long time drinker first time brewer (beginner questions)

[Ceemonster]

Just started fermenting my first batch of cider. My plan is to back sweeten and carbonate in bottles and had a couple of questions on the subject:

I was hoping to use honey or maple syrup to sweeten. Can anyone share their experiences/advice using either or both of these sweeteners?

My current job is going to place me out of town during the week so after I bottle I'll only be able to test carbonation levels on the weekends. My concern is that I will miss my window for ideal fizziness. Am I correct in assuming that temperature is proportional to carbonation as it is to fermentation?

Lastly, has anyone cold crashed THEN pasteurized their bottles? My thought is, if I can't be there, I can use my wife by proxy to test the brew then chill the bottles until I come back and can pasteurize.

Thanks.

 

[Hello]

Cold crashing then pasteurizing: I have not done this but recently my LHBS told me if you're going bottle carb then cold-crashing isn't good because it causes the yeast to pretty much drop from suspension and there's nothing left to get into the bottle to carb. I cold crashed my apfelwein and then bottled carbed and from what I can tell, I have a fairly carbed product. More effervescent actually. It makes me wonder if the guys at the LHBS were right or if that only applied to beer. It was a discussion on beer, not cider.

If you cannot pasteurize right when you should then stick them in the fridge but before you stick them into that hot water, be certain you bring those bottles back to room temp at least to ensure you reduce the chance of shock. If you take cold glass and put it in hot water, you can burst the bottles. Cold crashing or keeping cold will halt carbonation and buy you time. You don't actually have to pasteurize if you intend to keep them cold all of the time anyway.

I have not yet used honey or maple so I am of no help there.

 

[podz]

Here's a little bit of practical info for you.

You only need to cold crash if yeast is still in suspension, i.e. still fermenting, in order to drop the yeast out of suspension. The main reason for cold crashing cider is to leave in some residual sweetness so that you don't need to backsweeten. I normally split my batches into smaller carboys around 1.020 and cold crash that amount that I want to drink in the next few days. The cold crashed stuff will carbonate in the bottles in the fridge before they get really cold. The stuff split into the smaller carboys will continue fermenting until they are dry, i.e. no sweetness or carbonation in those without backsweetening.

 

[m_stodd]

I've not used honey or maple syrup for sweetening or carbonating, sucrose is easier to gauge, so that's what I use, and that's what I'd recommend.

It sounds like you're trying to predict the rate of fermentation. Unless the yeast is so cold that they're dormant, or so hot that they're dead, don't do this. If you're wrong, you may return to a wife angry that she had to clean up broken glass and liquid everywhere.

For what you're wanting to do, read the pasteurization thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/. There are stories of success and of failures in this thread. For me, the chance of failure (exploding glass bottles) outweighs the benefit of backsweetened cider.

 

[hallerobin]

I've used both honey and maple syrup (plus brown sugar) to backsweeten and bottle carb. The honey can be tooth-achingly sweet, so you might want to experiment with various amounts and figure out what you like.

The maple & brown sugar was definitely not as sweet as the honey--it didn't end up tasting much like maple (it didn't taste bad, jut more like brown sugar than maple). Probably with just the syrup it'll be more maple-y.

From personal experience, many yeasts will continue to ferment, even in the fridge, at least for a while. So if you can't pasteurize at the point of desired carbonation, you might want to throw it in the fridge earlier than you might otherwise.

 

[Ceemonster]

Thanks for the advice. I know by using honey or maple syrup I'm probably setting myself up for failure, but the idea of using all local ingredients (Hudson Valley, NY) is really appealing to me. I'm sure it'll take me a half dozen tries to get it right.
Definitely going to pasteurize, I don't need any bottle bombs in my house.
CM