Question About Bottling Cider

[VApatriot]

I have a question about bottling cider. My wife bought a couple CHS kits and wants us (me) to make them. I have made lots of home brew and do not keg.

In Yooper's 'Cider for Beginners' sticky she mentions having to pasteurize bottles. When bottling home brew I always soak my caps and rinse my bottles (thoroughly washed w/ Oxyclean then dried) in Starsan solution and bottle while they are still wet. To date (knock on wood), I have not had any bottle bombs or infections in any of my beers. Would this same process work for cider or not? And if not, why not? Thanks in advance for any and all responses.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Yep. Bottle it as you would an ale.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I haven't yet used StarSan, but I believe that technically, you should be allowing them to dry. My understanding is that StarSan and similar "no-rinse" sanitisers do their sanitizing as they dry. I could be wrong, and someone with more knowledge and experience can confirm or refute this.

With that caveat, I believe your procedure would be fine. I simply dip bottles in boiling water for a few seconds, and that has always worked quite well for me.

 

[VApatriot]

What I learned here is that Starsan is a wet sanitizer and degrades into something that the yeast will actually eat. My beers never have had any off flavors due to my bottling process. I am just wondering if pasteurization is really required due to the different nature of cider.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

You're probably right, VA - I might be thinking of another type of sanitizer.

The batches of cider that I've done have not been pasteurized, but you might want to double-check with @Yooper; she knows her stuff! :rockin:

 

[laredo7mm]

...In Yooper's 'Cider for Beginners' sticky she mentions having to pasteurize bottles...

I think that is only for a sweet sparkling cider. You add enough sugar to dry cider to sweeten and carbonate. Once carbonation has been reached, then you have to kill the yeast with pasteurization so you don't get bottle bombs.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

That makes sense, Laredo ~

 

[chudsonvt]

Are you bottling after using sulfites and sorbate as well as force carbing and back sweetening? The idea here is taht if you have a carbonated cider that is intended to be sweet, if anything wants to eat those sugars once bottled, you will have bottle bombs. One does not typically back sweeten beer so that is a little different...

 

[Maylar]

In Yooper's 'Cider for Beginners' sticky she mentions having to pasteurize bottles. When bottling home brew I always soak my caps and rinse my bottles (thoroughly washed w/ Oxyclean then dried) in Starsan solution and bottle while they are still wet

Pasteurizing bottles isn't about sanitizing them, it's about heating them to kill the yeast and halt fermentation. People do that when they bottle condition sweet cider to keep from over carbonating.

Your sanitizing plan is fine.

 

[VApatriot]

Pasteurizing bottles isn't about sanitizing them, it's about heating them to kill the yeast and halt fermentation. People do that when they bottle condition sweet cider to keep from over carbonating.

Your sanitizing plan is fine.

OK, so my next question is how does one go about pasteurizing 48 12 oz. long neck bottles?

 

[chudsonvt]

OK, so my next question is how does one go about pasteurizing 48 12 oz. long neck bottles?

If you have a dishwasher with a high temp wash option and a heated dry option, you can sterilize that way. At those temps, it is almost an autoclave. It isn't medical grade sterilization but it is fine for sterilizing bottles for cider or beer. I do this for my beer just because it is so easy.

I'm not sure how well this would work for full bottles.

 

[Sailingeric]

Pasteurize if you are back sweetening. If you want some sweetness then try Wlp002 English ale yeast. It leaves enough sweetness and then you can bottle carb like beer.

 

[Maylar]

OK, so my next question is how does one go about pasteurizing 48 12 oz. long neck bottles?

There's a sticky at the top of the forum about that.

 

[pshankstar]

I asked a similar question a while back about pasteurizing the bottles or not. When I go to bottle my first 2.5 gallons of cider I'll probably leave half flat (not carbonated) and carbonate the others with a carb drop. I don't plan on doing anything else with this first attempt to see how it turns out as is.

I'm still on the fence on if I need or should pasteurize the ones I carbonate or not.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=571458

 

[VApatriot]

There's a sticky at the top of the forum about that.

Thanks Maylar, I didn't notice that sticky when I started looking into the cider making process. Those instructions look easy, a little time consuming but easy enough, I sure don't want any bottle bombs. Thanks again.

 

[Greghark]

What your doing for ale works fine for cider. Also, as mentioned above, you can use a high temp dishwasher. I bottle all my batches this way and after thousands of bottles so far I haven't had a single bomb or infected bottle. I don't back sweeten or try to pasteurize or kill off my yeast as I depend upon it for a bit of carbonation. (Still to effervescent I use the same basic process for bottling.)

I clean all my bottles either when I get them new or drink them for reuse by rinsing and running through the dishwasher with normal dishes. Can't sterilize if it isn't clean. Once I'm ready to bottle I run my batch of clean bottles through on a high temp setting WITH NO SOAP. As mentioned previously, the temp is normally high enough for long enough to kill off pretty much anything that would give you problems. Might need to check your dishwasher just to be safe, but if it burns your hands trying to grab a bottle just after the final rinse you're probably ok. I throw the caps in an instant sanitize solution and get everything ready so the moment the bottles are done I can start bottling and they spend minimal time sitting around. I stack a bunch and fill and cap as I go. Working with a partner goes quickly but still easy enough single handed.

 

[JimRausch]

OK, so my next question is how does one go about pasteurizing 48 12 oz. long neck bottles?

Thousands(probably) confirm that the method in the sticky by pappers works well. But somewhere on this area of the forum there is a thread about another method, which I think is a lot easier. I don't remember who originated it, but it's called the cooler method. Basically you put the bottles in a large cooler and add hot tap water to precondition them. Heat water to 170* , drain the tap water, then add the 170* water. Let it sit in the cooler for 10 minutes, then drain. Done. Or if you're lazy like me, let it cool down naturally and drain later.
This method has worked for me 4 times with grafs over the past 3 years.
Results= slightly carbonated, slightly sweet, excellent cider-like beverage.