pasteurizing

[Justbill]

Hi,
New with question:
I am just getting started. After doing simple hard cider with store purchased pasteurized cider and yeast, it seem like something I will dig a bit deeper into.
My first batch was simply yeast and sugar into the store bottle, waited 5 days, then mason jarred and put in the refrigerator for about a week. it was good enough that I want to invest in some stuff to do better.
My question is on pasteurizing. Was what I did above, safe? I did not pasteurize after fermenting. I thought that not be necessary because the containers were sterile and the cider was already pasteurized and fermented in the original container.
thx.

 

[Golddiggie]

I didn't pasteurize either of the two batches I did last season. Zero issues with either. We're talking about ~6 gallons of finished cider here. I don't bottle condition/carbonate, so I could have tried to pasteurize, or stabilize IF I wanted to.

Personally, I don't see any need to go through pasteurizing the finished product. You want pasteurized cider (base) so that you don't have to fight the chemicals they use to stabilize.

Also, I added zero sugar and got a really good product out. Everyone that has tried (either batch) loved it. The spices used made a difference, as did good base cider. I'd suggest NOT using any sugar in your next batch and use a yeast that will help your product finish as desired. First batches were with the Wyeast sweet mead yeast. Which let them finish a little sweet (not too sweet either, pretty much perfect). Came in at about 6% ABV as well. Which means they were easy to drink more than a small amount.

I'm already looking forward to making more batches this season. This time I'll be using a conical fermenter and carbonate in fermenter (instead of via kegs). These will go direct to can once carbonated and ready.

 

[Justbill]

That sounds really good. How many days did the fermentation need to go?
I would like to keep this really simple. I just make a gallon maybe once a month. So I do it in the store container, put it in mason jars when it's done, and refrigerate.

 

[Golddiggie]

I used a fermentation chamber for those two batches, so temperature control wasn't as good as I can do now. I let them go about a month from pitch to transfer for carbonating. Next batch I'll be able to control the temperature a lot better (glycol chiller and conical) so they could finish sooner. Once I'm sure fermentation is done, plus give the yeast time to do it's cleanup, I'll pull a sample to check. Then carbonate and can.

Keep in mind, I'll probably be starting off with either six or seven gallons of cider. I'll probably make a yeast starter for the next batch (didn't for the previous two) to help the yeast out more.

 

[Chalkyt]

Pasteurising has several roles. It can be used to sanitise the end product if needed, and also to stop fermentation at a particular sweetness level, or to control carbonation.

As you continue your journey (beware cider making can be addictive) you may reach the point where you want some controlled carbonation in your cider. Your first attempt could have retained some carbonation from being in sealed jars if fermentation wasn't complete. The bubbles give it a different and pleasant mouthfeel. However if fermentation hadn't finished, after some time you might have had excess carbonation which can lead to volcanoes or even bottle bombs.

Adding a controlled amount of fermentable sugar to completely fermented dry cider (i.e. SG around 1.000) is a common way to bottle condition (or carbonate) cider. However if you also want some sweetness then apart from adding a non-fermentable sweetener (stevia, xylitol, etc), stopping fermentation above SG1.000 is also a common practice. To do this you either need to "stop" on the way down by pasteurising, or if fully fermented add sugar to bring the SG up to the sweetness level that you want, then pasteurise.

This approach can also be used for sweet and carbonated cider where it is bottled at the sweetness level that you want plus an allowance for carbonation (for example, if you want sweetness level of SG 1.008, then bottle at 1.012 and pasteurise at 1.008 to have 2 volumes of CO2). Heat pasteurisation is a low-tech way to do this.

Of course you can also look at kegging using CO2 to carbonate your cider but this involves commitment to equipment and of course cost.

There is a wealth of information about all of this on the forum. Start with Papper's sticky at the top and also do a search for "carbonation" and "heat pasteurisation".

Have fun!

 

[Golddiggie]

I used the Wyeast sweet mead yeast in two cider batches last season. Neither went to dry and were at about 6% ABV. I didn't do anything to stop the yeast. I did carbonate with CO2 in keg. I'll have much more accurate numbers for the coming batch than the previous ones (was more concerned about flavors than numbers).

IMO/IME, the less processes you go through in what you're making (post pitching the yeast) the better the product will be. At least for beers and ciders, mead is a bit different (but not much).

 

[jseyfert3]

I second the recommendation to try a batch without added sugar. My first two batches (started the second before the first was finished) had juice and sugar because like many I stumbled on Edwort’s Apfelwein. Then I tried a batch without sugar and liked it better. The store juice I get ferments out to ~6.5% ABV which is more than enough for me.

Are you using an airlock when you ferment in the store bottles? What yeast are you using?

 

[Misneac]

I've been doing this for a while, and what you did is pretty safe, but not completely. Though you might not think it, mason jars are a lousy container for things that might build up pressure. They're only really designed to hold a light vacuum, not to resist internal pressure. If you've got any plastic one liter seltzer bottles around, and you're not planning on storing your cider very long, I'd use those instead. They're designed to hold a good amount of pressure, so if your cider gets pushed to the back of the fridge and you forget about it, you won't wake up one morning to find a bottle bomb in the crisper. What's also nice about the plastic bottles is that you can squeeze them a bit and get an idea for how much pressure has built up before you open them.