3.9 gallon of cider Shooting for 3.6 vol co2 66°bottling temp 160g dextrose Max pressure in my test bottle was about 25psi after 3 weeks. Dont get me wrong,its carbonated but I was looking for more...kinda like coke or Pepsi type
Not for sure.... first time for cider. I’m planning on doing the back sweetening, than doing a pop bottle to feel. Then pasteurization of the glass bottles. I know when doing beer, I’d just follow the formulas.... sometimes they were spot on and times the weren’t.
Guess I'll go for 4 volumes this time. I'm back sweetening with erythritol. Bottling a couple batches in 16 oz plastic(new) The rest I'm doing in 16oz swing tops,some of which will get pasteurized. I'll post a pic of my pastureizing set up if you want.
A bunch of first for me... I’m gonna with the theory that it’s mostly like a beer, but slightly different...
I kept looking at this thread and it caused a bit of envy. I haven't made anything in years, but still have everything needed. I have zero notes from years past, just going to wing it. Only doing a gallon for now, in the past I backed carbed with frozen concentrate or might even use more cida .
Back in the day I tried two different methods to back sweeten. There was a powder the brew store sold that killed the yest and another time I used a sugar that won't react to yeast , forgot what the suagr was called but I had to order it and it was a little pricey . For this gallon I'm just going to add something for a little carbonation. I do think pasteurized to sweeteen would be best option .
Don’t just use frozen AJC to backsweeten, get funky, use raspberry apple or some cranberry or whatever else you might find in the concentrate isle. My last batch I even used a tropical apple guava juice which was a bit pulpy but good. I’ve used cans of Jumex peach nectar and honey as well. I use the potassium sorbate to effectively kill the yeast and stop fermentation before adding the frozen juice concentrates and kegging. I don’t want the yeast to start eating again! Especially if I fill a bottle with the finished cider for a gift. Boom!
That’s really tough to do. You can stop the yeast before they eat all of the sweetness with Camden tablets or potassium sorbate. Or just backsweeten to taste after they eat all of the fermentable sugars. Way inthebeginning I used xylitol which is a nonfermentable sweetener. It worked but tasted weird. I can’t taste the potassium sorbate.
I've thought about trying a cherry concentrate. That's what I used years back ,xylitol. It was ok but I didn't really care for the taste it left . I have some Camden tabs, but like to use as little additives as possible. I'm waiting to see skeeters method to kill the yest. I guessing if you heat up bottles that are carbonated, things can get sketchy.
How about a little melomel, in this case, elderberry mead. First time, we will see how it goes. It smells good.
I was getting a few bottles prepped and found one still full. popped that sucker open, I was shocked it still had some carbonation, smelled ok too. To be on the safe side I dumped it. Don't think I've made cider in 10 years.
Believe it or not treat it like a wine, not beer. Since there’s no grain in cider, you’re already at a bunch of juice and sugar with yeast. Beer is typically none of the juice unless it’s added for flavor later on or as a sugar.
