going to back sweeten need help.

[Jako]

i am about to bottle turns, out my yeast went to down on the sugar and the cherries and i ended up wayyyyyy past the SG i wanted. i was going for 1.007-1.010 and i am sitting at 1.000 and i bet its lower.

if i add juice concentrate to 1.007 or 1.010 is that safe way to back sweeten? i plan to bottle carb then boil off the yeast after it carbs up.

 

[owmatooth]

generally to add sweetness, you've got to add sugar, to add cherry flavor you've got to add flavoring.

assuming you're going for sweetness as you said, and are happy with the cherry flavoring, you just need to be concerned with adding fermentables before bottling, so as not to make bottle bombs. usually you're going to best achieve this with an artifical sweetner. this will sweeten without adding "sugar." but I'd experiment with a few different fake sugars and see what meets your taste.

not sure about your comment on boiling off the yeast after it carbs. that one's new to me.

 

[mj1angier]

I think he means heating up the bottled cider to kill yeast after it makes enough make CO2 but before it ends up dry

 

[Jako]

I think he means heating up the bottled cider to kill yeast after it makes enough make CO2 but before it ends up dry

not before it ends up dry but so i don't end up with exploding bottles. as for the cherry flavor i added 3 pounds of tart cherries a week ago. as long as i kill the yeast off before everything explodes i should be okay correct? i would bet the bottles would carb up quick!

 

[mj1angier]

Yeah, get at plastic bottle and fill it when you fill your other bottles. Check every few days. When it get hard, it is time to kill your yeast in the other glass bottles

 

[Jako]

Yeah, get at plastic bottle and fill it when you fill your other bottles. Check every few days. When it get hard, it is time to kill your yeast in the other glass bottles

thanks for the help you guys had me worried i was doing this all wrong. right now it taste amazing! the tart cherries are really doing work but not over powering. i just hope its ready to drink soon since its starting to get cold!

 

[owmatooth]

what is the process for heating the bottles to kill the yeast? hot water bath i'd figure. what temp do you bring them up to, and do you slowly bring em up, or dunk them, and how long do you let them sit?

I'm kegging now, but wouldn't mind getting back into some bottles if I could think about shutting down the carbonation as you're talking about.

 

[MarkKF]

Look at the sticky. Stove top pasteurization. I heat a spaghetti pot (strainer inside) to 190 deg. F. Then turn off the heat and add 6-8 bottles in strainer with top or cloth covering. Check temp. after 10 min. If over 165 deg. F. you’re done.

 

[Jako]

Look at the sticky. Stove top pasteurization. I heat a spaghetti pot (strainer inside) to 190 deg. F. Then turn off the heat and add 6-8 bottles in strainer with top or cloth covering. Check temp. after 10 min. If over 165 deg. F. you’re done.

thank you for the tips.

i tried it after back sweetening it was good enough to drink right out of the bottling bucket. it has a great flavor but then a kick in the gut. going to back off the sugar next time this ended up being 9%!?!?! plus what ever sugar the 3 pounds of cherries added then what ever the yeast end up eating while it let it carb up.

 

[JimRausch]

In addition to the water bath pasteurization method, do a search for 'cooler pasteurization'. I find it a lot easier, no risk of exploding bottles during the process, and it works!
Basically, put the bottles in a cooler and add hot tap water to prewarm. Heat 3-4 gallons water to 170-175. Drain the tap water and add the hot water. Let sit for 10 minutes then drain (or if you're lazy just let it cool down before draining).

 

[Jako]

In addition to the water bath pasteurization method, do a search for 'cooler pasteurization'. I find it a lot easier, no risk of exploding bottles during the process, and it works!
Basically, put the bottles in a cooler and add hot tap water to prewarm. Heat 3-4 gallons water to 170-175. Drain the tap water and add the hot water. Let sit for 10 minutes then drain (or if you're lazy just let it cool down before draining).

sick. i love this idea. bottles are cool thanks to my basement so i think the pre warm idea is great. do you do it all at once?

 

[MarkKF]

Instead of draining or cooling just use the cooled off hot water as the prewarm for the next batch.

 

[Jako]

Instead of draining or cooling just use the cooled off hot water as the prewarm for the next batch.

i will give this a try and update with results. sounds way better then doing 10 at a time i have a large cooler i use for fermenting temp control.

 

[JimRausch]

sick. i love this idea. bottles are cool thanks to my basement so i think the pre warm idea is great. do you do it all at once?

Yes, it just so happens that my coleman cooler fits all the bottles from a batch (40-50 depending on how many bombers I have)

 

[Jako]

so after 3 days in the bottle it was extremely carbonated like whoa. last night i lost two bottles on the last batch in the hot water. the first one went off BOOM! lid goes flying as i hit the deck and my wife is laughing at me then boom! cherry cider all over... then i had to pull the rest out felt like i was handling radioactive material.

 

[JimRausch]

so after 3 days in the bottle it was extremely carbonated like whoa. last night i lost two bottles on the last batch in the hot water. the first one went off BOOM! lid goes flying as i hit the deck and my wife is laughing at me then boom! cherry cider all over... then i had to pull the rest out felt like i was handling radioactive material.

Ahhh. That's why I do the cooler method, after reading about stove-top explosions. If they cook off in the cooler(knock on wood, hasn't happened so far) the cooler contains the glass.
I'm glad you could laugh about it and not have to take a quick trip to the ER.

 

[Jako]

Ahhh. That's why I do the cooler method, after reading about stove-top explosions. If they cook off in the cooler(knock on wood, hasn't happened so far) the cooler contains the glass.
I'm glad you could laugh about it and not have to take a quick trip to the ER.

i planed on doing it this way but i gave up after 3 gallons in the water, i lost because i was lazy. but next time i know hahaa.