Bottled cider questions

[williams52977]

I bottled my 1st cider this weekend. I followed a suggestion I read on here somewhere, and put one bottles worth in a pop bottle to keep an eye on the carbonation.

It has only been 4 days and the soda bottle is rock hard. Does this mean they are already carbonated?

Do the bottles need to be refrigerated now to prevent bottle bombs?

Also, am I understanding correctly that you only need to pasteurize cider if you intend to store outside of the fridge? If I can refrigerate the whole batch, I can skip this step?

 

[jflongo]

If it's rock hard, then yes some carbonation has been generated, but that doesn't mean it's fully carbonated. Go ahead and crack a bottle open after a week if that's the case and see if it is.

As long as you primed the cider correctly, you won't get bottle bombs in storage normally, unless you over primed it. I have left cider in pet bottles and regular bottles for months before with no issues.

The main purpose of pasteurizing cider, is to stop the fermentation so that's a little sweeter and less dry.

 

[williams52977]

Thank you!

 

[krackin]

If the bottle shows signs of expansion you have a realistic potential problem. Cold treatment will help dissolve CO2 but not eliminate potential over pressure issues. There is no "Silver Bullet".

 

[williams52977]

Please do not take this as a sign of me not appreciating the help, but now my two answers seem to be contradictory and I am right back where I started, clueless.

 

[skadalajara]

I bottled my 1st cider this weekend. I followed a suggestion I read on here somewhere, and put one bottles worth in a pop bottle to keep an eye on the carbonation.

It has only been 4 days and the soda bottle is rock hard. Does this mean they are already carbonated?

Yes.

Do the bottles need to be refrigerated now to prevent bottle bombs?

Refrigeration will greatly reduce, but not eliminate, the chances of bottle bombs.

Also, am I understanding correctly that you only need to pasteurize cider if you intend to store outside of the fridge? If I can refrigerate the whole batch, I can skip this step?

Yes.
It can also be used to stop fermentation to leave some residual sweetness in the cidre.

Hope that clears it up for you.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[JtotheA]

If you're going to open a bottle to taste and check carb, make sure you put it in the fridge at least a day before. Helps the CO2 get absorbed. A few hours in the fridge won't do it.