With bottles back sweetened+primed, how long to let carbonate before pasteurizing?

[funky_brewster]

Hey folks,

I'm still learning the ropes to cider making and enjoy the different challenges from brewing beer. My last batch is one made from apple juice concentrate (topped off with the appropriate amount of water) along with 5 lbs of pasteurized fresh apples in the primary using Nottingham dry yeast. The OG was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.055.

About a week into the primary, I juiced another 5 lbs of apples and pasteurized the juice and flesh then pitched it all into the fermenter, hoping to retain some fresh apple flavor. Unfortunately, I let the thing fully ferment out and it was dry as a bone at 1.003.

To salvage, at bottling we did a back sweeten+priming with apple juice. We used a ratio of 1.5 oz per 12 oz collected in the bottling bucket, and 38 ounces for priming (108 oz in total). The plan is to let the bottles carbonate long enough to get proper volumes CO2, but not so long that they're explosive. I'll be using the stovetop bottle pasteurization method detailed in the forum's sticky post.

My question is: about how long do you think the bottles need to carbonate before we kill the yeast? Looking for somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5-3 volumes CO2.

Thanks for your input!

 

[Yooper]

It's hard to say. It could be one day, or three weeks. It depends on the activity of the yeast and the temperature and so on.

I'd put one in a plastic soda bottle and check it daily until it was hard. Once that happens, it's time to pasteurize.

If you have already bottled, and don't have a plastic "tester", then the only way to know is to chill one down and then open it and check.

 

[funky_brewster]

Thanks Yooper. Yeah, I realize the answer is very unique to the batch and it's environment.

The plastic bottle idea is handy and I'll have to try that next time, but everything is already capped and conditioning at 68* in the basement. I took a look at a couple bottles and there seemed to be some sediment on the bottoms, but unsure if that's yeast trub or other fallout (though I did do 48 hours of cold crash in the fridge before bottling).

We bottled Tuesday night (6/11/2013) so they just over 2.5 days in. We figured we'd have to just trial bottles, but thanks for the reminder of chilling them before to get a good read on the carb level.

Another thing is we used 12 oz and 22 oz bombers. You think those will be fully carbed at the same time or need to be tested independently? Everything received the same proportion of priming+back sweetening.

 

[Yooper]

Another thing is we used 12 oz and 22 oz bombers. You think those will be fully carbed at the same time or need to be tested independently? Everything received the same proportion of priming+back sweetening.

Well, science probably says that they'd be ready at the same time, but in my experience it seems like the 22 ouncers take a bit longer.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

It's true, the only way is to open and check once in a while. If you keep it at a reasonable temperature (70* or there about) you probably don't need to check until at least 10-14 days. But don't be disapointed if it's still kind of flat at that point...I've had ciders that were 6-8 weeks before they got good and fizzy, just don't get fooled into thinking the yeast isn't working, you might just have very little yeast left and it needs more time.

 

[funky_brewster]

My initial thinking was to try one after 4 days, to see how quickly the carbonation is setting in and get a baseline. If it's still very low at that point, wait another week. Or conversely check in another 2-3 days if they seem close.

I guess I'm just not sure if I can expect the carbonation to be linear like that, or if it will go at an irregular pace.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

Actually if it starts off slow, once it gets going it picks up in pace, just like in your fermenter. The yeast cells will multiply with something new to eat.

 

[funky_brewster]

Ahhh, good point.

Well, we'll just have to see how many bottles are left after all the testing that'll need to happen

 

[pkrath84]

I might say 5-6 days if you're at 68F

I did mine at about 72F and mine were ready at 4 days. I used a 20oz soda bottle and kept a spare for reference. At 3 days I was at the same hardness, I took it 1 day more and it was perfect for my wife's taste.

Oh and the result was the sam in 12 oz and 22oz. I bottled using both.

 

[JonIreland]

could u tell me, once i have pasteurized will the cider continue to carbonize or will pasteurizing stop the cider carbonizing thanks..........


lol try saying that after to much testing

 

[MindenMan]

Pasteurizing is to stop all fermentation. I used the plastic bottle gauge method, and was so afraid of bottle bombs, the bottle was firm but not un squeezable so I pasteurized all the other bottles. A month later the bottles were hardly carbonated. My suggestion is to let the plastic bottle get as hard feeling as a new bottle of soda is. Granted, more fizz = less sweet, so unless you want your cyder quite dry as mine was, fairly dry and semi flat, and, since you are going to pasteurize anyway, you could add a little extra sugar at bottling, and have more than one test bottle, one for fizz and one for sweetness. I can't say if the two reactions are parallel or not, so you are on your own on this one unless someone tells us both different.