Any thoughts about this process?

[MisterWoody]

I would like to age a cider in the bottles the juice came in. I don't want to buy new equipment right now and I don't want to keep my fermentation bucket or carboy tied up.
My thoughts on the process are this:

1) Let cider ferment til I reach my desired sweetness.
2) Rack the cider into a pot then pasteurize the whole batch in the pot.
3) Cool, then rack to the bottles I bought the juice in.
4) Let them sit a few months.
5) Rack to a bottling bucket, add some priming sugar, pitch some yeast.
6) Bottle, condition, pasteurize.

I know it adds some extra work and extra steps but it saves me the $30 to buy a carboy for a secondary.

Any thoughts?

 

[WilliamSlayer]

I would like to age a cider in the bottles the juice came in. I don't want to buy new equipment right now and I don't want to keep my fermentation bucket or carboy tied up.
My thoughts on the process are this:

1) Let cider ferment til I reach my desired sweetness.
2) Rack the cider into a pot then pasteurize the whole batch in the pot.
3) Cool, then rack to the bottles I bought the juice in.
4) Let them sit a few months.
5) Rack to a bottling bucket, add some priming sugar, pitch some yeast.
6) Bottle, condition, pasteurize.

I know it adds some extra work and extra steps but it saves me the $30 to buy a carboy for a secondary.

Any thoughts?

Ok, if you want to do that, why not carb it, THEN age it? That way, you can enjoy it as soon as you decide you are ready. You also get the CO2 as an additional preservative that way.

 

[LeBreton]

Ok, if you want to do that, why not carb it, THEN age it? That way, you can enjoy it as soon as you decide you are ready. You also get the CO2 as an additional preservative that way.

+1, not to mention that dealing with bottles is easier than dealing with full carboys.

 

[Meadiator]

Why not just get a clean plastic 5 gallon bucket and a lid (depending on how much you have) and bulk age in that? It's probably a lot less oxygen permeable than the thin plastic bottles you most likely bought the juice in. and it definitely won't cost you thirty bucks, especially if you live in an industrial area just my two cents.

 

[MisterWoody]

Many '2 cents' is exactly what I am looking for. Maybe if I get enough, I'll have enough change to make a decent decision.
I can't bottle carb and age because I don't have bottles right now (and I don't have the cash to buy bottles.
I am skeptical that a bucket (a cheap one without a gasket) would be less permeable than plastic bottles. Even if it was less permeable, there's still a huge area in contact with oxygen (surface of the liquid). When using plastic bottles, I can squeeze the air out.
I guess another question is if pasteurizing 2 times is going to have a negative effect on the flavor.
Thanks for the responses you guys!

 

[Kashue]

Pasteurizing "softens" the flavor just a bit. My ciders always have a bit more of an apple pie taste after. Then again i flavor them with vanilla and maple syrup so it's hard to tell.

 

[BlackGoat]

my problem with this is that you wanted to pasteurize after it had reached "desired sweetness", then restart fermentation later with new yeast and priming sugar. If your desired sweetness leaves some residual fermentable sugars and then you add priming sugar, the reintroduced yeast will consume both, potentially resulting in overcarbonation - and maybe bottle bombs. I would just age it carbonated as has been suggested. Also not sure at all what the purpose is for the final pasteurization step, but I think the entire process is overcomplicated.

 

[MisterWoody]

Of course it would leave fermentable sugar since I am going to leave it sweet. I am going to bottle carb then pasteurize again at the desired carbonation level.

Thanks for the post about it 'softening' the flavor. I wonder if a 2nd round of heat will soften it even more.