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Carbonate cider?
Should cider be carbonated?
And if yes, what do you use for carbonation? I'm not sure that the
priming sugar would be the same for cider as it is beer.
And if not, just put it in the bottle and cap it?
Marv.
First off, I've never made a cider, but I have had a few commercial examples and they were all carbonated. I found this on the BJCP site:
Carbonation may be either natural (by maintaining CO2 pressure through processing or by bottle-conditioning) or added (by CO2 injection).
But then when you read through the actual style guidelines for Cider, you see this:
Entrants MUST specify carbonation level (still, petillant, or sparkling)
So I imagine most of the commercial examples (Strongbow, etc.) are sparkling ciders, but that doesn't mean you have to carbonate. If you want bubbles...carbonate it. If you don't want bubbles, don't carbonate it.
I assume that the yeast left in the beer would use the oxygen that might be left in a bottle after filling, even if you didn't add sugar, but I can't say for sure. If left for awhile, the cider might oxidize.
Again, I've never brewed a cider before, so hopefully somebody who has will chime in.
DT
I personally can't imagine how a cider would taste without some carbonation - I would definitely carbonate.
Like dmofot, I think that CO2 or bottle conditioning would be the natural way to go.
Thanks guys,I'm gonna have to look up bottle conditioning.
Cause I'm not sure what it is.
Marv.
A lot of people do make ciders that are still.
A good way to carbonate a cider (assuming you are bottline) is to use a can of frozen apple juice concentrate when bottling. One can, thawed, should be good for about 5 gallons. You could also use corn sugar, or similar, as you would with beer.
Your other option for carbonating would be to force carb. This would allow you to make sweeter cider, as you could stop the fermentation with k sorbate, so you can add more sugar without it fermenting out. Of course, you need kegging equipment, so it isn't an option for everyone.
here's a reason for making a "still" cider. carbonation creates carbonic acid, which gives an acidic flavor. I've noticed definite differences in my ciders between still and carbonated, and it's readily attributable to the carbonic acid "bite". if you make a cider, especially if you invest in some fresh pressed orchard cider, bottle a few before you carbonate, and see what you think of the difference after a month. they both will be good, but IMO still cider has a fresher, more delicate flavor that the carbonation/carbonic acid "bite" seems to take away...
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