To Pasteurize or not to Pasteurize bottled hard cider???

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

pshankstar

BIAB Homebrewer & Coffee Roaster
HBT Supporter
Joined
Jun 29, 2015
Messages
7,504
Reaction score
27,340
Location
Canandaigua
Sorry for the newbie question, but I have read the sticky on the easy stove top pasteurization process and still am a little unclear. So I hope this clears it up for me since I feel like I will be bottling my first hard cider at some point this month.

Once the FG hits as low as it will go, I will bottle the hard cider like I do with home brews. Probably with the carbonation tablets since I have them readily available.

With that being said:
Do I need to pasteurize the bottles?
If not, will I be guaranteed bottle bombs?
If I cold crash the cider before bottling in the garage, do I still need to pasteurize the bottles?
If I cold crash the cider, then bottle and place them out the in garage again then I assume I do not need to pasteurize them, right?
Or do I only need to cold crash it once (either before or after bottling) and not need to pasteurize the bottles?

Again, I am sorry for all of the questions but I am just trying to get clarity on if I need to pasteurize the bottles or not after all my reading... :confused: Thanks in advance!
 
First, understand that pasteurizing is only done on sweet carbonated ciders. The idea is to add enough sugar for both priming and sweetening, and when carbonation reaches the desired level kill the yeast with heat. If you're going to bottle dry cider (not sweet), you proceed like with beer. Carb tabs and caps and done.

Cold crashing is not a substitute for pasteurizing.
 
First, understand that pasteurizing is only done on sweet carbonated ciders. The idea is to add enough sugar for both priming and sweetening, and when carbonation reaches the desired level kill the yeast with heat. If you're going to bottle dry cider (not sweet), you proceed like with beer. Carb tabs and caps and done.

Cold crashing is not a substitute for pasteurizing.

Great thank you! Since this is my first batch and I am want a good solid base line it sounds like I do not need to pasteurize the bottles then. All I've done and plan on doing is:
Ferment 2.25 gallons of fresh UV Pasteurized Cider with Nottingham yeast.
Rack to a secondary and cold crash.
Bottle when ready using the carbonation tablets.

Does this make sense and sound correct?

After this batch I can determine if I need to back sweeten it or not and eventually add different things to it like fruit, hops, etc... From here I would have to pasteurize the bottle most likely. Either way, it almost sounds like it is a good idea to pasteurize them anyways.
 
I'll be honest, in my opinion, if this if your first cider, you might want to skip carbing it too. It's good to know what you baseline is with a fully-fermented still cider. I find I actually prefer it this way (it turns out!).

While cider-making is a lot like brewing beer, the time scale is much longer, too. You can drink a cider after fermentation has ceased, but it won't taste nearly as good as it will if you put it in secondary and try your hardest to forget about it for a few months. I made a cider once in October, bottled it in December, and didn't open it until February -- it carbed up all by itself. It just takes time and patience.
 
I'll be honest, in my opinion, if this if your first cider, you might want to skip carbing it too. It's good to know what you baseline is with a fully-fermented still cider. I find I actually prefer it this way (it turns out!).



While cider-making is a lot like brewing beer, the time scale is much longer, too. You can drink a cider after fermentation has ceased, but it won't taste nearly as good as it will if you put it in secondary and try your hardest to forget about it for a few months. I made a cider once in October, bottled it in December, and didn't open it until February -- it carbed up all by itself. It just takes time and patience.


Thanks for the insight. I may leave half of them uncarbonated. That's a good idea.
Do you think 3 weeks in the primary is too short before moving it to the secondary? I know a hydrometer reading is the only true way to tell but wasn't sure if there is a trend or not.
Thanks again!
 
Back
Top