First Time Cider Bottler

[dk4dk4]

I have 6.5Gal of cider that's about 2 months old sitting in secondary. It's dry with FG at 0.98 (Lalvin 1118). I would like to bottle in these nice Grolsch flip tops I have. I've never bottled cider before so creating bombs is not my plan...

1. How much priming sugar (dextrose) do I need to add to 6.5 Gal (24.5 L)?
2. Will fermentation restart in bottles considering how low the FG is?

Anything else I need to know?

Great site, love reading here!
Thanks in advance!

 

[jkoegel]

1 cup priming sugar for your 6.5 gallons is equal to the recommended 3/4 cup per 5 gal batch that seems to be the norm.
I like a little bit more carbonation in mine so I go 2 Tbsb more.

There are also some online calculators that factor in temperature and level of carbonation desired. But you will need the ability to accurately weigh your sugar to use them. Measurements are not given in cups.

 

[dk4dk4]

Will it restart on its own in the bottles? Its been racked once already...

 

[lgilmore]

You should read the cider section of the forum. I just made a batch and everything I read said to re pasturize (unless you want to refridgerate it) for room temp storage. I re pasturized after about 3 days from bottling. Good bubbles, no bombs.

 

[dk4dk4]

I'm asking if there will be enough yeast left in the secondary to restart in the bottles after priming...?

 

[lgilmore]

yes, there will be. mine fg was 1.000 prior to bottling. carbed up very nicely and pretty quickly, quicker than beer.

It would benefit you to read the cider forum, not trying to be a dick, but it IS different than beer.

I decided to pasturize after reading how many problems occurred by not doing it and storing at room temp.

I decided to trust the education other people's prior mistakes taught me.

good luck. Your choice to read that section or not.

cheers.

 

[dinnerstick]

dunno what the above person is talking about, you prime a dry cider like yours the same as for beer and there is absolutely no need to pasteurize. you only need to pasteurize a semi-sweet bottled cider. 2 months old and 1 racking, you will have enough yeast still to carb, even if it's pretty clear. could take a while or could go quickly, but it will carb. i just punch in the final cider volume to an online beer priming calculator and it gives the weight of sugar. 2.5 volumes of CO2 is a good starting point, nice and fizzy but not dangerous. i don't like using volumetric measurements for sugar as they are inaccurate, but yeah they're pretty much close enough

 

[dk4dk4]

OK great! Thanks dinnerstick! Very helpful. I get 5.4oz or 0.675 cups dex.
I thought I had been reading the cider forums??? I'm not sure what Igilmore means? Read all the posts out there?

 

[lgilmore]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/storing-after-pasturizing-223631/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-pasteurizing-question-200479/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/pa...tabilize-bottled-fermented-apple-cider-71180/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/2010-cider-notes-204921/index2.html
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/cider-v1-0-a-145045/

Well to each their own. My concern was about storage. I wanted to store mine at room temp, rather than have to refridgerate to prevent bottle bombs, which was part of your question. I found a bunch of suggested posts on how to prevent BBs, it still doesn't mean you have to do anything, but you asked, I suggested and here are just a few of what I was talking about.

Even if your reading is .098 there still will be yeast in there. Otherwise your priming sugar will not carb anything as you need the yeast to carb up. The problem, at least as I have read in this forum is that the yeast will work so well that bottle bombs happen or guysers happen that pasturization was reccommended. I read enough to convince me to pasturize after a good level of carbonization occurred. I didn't want more carb so I pasturized to stop the process. Things worked great. Bottles sit out at room temp, no problems. Chilled and poured nice bubbles, head and tastes pretty good for the first time.

I use this site to avoid problems as many people who have brewed much longer than me explain in detail what problem happened and what to do to avoid that. I don't need to stick a fork into an outlet to see what happens. I'd rather take the words of people who did it already.

It just depends on what you want. I look at this forum as advice on what to do and what not to do.

 

[jkoegel]

Igilmore,

Even if your reading is .098 there still will be yeast in there.

Live yeast--yes. Sugar--no.

The point you are missing is that you only need to pasteurize if you are going to back-sweeten with a large amount of sugar to make a sweet cider. In this case you would have to monitor the carb level as it progresses and then immediately pasteurize to avoid bottle bombs.

On the other hand, if you are making a dry sparkling cider you only add enough sugar to carbonate. When the priming sugar is used up there is nothing left for the live yeast to ferment.

No need to pasteurize whatsoever. Zero danger of bottle bombs unless you add too much priming sugar. Long term aging at room temperature will only improve the unpasteurized cider.

 

[dk4dk4]

Just so I'm clear on my thought. I'm at 0.98 FG. If I use a calculator to add the priming sugar 5.4oz, how can b.bombs develop? Will the yeast not be limited to the amount of priming sugar being added before bottling? Therefore each bottle is limited in the amount of co2 it can produce? I only see a need to pasteurize if you want to stop at a sweeter level within the bottles....?

 

[jkoegel]

Just so I'm clear on my thought. I'm at 0.98 FG. If I use a calculator to add the priming sugar 5.4oz, how can b.bombs develop? Will the yeast not be limited to the amount of priming sugar being added before bottling? Therefore each bottle is limited in the amount of co2 it can produce? I only see a need to pasteurize if you want to stop at a sweeter level within the bottles....?

You are 100% correct sir.

 

[lgilmore]

Ok, I see where you're coming from. I backsweetend/primed with concentrate, a much higher amount of sugar than just carbing up, so for mine it was appropriate. For dk who wants a drier version should not be a problem. gotcha.

 

[mattmmille]

It was recommended that I use Munton's CarTabs to prime at bottling. I have a crabapple cider in secondary and anticipate SG of 0.990 at bottling. For a dry Cyser, I plan on using 4 tabs per 12 oz bottle. (Munton's recommendation is 3 tabs for light, 4 for normal and 5 for high carbonation.) I hope this will be okay for room temperature storage/aging without pasteurization...and no bottle bombs!