as a heat sink. Anyway, if putting the bottles on the rack will allow me to keep the fire on under the pot, I can greatly increase the time efficiency of this process.

I have several other ideas to pasteurize more bottles faster, but none of them are really practical on a limited budget.

 

[homicider]

Question: if I elevated the bottles off the bottom of the stock pots I'm using for stove top pasteurization, do you think I could keep the fire on low during the 10 minute waiting phase?

My issue is, I takes a LOOOOONG time to heat/re-heat the water for pasteurization. I mean, it takes over an hour to do 10 bottles in two stock pots, so reducing the heat loss will either reduce the amount of time it takes to re-heat the water after the waiting period or perhaps it would allow me to put more than 5 bottles in the pot. I'm going on the theory that more bottles will hasten the heat loss since they act as a heat sink. Anyway, if putting the bottles on the rack will allow me to keep the fire on under the pot, I can greatly increase the time efficiency of this process.

I have several other ideas to pasteurize more bottles faster, but none of them are really practical on a limited budget.

There have been some folks who have tried this in this thread and had some detonations. I've only pasteurized once but it didn't take too long to do a case.

 

[brewski09]

You may not need as much time if you are continuously applying heat


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[RPowell]

I know that you don't want the bottles touching the bottom of the pot with the fire on. I was hoping a rack might let me get away with it.

I've only been putting 5 bottles in the pot at a time. maybe I can get away with more bottles, but i was afraid that more bottles would make the water temperature drop too fast. I could probably do a test run with more bottles (filled with tap water) in the pot and take temperatures along the way.

As I said, it takes me an hour to do 10 bottles this way. There has to be a more efficient method.

 

[Thaumatourge]

Your forgetting displacment. More bottles = less water to reheat. Put as many bottles as will fit in the pot. Also, fill your sink with hot water and let them soak in it while the pot is warming. Keeping the heat on just sounds like you're looking to re-enact a redneck ER visit.

 

[RPowell]

Your forgetting displacment. More bottles = less water to reheat. Put as many bottles as will fit in the pot. Also, fill your sink with hot water and let them soak in it while the pot is warming. Keeping the heat on just sounds like you're looking to re-enact a redneck ER visit.

I do warm the bottles first...

...but i was afraid that too many bottles would reduce the water temperature too quickly and thus the proper pasteurization temperatures would not be reached.

 

[g8eleven]

Anyone have ideas on how long in the water bath for a 1 gallon carboy?

 

[g8eleven]

Anyone have ideas on how long in the water bath for a 1 gallon carboy?

Bump maybe? Lol

 

[Thaumatourge]

Not sure I would trust a carboy under pressure. That being said, it would make things a lot easier for the 1 gallon brewer. You might try buying a 1 gallon bottle of apple juice. Set it in a bath for 20 min and then test the temp of the juice inside. Wear some PPE.

 

[MT2sum]

I know that you don't want the bottles touching the bottom of the pot with the fire on. I was hoping a rack might let me get away with it.

I've only been putting 5 bottles in the pot at a time. maybe I can get away with more bottles, but i was afraid that more bottles would make the water temperature drop too fast. I could probably do a test run with more bottles (filled with tap water) in the pot and take temperatures along the way.

As I said, it takes me an hour to do 10 bottles this way. There has to be a more efficient method.

I heated my water to 170F, and put in 8 bottles in at a time kept the heat up to 170 by turning on the burner when necessary, for 20 minutes .... on the bottom of the aluminum pot ( old pressure canner, no lid) I put 4 or 5 canning jar rings, and a circle of hardware cloth to keep them off the bottom of the pot - no problems whatsoever!

 

[MT2sum]

Anyone have ideas on how long in the water bath for a 1 gallon carboy?

As was already alluded to; a carboy is not designed for pressure, hence the need for an airlock .... same with a 1 gallon jug! If you are priming for carbonation, Bottle in beer bottles or champagne bottles. If you are making it "still" (read flat, no carbonation), You MAY get away with a gallon jug, but I'd try it outside, with water before I'd ever try it with my Apfelwein! That being said, I, personally wouldn't see the need to pasteurize a whole gallon of Apfelwein ... the wife can't drink that much at one sitting! I'd divide it up into smaller quantities (beer bottles)! As well, I wouldn't even try to pasteurize a whole gallon of anything, it would go stale if you didn't drink the whole thing at the first opening ..... re-sealing rarely works!
BTW, I forgot to try to answer the question ..... a gallon is 128 oz, and a beer bottle is 12 oz .... if it takes a minimum of 20 min for 12 oz, I'd think that it might take as much as 3.5+ hours; figuring 128/12=10.6666x20 min=213.333/60 min (1 hr) =3.55555 hours for the pasteurization temps to reach the whole jug, center and all???. But then I'm no math wiz either - just guessin' here lol!

 

[Briatta]

My apologies if this has already been address, but I haven't read the whole thread and I'm new to all of this.

I'd just like the mention an observation I made today when doing my very first stove top pasteurization of my very first batch of cider. After I pulled the bottles out of the water and set them on the counter to cool a number of them showed a serious increase in "volume". I had one bottle of cherry apple cider in an old Vodka 360 bottle where the top level of the liquid was about an inch and a half high than when I put it in. Upon cooling it returned to it's lower level. I think it should be noted to make sure there is some head room if you are going to bottle pasteurize. Maybe this is a "well duh" for you more experienced brewers, but I just thought I should mention it. Luckily, nothing tried to escape. Only problem I had was one small 10 oz swing-cap bottle that had a failing gasket. It would occasionally make a brief sputtering noise as it was cooling. I'll drink that one first. Hehe.

 

[jonanotjones]

Hi Pappers,
My question is about temperature vs time, in the Andrew Lea book, he quotes 66*c for 20 minutes.
Your temp is 88*c for 10 minutes. Can you explain the different approaches, in my mind a lower temperature for longer would cut down on the chance of expansion and bottle leaks but obviously doubles the time needed to pasteurise.
Another point is the submersion of the bottles, is it better to completely cover the bottles stood upright vs lying flat on top of each other submerged

 

[redzeker]

Welp, learned the hard way.

I intentionally bottled some cider with more than enough fermentables because I wanted to try my hand at backsweetening and pasteurization. Of these, 8 were 12oz bottles (capped), 4 were 25oz bottles (capped), and 4 were wine bottles (corked).

I had two pots: one for the 12oz bottles and one for the bombers and wine bottles. I put the bottles in their respective pots, then filled the pots with water until it hit the fill line on the shortest bottle. I removed the bottles and heated up the water on my electric stovetop.

The one with the 12oz bottles heated up pretty quickly because it was so much smaller. I took it to 180F, turned off the heat and removed it from the burner, then placed the bottles in the water, setting the timer for 10 minutes. About 6 minutes in, the water temp was at 130F, so of course that did me no good. Put it back on, raised it to 180F again, and put the bottles back. Because they had already warmed up quite a bit from the last round, they were still around 150F after another 10 minutes. So they should be good.

The big pot was the problem. I haven't had trouble with wine bottles, corks, and carbonation before, so I didn't think much of it. In an attempt to avoid having to reheat the pot (which took about an hour), I decided to take it up to 190F. I placed the bottles in there and set my timer. About 4 minutes in, I heard my first cork pop. Then another. Then the other two. Then I heard one of the bombers (capped) shatter

I just rolled with it. After 10 minutes, the water bath temp was still at 150F, so I figured the yeasties are dead. I capped 3 of wine bottles (they're the kind that will take caps or corks) and re-corked the fourth.

So what have we learned?

1.) For me, at least, 190F is too high a starting point (though I'm sure it depends on the amount of water and amount of bottles).
2.) If I'm gonna pasteurized corked bottles, use a cage!

 

[aboantopick]

I jumped into 5 gallons of apple cider or should I say Edworts Apfelwein recipe. After reading many posts what I want is a semi-dry semi-sweet sparkling cider.
I used Red Star Montrachet Wine Yeast. Will pasteurization of 10 min at 190 f work on this yeast?

 

[mattmmille]

I would say yes, if in 12 oz beer bottles, but watch that carb carefully...do NOT attempt to pasteurize an overcarbed cider! And read over the most recent instructions carefully. I think pre-warmimg the bottles in hot tap water, bringing the pot of water (no bottles!) up to 190F, removing from heat and then adding the bottles is the way to go. It may have even been reduced to 180F. And then put a lid on, not tight, but mostly covering, just in case a bottle bursts, to protect you from shards of glass. And a false bottom or something to keep the bottles from contact with the bottom of the pot is recommended.

 

[oljimmy]

If your liquid hits 150F, everything will completely die. 1 minute at this temperature gives you 7 PUs (pasteurization units), and with the warm-up and cool-down times, you can count on an extra 8 PUs. Commercial breweries/cideries (I am told) shoot for 15 PUs, so that temp is more than sufficient.

There is no one answer to how to hit 150F. Everything depends on the size of your pot, the volume of water you've got going, how many bottles you put in and how large they are. So beware when someone says something like "go to 190 F". They may be working with a smaller setup. If you're using a big, 8-gallon pot and doing 8 small bottles or less at a time, going to 190F could possibly push your cider over 173 F, boiling the ethanol and ruining the cider. But if you've got a real small setup and the pot is mostly full of bottles, then a water temp of 190 might be good.

Ideally, you want a quick heat-up and a quick cool-down, the less time you spend at high temps the less chance of a significant flavor change. This is why the big producers use "flash" pasteurization.

 

[mattmmille]

Size and quantity of bottles is a good point. I think the general guidelines here are pretty good, though...as I said, if you are using 12 oz beer bottles. That seems to be what these instruction are set for. As in canning, the point is raising the temperature of the contents of your container to a temperature that kills any critters. The process here seems to be the most practical for the basic home cider maker. Obviously, there are other methods and, when you use a bottle or container that varies from the 12 oz beer bottle, adjustments will need to be calculated. As for the volume, I'm using a 26 quart pressure canner base with the included false bottom. I'm not using pressure...just putting the lid on, slighty ajar, for safety. I tend to do 10 to 12 bottles, following the instructions here and it seems to have worked well. Here's a link to my journal from when I pasteurized a batch of tepache (a fermented pineapple drink):

http://mmmbrews.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/day-140-pasteurizing-tepache-bottling-ginger-beer-racking-cherry-belle-saison/