Easy Stove-Top Pasteurizing - With Pics

[JoeSponge]

JFTR,
I have been searching for the simplest automated / online tools that would let me calculate the "time-to-sterile" for hot water immersion. I can probably fake steady-state calculations, but that's not what we're looking for.

I did turn up useful information in my searches...
From my close, personal friend (Wikipedia):
"... There are two main types of pasteurization used today: High Temperature/Short Time (HTST) and "Extended Shelf Life (ESL)" treatment. ...
... is forced between metal plates or through pipes heated on the outside by hot water, and is heated to 71.7 °C (161 °F) for 15–20 seconds. ...

The HTST pasteurization standard was designed to achieve a 5-log reduction, killing 99.999% of the number of viable micro-organisms in [milk]. This is considered adequate for destroying almost all yeasts, mold, and common spoilage bacteria ...
"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization)

And, from my friend that I would like to be closer, and more personal (HBT):
"... looked through "Brewing, Science, and Practice" where I remembered reading about some pasteurization info.

Here's some quick info:
at 53C minimum time to kill population 56 min
at 60C minimum time to kill population 5.6 min
at 67c minimum time to kill population .56 min
..."
(https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/re...pasteurization-experiment-121101/#post1346616)

And, because I need to dink around more on my computer than sleep, I found a TON of great calculations that I can't do any more, and settled for a simple conversion (thank you, Excel...):

53C = 128F
60C = 140F
67C = 152F

[C is degrees Centigrade, not Calories.
F is degrees Farenheit, not Frankenstein.]

So, a water bath LONG enough at a CONSTANT temperature, will do it. Steady-state is easy: Add a pound of ice and a pound of boiling water, mix well, and you have 2 pounds at 50C. We just can't mix the hot water INSIDE the bottles, so we have to wait. Is it done yet? Is it done yet? Is it don... sorry.

I'm still looking for the temperature -vs- time calcs (easy enough for me to do w/out relearning Biot's numbers, Fourier transforms, or how to use the charts from somebody who's name starts with an H... Whew. I need a cider again.

Failing that, you could do one of two things:
1) get the bottles swirling and turning, making the temperature more homogenous inside, approximating a solid with good heat conductivity, or
2) Put a thermometer into an open bottle and hope for the best.

I think I'm going to try the last one. Sweet(er) cider, here I come.

 

[Pappers_]

Failing that, you could do one of two things:
1) get the bottles swirling and turning, making the temperature more homogenous inside, approximating a solid with good heat conductivity

You have a thorough and science-focused approached, Joe. From experience, I know that 12 ounce beer bottles filled with cider are effectively pasteurized in 190 degree water if you let them sit in the hot water for ten minutes.

Also, I would be cautious abut the suggestion in the quote above. We're dealing with heating pressurized bottles and my approach is to touch and move them as little as possible. I am careful not to bump them, for example. After they cool, its fine, but common sense seems to me to advise caution in handling them when they are warm.

Good luck with your experiments and cider!

 

[Pappers_]

Pasteurized another batch tonight. It had been one of those days, too much work, etc. I was reminded about how easy this really is - while I was pasteurizing the batch, I put away groceries, did dishes and made dinner. Got the cider and my chores finished!

This batch was a little drier - about 1.007. Very tasty, but noticeably drier.

 

[naeco]

Does anyone know how long I would have to keep a champagne bottle in 190 water before it's pasteurized ?

 

[jamesjensen1068]

Pappers,

Thanks for this. I've been brewing since the first of this yr and although I've done Apfelwein and Graff, this is my first true cider. I wanted a sweet, sparkling cider...so finding your post on pasteurization couldn't of come at a better time.

Cheers

 

[Lunarpancake]

May be a dumb question but if I am going to backsweeten my cider with 1 or 2 cans of some frozen 100% apple juice concetrate do I need to add priming sugar aswell?

 

[Pappers_]

May be a dumb question but if I am going to backsweeten my cider with 1 or 2 cans of some frozen 100% apple juice concetrate do I need to add priming sugar aswell?

Hi Lunar. No, you don't need to, the yeast will eat up the apple sugars, you would need to keep a close eye on carbonation, though - because the yeast will keep on eating the sugars until BOOM. You want to stop them well short of that.

 

[Lunarpancake]

thats what i thought....i just had a brain fart. Im going to check my bottles starting on the 5th day after bottling, then every 3 or 4 days afterward till they are perfect.

 

[Pappers_]

thats what i thought....i just had a brain fart. Im going to check my bottles starting on the 5th day after bottling, then every 3 or 4 days afterward till they are perfect.

Maybe every other day? Carbonation can go fast, sometimes. But you're not wasting them - pour it over ice and enjoy.

 

[Lunarpancake]

Maybe every other day? Carbonation can go fast, sometimes. But you're not wasting them - pour it over ice and enjoy.

so check every other day after bottling?

 

[Pappers_]

so check every other day after bottling?

Sorry to be so unclear. If the hydrometer reading when you bottle is at or around 1.010 - 1.014, then I would wait for four or five days after bottling and then check every other day after that. If your cider is significantly sweeter, I'd check sooner and more often.

 

[Lunarpancake]

Sorry to be so unclear. If the hydrometer reading when you bottle is at or around 1.010 - 1.014, then I would wait for four or five days after bottling and then check every other day after that. If your cider is significantly sweeter, I'd check sooner and more often.

Reading was 1.020 after I backsweetened.

 

[Bombo80]

I backsweetened mine to 1.014 and in less than 48 hours I had a bottle bomb. At the 48 hour time frame, I had three bottle bombs. They were so actively fermenting, I had one whole pot (6 bottles) completely explode. I ended up having to open all the bottles and dumping them back into a fermenter. Now that was an experience. Not sure what I did, or what went wrong.

 

[Lunarpancake]

I backsweetened mine to 1.014 and in less than 48 hours I had a bottle bomb. At the 48 hour time frame, I had three bottle bombs. They were so actively fermenting, I had one whole pot (6 bottles) completely explode. I ended up having to open all the bottles and dumping them back into a fermenter. Now that was an experience. Not sure what I did, or what went wrong.

Jeez now you have me scared,and im at work and have to work at least 3 hours of overtime today!

I've had my cider at 1.02 bottled for 48hrs now and no bottle bombs yet *knocks on wood*

 

[kenc_zymurgy]

I'm probably repeating myself or someone else in this thread (no time to look now), but I'm going to suggest that you all seriously consider using a plastic (PET) soda bottle to bottle at least one sample of anything with the potential for bottle bombs.

Leave normal head space, squeeze out the air and screw the cap down as you have it squeezed. You can feel the pressure build over the following days/weeks. You'll know if it is continuing to ferment based on that

-kenc

 

[Pappers_]

I backsweetened mine to 1.014 and in less than 48 hours I had a bottle bomb. At the 48 hour time frame, I had three bottle bombs. They were so actively fermenting, I had one whole pot (6 bottles) completely explode. I ended up having to open all the bottles and dumping them back into a fermenter. Now that was an experience. Not sure what I did, or what went wrong.

As we know, there are many variables in the way yeasties work - temperature, how active the fermentation is, amount of yeast, variety of yeast. I've never come close to a bottle bomb in two days after bottling.

In case of any uncertainty, its always better to check for carbonation too early than too late.

 

[KAMMEE]

I made a 3 gallon batch of cider, using three gallons from a local orchard and some nottingham ale yeast. The SG was 1.042 and SG at bottling was 1.010 At bottling I added a half gallon more of cider to backsweeten and a quarter cup of brown sugar. I used regular bottle caps and a wing style capper. I popped one open tonight, its been in the bottle for four days, and it was fizzy enough, so I started to Pasteurize them. Unfortunately, I started to hear hissing and saw lots of bubbles coming to the surface in about half my bottles. I figure this means the heat blew the seals, but when tipped upside down they don't leak. I'm kind of afraid to do more of them this way. Has this happened to anyone else? I can easily put them all in a minifridge and cold crash if you think that would be safer?

 

[Heckle]

I am looking to make my first batch of cider but not sure of a good recipe. My project for this weekend is to make a basic fermentation cabinet. I might pick up ingredients for a cider.

Pappers - What recipe do you use for your cider?

 

[Pappers_]

I made a 3 gallon batch of cider, using three gallons from a local orchard and some nottingham ale yeast. The SG was 1.042 and SG at bottling was 1.010 At bottling I added a half gallon more of cider to backsweeten and a quarter cup of brown sugar. I used regular bottle caps and a wing style capper. I popped one open tonight, its been in the bottle for four days, and it was fizzy enough, so I started to Pasteurize them. Unfortunately, I started to hear hissing and saw lots of bubbles coming to the surface in about half my bottles. I figure this means the heat blew the seals, but when tipped upside down they don't leak. I'm kind of afraid to do more of them this way. Has this happened to anyone else? I can easily put them all in a minifridge and cold crash if you think that would be safer?

I've only had one cap blow off. But it is definitely possible that if the carbonation level in the bottles is too high, when you pasteurize you could have too much pressure in the bottles, leading to blowing caps or worse.

So, if a cider-maker opens a bottle and there's carbonation all over the place - don't pasteurize, its too late. Err on the side of caution.

 

[Pappers_]

I am looking to make my first batch of cider but not sure of a good recipe. My project for this weekend is to make a basic fermentation cabinet. I might pick up ingredients for a cider.

Pappers - What recipe do you use for your cider?

This is from an earlier thread started by MeadWitch at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-house-rules-187921/ It is for a simple, straightforward, draft-style cider that is carbonated and bottle conditioned.

Here's a recipe version:

1. add 5 gallons of store-bought apple juice to a sanitzed carboy

2. add 3 teaspoons pectic enzyme to the cider

3. add one packet of dry ale yeast such as Nottingham

4. put on a stopper and airlock, or loosely cover with sanitized aluminum foil

5. let ferment for approximately 1 week or until the cider is at the balance of sweetness /dryness you desire; if you use a hydrometer, a reading of 1.008 - 1.010 will be semi-dry

6. prepare a priming solution of 2/3 cups white sugar boiled in 2 cups of water; cool to room temperature

7. add priming solution and cider to bottling bucket

8. bottle and cap, using bottles made for carbonated beverages such as beer or champagne bottles

9. allow bottles to conditioned and carbonate in an area at least 70 F

10. occasionally test bottles for carbonation process by opening one and tasting

11. when desired carbonation level is reached (but before bottles begin exploding), pasteurize the cider to kill the yeast and stop fermentation; prepare a hot water bath of 190 F water, carefully set the bottles in the bath for ten minutes and remove; repeat until all the bottles are pasteurized

And this is some text from the same thread, more explanatory:

I'll try to expand here - if I'm not answering your questions or am unclear, just let me know.

With the method I use, you can choose to bottle it as sweet or as dry as you want. For my tastes, 1.010 specific gravity is about right, but you can also be guided by your taste buds. I watch the fermentation pretty carefully for a few days, when it appears to be slowing down, i take a hydrometer reading and taste the sample. Depending on the outcome, I may do it again the next day or in a couple of days. It takes about a week for the cider to ferment to the level of dryness/sweetness I like, which is what I would call semi-dry.

Alternatively, you can let it ferment out completely dry, where the yeast eat all the sugars, and then back sweeten it with more juice. Folks who use that method then have to add another chemical to stop the fermentation (because the yeast will start up again, eating the sugar in the newly-added juice). Then they can keg it to get sparkling cider or bottle it as-is for still cider.

I really like sparkling cider, though, and because i generally brew with an eye to using organic ingredients, I like to use the pasteurization method rather than the chemically-induced method, if that makes any sense.

So, at this point you've got a carboy full of cider that has fermented to the point where it is as sweet/dry as you want it - but if you let it go, it would keep on fermenting. The next step is bottling.

I'm unfamiliar with how you bottle wine or mead, so i don't know what equipment you have. I use a bottling bucket with a spigot on it, attach a tube to the spigot with a bottling wand on the end of the tube. I don't think it really matters how you get the cider into the bottles though.

The bottles you use, though, are very important. You cannot use ordinary wine bottles for sparkling cider - they are made for still beverages, not carbonated and are not strong enough. You must use beer bottles or sparkling wine bottles. If you use beer bottles, you would need to get a handheld bottle capper (not very expensive) and caps (very cheap). But sparkling wine bottles with corks and wire are fine too.

With the method I use, we are carbonating in the bottle, so we need yeast and sugar to be present. There is still residual sugar left in the cider, but because I don't want the cider to get any drier than it already is, I add priming sugar - regular cane sugar from the grocery store is fine. The yeast will eat that up and leave the sugar from the juice, and the carbonated cider will have the same balance of dry/sweetness as when i tasted it prior to bottling.

Before bottling, for a 5 gallon batch, I boil 2/3 cup of white sugar in two cups of water. The boiling is to get it fully dissolved and sanitized. I let it cool to room temperature (you can put your pot in an ice bath to speed the process). Then I pour the priming solution into my bottling bucket and rack (via a siphoning tube) the cider into the bottling bucket, onto the priming sugar. I have no idea if i need to be as careful as I am about not oxidizing the cider - not splashing it around. With beer, you need to be careful about that at this point, but i'm not sure about cider.

In any case, i'm careful not splash it - i take the siphon tube and put it down into the priming sugar solution, so that the cider is flowing out and through the solution, not splashing. This also assures that the priming solution is thoroughly mixed into the cider.

Then I bottle and cap. I put the capped bottles in a relatively warm space, low to mid 70s if possible, to help the yeast get active.

After one week, I put a bottle in the fridge for a few hours and then open it, to check on the carbonation level. Assuming its under carbonated, I wait a few days and try another, until the carbonation seems right. If you use sparkling wine bottles, this method could be pretty wasteful - the bottles are so much bigger than beer bottles.

The risk here, as you noted in your OP, is exploding bottles. So when the carbonation is right, I then pasteurize the bottles in a hot water bath to kill the yeast. I use a large stock pot, with 190 F water - i put about six bottles in at a time and let them sit for ten minutes. I leave a floating thermometer in the water, so i can monitor the temperature and add heat if necessary, before putting in the next set of bottles. I use kitchen tongs to carefully put the bottles into the water bath and take them out.

Hope this is helpful, MW. You might look around the cider forum for the other method I mentioned - ferment dry, back sweeten and stop fermentation with chemicals (sulfites, maybe?) But for me, this pastuerization method fits my needs.

 

[Lunarpancake]

so i am pasteurizing now......out of 5 bottles i have 2 with leaking caps and 1 bomb after process was finished. OOPS.

Im doing another 5 now and if they turn out crappy too ill just cold-crash the rest



*edit* I dont want to jinx it...but my second set of 5 bottles have not exploded yet or had any "pissers" (hissing from caps)

 

[pimento]

A couple of points for people who are having cap leaks while pasteurizing.

I notice that Pappers is fermenting plain juice, without additional sugar, this means that after stopping fermentation at 1.008 - 1.010 the ABV is probably around 6%.
A 6% alcohol/water solution boils at around 203 F, but a 10% solution boils at 199 F. As the % of alcohol increases, the boil temp drops.

If you're doing ciders with a higher ABV than 6% you may want to lower your temp by a few degrees and make sure your thermometer is accurate.

Also, as is mentioned in the original post, make sure you turn the heat off before putting your bottles in the water. It's probably a good idea remove the pan from the burner entirely and to put something in the bottom of the pan to keep the bottles from touching the metal as well, since it can be hotter than the water itself.

 

[CorgiBrew]

Very stoked by the info in the OP. I made cider 2 years ago, and let it ferment dry then primed and bottled it. After two years in the bottle, it's definitely a drinkable beverage, but not exactly what I had in mind. With this thread as inspiration, I started a 5 gal. test batch over the weekend. If it works out, I should have time for another while the cider season lasts. Cool!

 

[mattib]

If the SG is at 1.010 and the cider has not cleared and is cloudy do you still bottle? or what do people do ? do they add some chemicals so it will clear up ?

Thanks.

 

[bigcountrybrew]

If the SG is at 1.010 and the cider has not cleared and is cloudy do you still bottle? or what do people do ? do they add some chemicals so it will clear up ?

Thanks.

mattib,
I bottled mine cloudy and it cleared within the six days it took to carbonate the bottles. Did you use Pectin Enzyme in your cider? I did and even boiled 1/2 gallon of juice with some cinnamon sticks and mine still cleared ok. Also, did you use store bought apple juice or fresh Cider. I used apple juice from SAM's Club. I would imagine that fresh pressed cider would take longer to clear than store bought juice. My guess is that even if it is fresh cider, it will clear in the bottle eventually, unless the pectin gets set from heating it too much.

I just want to say thanks to Pappers! This worked for me so far. For what it is worth, my OF was 1.045, FG was 1.010. It took two weeks to ferment, carbed up for six days. I had one leaky cap, but not from the heat, it was just not capped on tight. The pasteurizing as laid out by Pappers was pretty easy and straight forward. I did use a silicone pot holder at the bottom of the pot to insulate the bottles from the bottom of the pan. Both my wife and I were pleased with the results.

Thanks again Pappers!

 

[mattib]

aaahh oki thanks, i did not use Pectin Enzyme , just store bought apple juice with some added sugar.

 

[CaptainCool]

i don't mean to be a bother.. but i was wondering if the earlier question of wether this works with champagne and sparkling wine bottles could be answered? it would be very helpful. thanks

 

[CvilleKevin]

I havent tried, but I'm certain this would work with champagne bottles - how much extra time it takes is the question. There is a little more thermal mass in the glass and cider inside the bottle, an extra 5 min should be plenty, maybe go an extra 10 to be safe. You also want to make sure the caps are extra secure, observe all handling precautions,etc.

It seems that using pectic enzyme is a key step so that the cider is fairly clear when you bottle before the end of the secondary fermentation. With a ferment going real cool and slow at 1.010 or, I would still expect to see some amount of suspended solids.

Jim - Do you see much sediment after the pasteurization or storage? If this is ever an issue, it occurs to me that you could try either S23 or Wy4184 yeast and cold crash before bottling.

These yeasts both taste great in the 1.004 to 1.012 range and (in my experience) they are impossible to stop with cold crashing even though crashing will get them nice and clear. This makes them difficult to use for kegging but it seem like they would be useful for bottle conditioning because you can get an extra clearing and still have enough yeast to bottle condition.

 

[Pappers_]

Kevin, yes, there is always sediment in the bottles.

 

[Pappers_]

Pasteurized another batch two days ago, worked great and the resulting cider was light, crisp and bubbly. Between swmbo and friends, we go through it very quickly.

In other threads and pm's, I've chatted with some folks who have run into a problem that I want to highlight - letting the bottles carbonate too much in the bottle before pasteurizing. Especially if this is your first time making cider and you're not sure what to expect, err on the side of checking carbonation levels early and often. And if the carbonation level is too high, do not pasteurize. You run a risk blowing off caps or worse, exploding bottles.

Once you know your process (for the juice you use, the yeast you like, your fermentation temps, etc) you can be a little more relaxed. But again, do not pasteurize over-carbonated bottles.