Nice what size 32 qu?
Tempted to get brew pot with thermometer & valve
Not sure but I think 40. It fits a bushel of crabs or oysters with room to spare.
Nice what size 32 qu?
Tempted to get brew pot with thermometer & valve
I thought I would give this process a shot with some beer, as I've had some issues with over-carbonation months after bottling ( I keg and force carb as part of my bottling process). Anyway, I was sitting here with my first 6 bottles in the hot water, it's good thing I had the cover on the pot, as at least one bottle popped. I had heated water to 190 removed from the heat and the bottles were in for about 6 minutes. I don't know if the bottle broke or if the cap popped off. I think I'm going to let the whole pot cool of for awhile before I try to retrieve the remaining bottles.
OK, as I was typing this a second bottle went and popped, this one a bit more violent as it blew the lid right off the pot. I think I'm going to put this project on hold and maybe explore filtering options.
It sounds like plenty of others have been successful with this, any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
Since the original post, there have been changes to the temp needed to properly pasteurize. You probably had the water too hot at 190. Read in to the thread a little bit, and that should help. Don't get discouraged. This process works well once you get it just right.
I followed these instructions and now all my ciders are no longer carbonated I used swing top bottles could this be the reason? I'm kind of irritated because it was my first batch and they were carbonated perfectly before I did this any help would be appreciated.
Sounds like you didn't give them long enough before pasteurizing. Make sure the carbonation level is at the amount you want before you pasteurize.
For my carbonation level, I bottle 1-2 plastic water bottles of cider, the rest in regular beer bottles, once the plastic water bottle is hard to squeeze (which takes 3-4 days) I pasteurize. It comes out slightly carbonated. In the future, I think once the water bottles are hard to squeeze, I'll start opening a cider a day, until it's at the level I want.
He said they were carbonated perfectly before he pasteurized. I had a similar result. My lemonades were carbonated right about where I wanted them and after pasteurization they seem to be less carbonated or almost no carbonation at all. Can the heat affect carbonation?
I've received a few messages asking for more info on the stove top pasteurizing method that I've adopted, so thought I would put up this quick tutorial with pics.
I began using this process to solve the problem of how to do a sparkling semi-dry (not bone dry) bottle conditioned cider. As you will see from other threads, this is a problem that perplexes many, and this process offers a solution that is simple and natural (no additions or chemicals needed). And the result is delicious.
So, you've made your cider (I keep it simple with juice, ale yeast and pectic enzyme) and have it in the carboy. When fermentation slows down, I start taking gravity readings and tastings. When its at the right level of sweetness/dryness (for me, that's about 1.010- 1.014), rack to bottling bucket with priming solution and bottle. Let the bottles carbonate and condition until the carbonation level is right - for me, that is usually about 1 week but for others it could be sooner. Start opening a bottle every two days or so, until you find that carbonation is at the right level. Warning - if the carbonation level is too high, if you have gushing bottles for example, do not pasteurize, the pressure will be too much for your bottles. Ok, now, we're ready for the point of this thread - pasteurizing.
Why pasteurize? Because at this point, you have a bottle of sparkling cider, with some residual fruit sugar left and yeast that is still working. If you just leave it be, you will likely end up with shrapnel rather than delicious sparkling cider. By gently heating the bottles, you will finish-off our yeast friends - they've done their job, they've performed admirably, but its time to say goodbye. Rather then pasteurize, you could cold-crash, but I don't have the refrigerator space for that and also can't give bottles away to other people using that method. I've found that the sparkling cider is very popular with my friends (and swmbo) and pretty much need to keep a constant pipeline of it going. The good news is its remarkably simple to make and takes much less time than brewing.
So, I start with about two cases of bottle conditioned cider, carbonated and ready to go.
Then, heat a large stock pot of water to 190 degrees F. A floating thermometer is a cheap tool that really adds convenience to this process.
When the temperature reaches 190, turn off the heat and add the bottles carefully to the pot. For the size of pot shown, I usually add 6 or 7 bottles at a time, I don't want to "crowd" the pot too much and lower the temperature.
Put on the lid and let sit for ten minutes.
Continued in the next post
I think there are previous posts where plastic bottles have melted or deformed. I wouldn't use plastic.
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Yeah I thought was the case, anyways I'm sure I'll be fine as I didn't prime. I was meaning to make a still cider but apparently I bulk carbonated my batch when I topped up secondary with AJ. Since then it has been 12 days and had stopped bubbling. Just when I was racking into my bottles it had had a bit of carb. If anything I will keep an eye out on the PETs and release it as needed.
I have been lurking this forum for the past 2 months, brewed my first batch of beer 4.5 weeks ago (just drank my first few a couple days ago), and 1 week after I started my American Amber Ale, I started this cider. This place is a gold mine of information, and is why I decided to try to carbonate my first cider.
Now lets see if I get an answer before complete paranoia sets in
I have just bottled 12 1 litre swing top bottles, 6 12 oz bottles (capped), and a 12 oz water bottle. I have been keeping an eye on my cider for the past week in regards to taste/gravity. Today it tasted great right where it was at (alittle sweet, but I wanted my first batch sweet) sitting at 1.015ish. So I just bottled maybe 2 hours ago.
The thing that has me worried is that the 12 oz water bottle is already "pressurized". It's still squeezable, not completely hard (that's what she said), but I don't want to wake up in the morning to a mess.
Do I have anything/much to worry about?
I have been lurking this forum for the past 2 months, brewed my first batch of beer 4.5 weeks ago (just drank my first few a couple days ago), and 1 week after I started my American Amber Ale, I started this cider. This place is a gold mine of information, and is why I decided to try to carbonate my first cider.
Now lets see if I get an answer before complete paranoia sets in
I have just bottled 12 1 litre swing top bottles, 6 12 oz bottles (capped), and a 12 oz water bottle. I have been keeping an eye on my cider for the past week in regards to taste/gravity. Today it tasted great right where it was at (alittle sweet, but I wanted my first batch sweet) sitting at 1.015ish. So I just bottled maybe 2 hours ago.
The thing that has me worried is that the 12 oz water bottle is already "pressurized". It's still squeezable, not completely hard (that's what she said), but I don't want to wake up in the morning to a mess.
Do I have anything/much to worry about?
I did my first pasteurization last night and think it went pretty well.
However, I did end up with one "bomb" (pretty low-key, it popped the bottom off the bottle and I ended up with two perfect pieces). I'm not complaining about losing one bottle - it just seems so bizarre to me that one bottle, which was treated the same as the others would be a bomb, but no others. Thoughts? Was there maybe a flaw in the bottle itself? This was my first time using these reclaimed bottles (Corona long necks with the labels removed).
I would assume it had a flaw or micro fracture before you used it. That is why no commercial breweries reuse bottles anymore with the cost of new so low for them.
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Amazing how low the cost of new bottles is to breweries while how high it is to home brewers.
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