Champagne Style Cider

[SacredBrew]

Hello,

I would like to start putting up bottles of sparkling hard cider in champagne bottles without forcing co2 into the bottles. I have heard of putting a couple raisons in a champagne bottle to get a slightly bubbling cider. What are some other methods of getting champagne like carbonation for cider naturally? Has anyone used honey? Maple Syrup? (I don't care if these additives change the flavor of the cider) what is the typical amount of sugar to use to prime champagne bottles for bubbly cider?

cheers,

jonny

 

[LeBreton]

I find an SG change of about 0.003 to be nice and sparkling, not quite 'champagne' style with lots of fizz and bubbles though. Any fermentable sugar will do. Do yourself a favor and sweeten the cider itself then bottle, as opposed to adding a measured amount of sugar to each bottle individually. This will give you much greater control over the carbonation and improve consistency.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hello,

I would like to start putting up bottles of sparkling hard cider in champagne bottles without forcing co2 into the bottles. I have heard of putting a couple raisons in a champagne bottle to get a slightly bubbling cider. What are some other methods of getting champagne like carbonation for cider naturally? Has anyone used honey? Maple Syrup? (I don't care if these additives change the flavor of the cider) what is the typical amount of sugar to use to prime champagne bottles for bubbly cider?

cheers,

jonny

Ferment dry, prime like beer (or just a wee bit higher) & bottle in beer bottles or champagne bottles, wait 5 weeks, enjoy!
Regards, GF.

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

Has anyone used honey? Maple Syrup? (I don't care if these additives change the flavor of the cider) what is the typical amount of sugar to use to prime champagne bottles for bubbly cider?

I've never tried Honey or Maple Syrup for priming so I can't really give any quantity info on those. I would assume that they would be extremely slow to carbonate, but if you are putting them up for long storage, I don't think time would be a problem. I would suggest bottling at least a few 12oz'ers that way you don't have to crack open a 750 ml champagne bottle to test carbonation levels.

I've always found that batch priming works best for me. I typically use 3-4 oz of Corn Sugar boiled in a small amount of water and added to my bottling bucket. Corn Sugar seems to be the least offensive priming fermentable in my opinion. (meaning it won't impart any off flavors to your newly bottled cider)

 

[casey012293]

If you prime a wine-like product like cider, you'll get a yeasty taste most people will hate unless you do a traditional method sparkling wine conditioning which is very time consuming.

 

[CMcPherson]

I typically use 3-4 oz of Corn Sugar boiled in a small amount of water and added to my bottling bucket. Corn Sugar seems to be the least offensive priming fermentable in my opinion. (meaning it won't impart any off flavors to your newly bottled cider)

About how much will that sweeten?

 

[CMcPherson]

... a traditional method sparkling wine conditioning which is very time consuming.

Can you please elaborate?

 

[casey012293]

Do not use dextrose. I've seen that it is supposedly better because it is a simpler and more easily fermented sugar but I've gotten off flavors every time I've used it. It may be the yeast type, but I figure it's safer to avoid and just use table sugar which has never given me any issues.

As to amount of sugar, this site has always been helpful for me:
http://hbd.org/brewery/library/YPrimerMH.html

 

[casey012293]

And by off flavors from the dextrose, I mean a high aldehyde (bland apple taste with worse after taste). This is usually from the yeast incompletely or quickly fermenting so I'm assuming it was just too simple of a sugar.

 

[slym2none]

About how much will that sweeten?

It won't. That was priming sugar for carbonating the cider.

 

[casey012293]

Also by what I mean traditional, look up Methode Champanoise and that's how you'd get rid of the yeast.

I'm doing it with a hard cider I freeze concentrated to get 22brix so it would work out to about 11-12% and be like champagne with no yeast.

 

[slym2none]

Hello,

I would like to start putting up bottles of sparkling hard cider in champagne bottles without forcing co2 into the bottles. I have heard of putting a couple raisons in a champagne bottle to get a slightly bubbling cider. What are some other methods of getting champagne like carbonation for cider naturally? Has anyone used honey? Maple Syrup? (I don't care if these additives change the flavor of the cider) what is the typical amount of sugar to use to prime champagne bottles for bubbly cider?

cheers,

jonny

The one time I made cider, I used frozen apple juice concentrate as my priming sugar. I used 6mL per 12-oz bottle, and it came out nicely carbed, but not champagne-level fizzy. If going this route, you could play around a bit with the amounts, as I am guessing I got around 2.5-2.7 vols. of CO² in those bottles.

 

[CMcPherson]

It won't. That was priming sugar for carbonating the cider.

Oops, I see that now.

 

[Maylar]

Can you please elaborate?

Champagne is highly carbonated. You need to add a bunch of priming sugar to get there, and that will drop sediment in the bottles. There is a complicated process involving inverting the bottles so the lees is in the neck of the bottle and popping the cork to let CO2 pressure purge the bottle of sediment. Best done outdoors, with rain gear on... you get wet.

There are of course terms and jargon associated with this. A fellow who likes minutia might find it an interesting read -

 

[JimRausch]

3 Years past, a straight cider(5G fresh cider +2 lb honey) bottled with two cans of frozen apple juice concentrate. Result= a highly carbonated, bone dry cider. Very much like a dry champagne. It took 6 -8 months for the apple flavor to come back. Until then I would add 1/2 tsp. of sugar to each glass to make it drinkable. The bottles I have left now are great.
Since then I've been making Grafs to retain a little sweetness. Bottle them with 1 can FAJC and pasteurize when they hit desired level of carbonation. Result= slightly sweet, lightly carbonated, more apple flavor retained. Drinkable almost immediately.