First time doing bottle carbonation

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doctor strangebrew

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I'm doing a 1 gallon batch of cider (apple/cranberry... semi-high gravity) and bottling in two 2-liter plastic soda bottles. How much apple juice for priming? I figured about 1/2 cup for each bottle. Also, there will be too much "headspace" so should I add water or take a chance and use more juice? Maybe just leave the space and put the bottles in fridge and shake a bit?
 
By the way, this is my first time doing bottle carb with cider... have done this many times for beer in 12oz bottles. For beer I just used dextrose and a bottling bucket. What about using corn syrup? Will it leave some sweetness or does it all ferment? I guess I could do one 2-liter bottle filled almost all the way, and put the rest in second bottle (I would rather have one bottle properly carbonated even if the other fails)
 
Assuming you are using apple juice at 1.050 or so, 1/2 cup of juice per two litres should increase the SG by about 0.006 which is roughly 12 g per litre of fermentable sugar (around 2-3 teaspoons), which would probably give you a fairly robust 3.5 volumes of CO2. (I think my math is correct... 0.125 litres of juice at 1.050 plus 2.0 litres at 1.000 = 0.050 divided by 9 half cups. Feel free to correct me if this isn't right)

It depends a bit on how fizzy you want it. Slight or Perlant carbonation is about 1 volume of CO2 and requires about 2 g (about 1/2 teaspoon) per litre of fermentable sugar. "Normal" or Petillant carbonation is around 2 volumes of CO2 and requires anything from 4-8 g (up to 1 to 2 teaspoons) per litre and really fizzy like champagne is anything above 3 volumes. The brewers friend carbonation calculator is quite useful for this sort of thing, as is Jolicoeur table 15.3.

With cider I add the priming juice or sugar at bottling time once it has fully fermented (hopefully at SG 1.000) and increase the SG to the level that I need for carbonation, measuring in the bottling bucket with a hydrometer. Roughly, an increase of 0.001 will give Perlant and 0.002 to 0.004 will give Petillant carbonation, so your possible 1.006 would be a bit more than this.

I have considered trying to bottle at those SG levels before fermentation is complete, but it all seems too hard since it may stall at something above 1.000 (SO4 has done this to me) and taking samples seem to be too much trouble, especially if it hasn't cleared... it is easier to just add sugar or juice, after all we are making something to drink, not attempting rocket surgery!
 
Assuming you are using apple juice at 1.050 or so, 1/2 cup of juice per two litres should increase the SG by about 0.006 which is roughly 12 g per litre of fermentable sugar (around 2-3 teaspoons), which would probably give you a fairly robust 3.5 volumes of CO2. (I think my math is correct... 0.125 litres of juice at 1.050 plus 2.0 litres at 1.000 = 0.050 divided by 9 half cups. Feel free to correct me if this isn't right)
Half a cup at 1.050 will increase s.g. by roughly 3 points, not 6.

I think you forgot to divide by 2 since it's 2 liters.

The dangers of overthinking! ;)
 
Thank you so much for doing the math, and guidelines for carbonation. I am going to use 1/2 cup and some extra water to reduce headspace... should end up with a nice medium carb. RPh Guy, yes I do tend to overthink things. By the way, I used 3 cans of FAJC and filled the rest of 1 gallon jug with regular juice. I don't have hydrometer, so can you estimate gravity for that?
 
Now I'm confused... is 1/2 juice (per 2-liter bottle) enough? Also, warm weather coming soon... how many days after bottling before they go in the fridge?
 
I looked at the juice label... 27 grams sugar/8 oz. Used a priming sugar calculator (for 1 gallon batch) and got CO2 a2.0 = 16g, CO2 at 3.0 = 30g. Two 2-liter bottles is a bit more than 1 gallon (adding some water to reduce head space) and shooting for about 2.5 CO2 so just under 1 cup (8oz) juice should be fine (this isn't rocket science... don't mind if it's well carbed) Bottling today... how many days at room temp before putting in fridge? It's going to get hot very soon! Might have to play a game... set out overnight, then fridge during the day. Nice thing about plastic 2-liter bottles is you can squeeze and sort of judge pressure.
 
For you experienced bottle carbers - how long do you typically let it go at room temp -- b4 chilling or pasteurizing? Trying to hone in on min time req'd. Up to this point I've been doing 30days & they've been great.

Cheers [emoji111]
 
I looked at the juice label... 27 grams sugar/8 oz. Used a priming sugar calculator (for 1 gallon batch) and got CO2 a2.0 = 16g, CO2 at 3.0 = 30g. Two 2-liter bottles is a bit more than 1 gallon (adding some water to reduce head space) and shooting for about 2.5 CO2 so just under 1 cup (8oz) juice should be fine (this isn't rocket science... don't mind if it's well carbed) Bottling today... how many days at room temp before putting in fridge? It's going to get hot very soon! Might have to play a game... set out overnight, then fridge during the day. Nice thing about plastic 2-liter bottles is you can squeeze and sort of judge pressure.
Hold on a second...

First, nutrition labels can be off by as much as 20%, so it's fine for ballpark numbers but no substitute for using a hydrometer.

Second, the cider contains residual carbonation from fermentation. The amount of residual carbonation depends on the highest temperature it reached since the end of fermentation.
You need to take this into account when adding sugar. If you used a priming calculator it would already do this for you. If you're doing the math yourself you can find a chart online with the amount of residual carbonation based on temperature.
If you're priming 2 liters at a time, use 2 liters as the batch size in your priming calculator. ;)

I can imagine getting a blank stare through the screen when trying to explain all the math and things you need to take into account; that's why I suggested simply priming like beer, especially since you don't have a hydrometer and are just guessing about the amount of sugar in the juice for priming.

I don't pasteurize, so I leave at room temperature indefinitely. If I rouse the yeast several times daily, bottles fully carbonate in about 3-4 days.

Cheers
 
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I had some issues siphoning, so ended up with one full 2-liter bottle (added just under 1/2 cup juice for priming) and one partial bottle, so I just drank the partial. It was surprisingly strong! My "oakie hydrometer" says 7-8 % (judging by the buzz I got) The cider was very sour for my taste (but no bad smell) and had a nice bite from the cranberry (I like that... my plain apple ciders were bland) I don't need to calculate for 2-liters... just do it for 1 gallon and split in half. This is all subjective because I'm guessing about the desired CO2 level anyway. Learn from this batch and adjust for next batch.
 
Just wondering... what is the CO2 level of soda from the store? I'm guessing 3.0 (I pour mine in a glass and let some of the carb escape) I know you will all be disappointed, but for reasons I'd rather not explain, I could not wait. 2 days in the bottle, threw it in the fridge and drank some. No carb, but tasted better with a hint of sweetness.
 
Just wondering... what is the CO2 level of soda from the store? I'm guessing 3.0 (I pour mine in a glass and let some of the carb escape) I know you will all be disappointed, but for reasons I'd rather not explain, I could not wait. 2 days in the bottle, threw it in the fridge and drank some. No carb, but tasted better with a hint of sweetness.
3.5 vol CO2.

You don't need to impress any of us [random people on the internet]. Drink it whenever/however works best for you.
Cheers
 
It’s in a 2 liter bottle. Why pasteurize? I use glass and soda bottles, prime like beer, have never had any issues.
 
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