Cider and Bottle Conditioning

[Kms1990]

Hi All,

I have been fermenting some nice fresh cider from a near by farm for some time now. I would say it has been in the secondary fermenter for about 2 months now, and obviously most if not all of the fermentation has ceased (FG is .996ish). I plan on bottle conditioning this hard cider and was wondering if the yeast will come alive again to created carbonation in the bottle. I am new to cider making and am not sure about this. (I will be adding dextrose to bottle condition, like I do my beer).

Also, I think I would like to sweeten the cider a bit prior to bottling. Any suggestions on sweetening the cider without making my bottles explode, but still create carbonation?

THanks all!!!

 

[MisterWoody]

Should be fine unless you have a very high alcohol content. I Just did the same thing a few days ago - had a dry cider at about 11% - added some sugar via apple juice concentrate and after 3 days had to pasteurize to stop fermentation.

 

[MarkKF]

Add enough sugar to sweeten and prime then pasteurize to stop when at the desired carbonation. Or sweeten with nonfermentable such as Splenda then prime and bottle

 

[saramc]

Find 2 PET bottles which holds the same volume as your glass bottles. Use the PET bottles as your control bottles, they will become firm to the touch as carbonation is achieved and you can open to confirm and then promptly pasteurize the glass bottles.

 

[MarkKF]

Find 2 PET bottles which holds the same volume as your glass bottles. Use the PET bottles as your control bottles, they will become firm to the touch as carbonation is achieved and you can open to confirm and then promptly pasteurize the glass bottles.

Do they have to be same volume? I think they just need to have the same headspace.