How do i bottle my cider?

[schmidty823]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the hobby if home brewing wine, cider, beer, etc. The first recipe I am trying is edworts apple cider. This was a very easy recipe but now I am asking for advice on bottling. When should I add sugar to carbonate? Can I use flip top beer bottles? Any input would be great!

Cheers

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

Add sugar to carbonate right before you bottle...can't remember what people use as a ratio though for 5 gallons...I usually do it by the bottle, 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar per 12 oz bottle, or a heaping teaspoon per 750 mL bottle. I like it this way because mine is pretty strong and when I'm trying new batches I can leave the sugar out of some and decide later if I like it better sparkling or still. If you're just doing a regular cider like 5-6% you'll probably just want it carbed.

Yes you can use beer bottles, champagne bottles, or pop top style "grolsh" bottles. Just don't use regular wine bottles as they're not made for carbonation and will blow either the bottle or the cork out. Some people use Apple juice concentrate to carb or corn sugar, but you'll have to wait for them to chime in with their ratio's.

Sanitize all your bottles and caps, have paitience, depending on the yeast you use and how warm you keep it, it can be carbonated in as little as 2 weeks or could take as much as two months.

How many gallons did you brew?

Good luck!

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

So a teaspoon is approx 4.2 grams of sugar...roughly...so if you buy a can of apple juice concentrate and it has 120 grams of sugar, it will be approxamately 28.5 teaspoons of sugar, so 1 can of concentrate @ roughly 120g sugar would be good to carbonate 5 gallons of cider.

That's just math though, there are brewers here who have done it with concentrate that can attest from experience to a good ratio.

 

[Fossey]

Rough guide is an ounce of priming sugar per gallon. Works for me anyways!

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

That's right, I always forget and didn't want ot say .5 lbs, because it's 5 oz...

You can use 5 oz of corn sugar, but the home brew store will probably have 5 oz bags already portioned out.

 

[schmidty823]

Awesome input! I think I will give the teaspoon of sugar per bottle a try. I want to try the apple wine both ways so I know which way I prefer for future reference.

 

[Sewer_Urchen]

remember, 1/2 teaspoon per 12 oz bottle, heaping teaspoon per 750mL champagne bottle. Not the other way arround!!!

 

[Fossey]

Or use carbonation drops if you can get hold of them. Consistent dose then.