Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics

[phug]

Has anyone used a strike water calculator to calculate the temp required for their volume of bottles and volume of pasteurizing water?


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[oljimmy]

Hey Phug, I did. From a previous post:


- 5 gallons of water in a 7.5 gallon pot,
- Water to 169 F
- 10 355 ml bottles of cider (moderate carbonation) at room temp (74F)
- In for 11 minutes

According to my measurements, 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. I am not enough of a scientist to know how to generalize these results, but there you go.

 

[UncaMarc]

I have been using this method for a while now, but the thread has gotten so large I can't seem to find a good summary of the current thinking of how it should be done.

Since most new log-ins to the thread will likely go to the last page, how about a good summary of the method of pasteurizing 6 gallons of back-sweetened cider which has been bottle conditioned in beer bottles with crimp on caps to a moderate fizz.

Thanks.

 

[Jkilgo]

Great info...I'm brewing a 5 gallon batch of Perry Hard Cider...1st time ever...and I am curious to know if you allow your back sweetener to clarify before adding it to your cider?? I'm planning to back sweeten my cider with a gallon of fresh pear cider but it is still raw...any thoughts? Thanks J.

 

[RPowell]

I have been using this method for a while now, but the thread has gotten so large I can't seem to find a good summary of the current thinking of how it should be done.

I tried to do a summary back on page 111.

 

[ohiochris]

If this has been covered already then I apologize for stating the obvious

When you are bottle conditioning , generally the warmer the temperature is the less time it can take for the bottles to carb. Yeast can work faster when warmer and slower when cooler.Thats probably why some seem to get insanely quick carbonation while others take days. If the bottles are stored in like a 73 degree room for example it should carb much faster than if they are in a 63 degree room. So when you are waiting for the right time to pasteurize you should take into consideration the temperature. And when you determine the carbonization is right you should be prepared to make the time to pasteurize them right away , assuming you can go to work for the day or get some sleep and THEN pasteurize will probably get you into trouble.

Also , if having trouble with the water cooling too quick when pasteurizing,....heres what I do.....let the bottles sit in a sink filled with hot tap water for 5 or ten minutes before putting them in the pan on the stove. This warms them up so they dont cool down your 190 degree water as fast , and will speed up the time it takes for them to get to the right temp once in the pan.

 

[Kenm88]

Long time lurker, first time poster.
I just wanted to thank Pappers for this entire thread as well as all the others who have posted. I read all 115 pages and feel confident taking my first plunge into cider.
Did a 6 gallon batch from whole foods juice. Started at 1062 and ended at .998. Racked and let settle for about 2 weeks due to travel. Sweeten with AJC back to 1012 and bottled.
Have it conditioning now and after 52 hrs I think I'm getting close to pasteurize. I've tested a couple of bottles and it seems close.
Tastes good but a bit thin. Anyway, I'll start by bringing up up 120 with tap water and then try 170. I tested with 7 - 16 oz bottles in a very large pot at it brought final temp in the tester up to 154-157 degrees so I think I'll be safe.
Anyway, thanks for everyone's contributions as it has given me confidence to give this a try.
I'm already looking forward to trying another batch and improving the flavor!

 

[01TRV]

Had a bottle shatter while sitting on the counter cooling. I was using 190 for a temp and would not consider this batch over carbed by any means. They don't get much if any head and there does not seem like much pressure being released when the cap pried off. Definitely no gushers or anything even close. Anyways, I had done like 3 rounds of 6 bottles before one of the bottles I had removed ~1 minute prior burst. Luckily I didn't get cut or anything, just had to clean the mess. I almost wonder if that particular bottle was flawed and that is why it gave out. It didn't really seem like it went with a ton of force. Glass or liquid did't go flying very far like I would think it should have. Sure did startle me though. I moved down to 170 for 10 mins and finished the batch without incident. I have two more batches that need bottled and half tempted to just do them still or with just priming sugar.

 

[brewski09]

Id say it probably had a flaw. Are they new bottles (assuming not). Even new ones can have flaws though.


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[redking11]

Will home pressed apple juice that has been pasteurized but not had any preservatives added still ferment?

 

[mattmmille]

Will home pressed apple juice that has been pasteurized but not had any preservatives added still ferment?

Yes, it should be no problem. I usually give my juice 24 hours on pectic enzyme, and campden to prepare it and then pitch the yeast, ferment, bottle carb and, if necessary, pasteurize. Having the juice already pasteurized should not affect your fermentation, but you will need to pasteurize again if you add anything to prime the bottles to carbonate or if you backsweeten.

 

[seadad9903]

Has anyone done this with swing top bottles?

 

[Briatta]

Has anyone done this with swing top bottles?

Yep, and I did it exactly the same. Zero problems.

 

[seadad9903]

Cool. I have some in the fridge, and I want to store them at room temp without them carbonating.

 

[debko]

I was also told you could use real sugar if you were going to sweeten and bottle in swing top bottles (such as Grolsch). Add sugar for taste snf carbonation and when the bottle is at the optimum carbonation and sweetness pasteurize it with postassium sorbate to each bottle so the carbonation stops. This would take place of heat pasturizing but give the same effect. Can anyone tell me if this is correct.

 

[phug]

Sorbate won't stop an active fermentation, so likely not correct


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[TheNewGuy2]

I read somewhere in the soda forum I think, that you should chill the beverage to allow the co2 to dissolve. Is this necessary? How long and how low does it have to be if it is true?

 

[cycleguy04]

^ Not to steal your spotlight, but, to anyone's knowledge will this method work on root beer, in which the yeast is pitched immediately prior to bottling with LOTS of fermentable sugars. The only purpose of the yeast is carbonation. I started a thread in the soda forum, but it's not getting a whole lot of attention.

Controlling Carbonation

 

[phug]

It should.


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[Rivermead]

Worked perfectly. Sink at 120F for 10 min and stove at 175F for 10min. Cooled to about 160F. No bombs, worked perfect with swing top bottles. I think the seals let out a little pressure whilst on the stove. That might be why I had no bombs. I will only do this with German swing tops

 

[asnutter]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417838805.952671.jpg Here's a pic of our very first bottle carbed cider...fermented with champagne yeast, FG .998, back sweetened with FAJC, and held at 65 degrees for 6 days...the cider in the pic was from the plastic bottle we used to "test" the carbonation...We stove top pasteurized the bottles at 185 for 10 minutes and they cooled to 160ish...all in all, no bombs, and a pleasant experience...Thanks to all in this forum-what a fantastic resource!!!

 

[solbes]

Well, this didn't work out so well for me. Based on how much carb I saw in my test glass, I'd say had 3-3.2 volumes which admittedly was more than I was initially shooting for. Not overcarbed for cider, but not undercarbed either. I experienced my first bottle bombs ever at batch #64.

I should have read more of the suggestions and updates past page 1. I had 7 of 8 blow in the 5 gallon stainless kettle with lid. No's 1 & 2 were contained with the lid on. #3 and 4 blew the kettle lid off and then #'s 5-7 blew randomly as I was hiding out in the living room behind a wall. After re-securing the lid on my hands and knees in protective gear (not poking at real vererans, but I felt like I was in a war zone), I was able to move the kettle onto the deck until bottle #8 gets real good and cold tonight.

Although I could see pre-warming the bottles up to a mid temp may reduce/eliminate bottle bombs, I personally would not handle pre-heated bottles as you have greatly increased the chances for a bottle to blow while directly handling it. I briefly considered uncapping the bottles, letting them sit for awhile, then recapping and trying again. But thinking about the physics and materials involved here, its just not worth it for me. I put the remaining 40 bottles in the fridge and will deal with the loss of fridge space.

Not trying to discourage all who have had success (and followed the process better than I did), but I would caution those who have not tried it to think about it. On the flip side I'm not trying to poo-poo too much either, just adding my experience here. I have seen the broken carboy horror stories and continue to use them myself cautiously. Lived to brew another day

 

[MarkKF]

How hot were they (approx.) when they exploded?

 

[solbes]

I was not standing near there after the first blew so I'm not sure. Heated water to 190 and turned off stovetop before I added the bottles and then capped with a lid.

 

[nbstl68]

I have been working my way through the many pages of this thread and maybe my question has been answered in there somewhere but I have not yet crossed it.

Seeing the last post about exploding bottles, I was wondering, why could you not just pasteurize a batch poured directly IN the pot THEN bottle it from the pot when cooled into bottles you have pre pastuerized in the dish washer? No swapping bottles in and out of the pot, only have to heat up the whole batch one time and you can definitely be sure you have his 160 deg or better but not chance of exploding bottles while heating.

I'm probably missing something as this is my first batch but it seems like it would make sense to me unless there was some post contamination concern somehow.

 

[MarkKF]

Because the idea is too pasteurize after the appropriate level of carbonation. Pasteurize first only if no carbonation is desired.

 

[nbstl68]

So I should not pasteurize THEN carb\bottle?
I was planning on doing a forced keg carb then into bottles.

 

[brewski09]

You can do other things with kegging that we cannot without a keg setup. If you pasteurize before kegging you will lose the alcohol too. Potassium sorbate and campden tablets should do the trick for kegging though. Plenty of threads on this if you want to verify as I don't keg myself.

 

[nbstl68]

Pasteurizing before kegging will lose the alcohol?! How so?

 

[lolznrofls]

Uh oh..someone forgot that its already bottled and sealed before you paturize. .hence no evaporation or abv loss...