sweet sparkling cider made expensive

[dinnerstick]

if you're wondering how to achieve that long sought-after bottled sweet sparkling cider safely and easily ponder no more*.

*provided you have an arseload of cash to burn on it

1. ferment to dryness
2. rack to keg and sweeten
3. force carbonate at fridge temps
4. bottle from the keg using beergun or biermuncher's bottle filler (see bottling/kegging sticky)
5. pasteurize in your speidel braumeister or similar computer controlled mini-rims system, set to 65 degrees for half an hour with recirculation

ok, i admit this was all just an excuse to show off my fancy new system. pictured, elderflower skeeter pee in the 750 bottles, oaked semi sweet cider in the beer bottles.
no boom. (but the seals on the swing tops do tend to leak when warm)

 

[kewlio250]

you looking for a roommate by chance?

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

zoinks!

 

[dinnerstick]

yeah it's over the top. but overpriced german kettle aside, bottling from the keg and then pasteurizing is very safe (never over-pressurized) super easy and you never get that sorbate taste or high sulfite side effects, highly recommended for those who keg and need to free up a keg or kegerator space

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I don't think it's over the top. I'm jealous! Beats using a beverage cooler as a mash tun! haha

 

[dinnerstick]

i was mashing in a cheapass leaky goodwill rectangular cooler and biab bag, spilling ridiculous decoctions all over the kitchen in an attempt to hold a respectable mash temp, until about 3 weeks ago...
anyways it turns out beer is fun to make, got to make something between december and october.
there's a long thread on the speidel machine in the 'general beer discussions' if anyone is interested, it's great for apartment / urban indoor brewing and bank account battering

 

[suzanneb]

whats the total price tag?

 

[roadymi]

Nice Setup!!!

 

[dinnerstick]

whats the total price tag?

for the speidel machine? a quick search of the morebeer site says it's about $2k for the 20L system new. sometimes used ones come up for sale on hbt. it's a pretty expensive pasteurization bath, but since it does double as a complete RIMS brewing system it might be worth it, kind of depending on whether / how often you make beer. the other equipment is: kegerator, variable price, mine's the smallest possible due to space limitations, couple hundred $ and some elbow grease, and beergun, less than $100. i never had luck with the biermuncher bottle filler; always lost carbonation.
the whole point of this method is to avoid pasteurizing bottle conditioned cider, which is high pressure and can be dangerous, and instead pasteurize force carbed cider, which is bottled at low pressure and thus risk-free, so of course you can do that just as well in a stock pot or boil kettle on the stove, i just happen to have a shiny computer controlled thingymabob

 

[roadymi]

The guy who dies with the highest priced toys wins!