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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...
Hi
despite a lot of nay saying about how hard it is to make a good cider I have had extremely good luck all 4 years i have done it. I make about 12 gal. at time and I also carbonate it. What I have found is that that for some reason that I don't fully understand what I call green cider tastes better when you carbonate it. So the proccess goes as follows. I first ferment and condition in carboys for three months. racking twice. Then I use corn sugar like beer. 3/4 cup per 5 gal. if your doing odd size batches like 1,3, or 6 gal there are website that you can look up what amount to use for the desired carbonation. You can use corn sugar, cane sugar, or honey. It is best to use a digital scale so you can be precise this is important because you will either blow up your bottles or you won't get the desired amount of carbonation. So add this to 2 cups of water boil 7 to 10 mn. Let cool to room temp then stir into your bottling bucket or pan, which ever you have. Bottle, let stand for 3 to 4 weeks, then frige condition for 2 to 3 more weeks before drinking. From beginning to end it best not to drink it for a total of 6 months. This gives the yeast time to mellow out the acidic taste. Good luck. If any one has any luck let me know how you make out.
I think it also depends on how strong your cider is, I made my first batch of cider and it turned out being pretty strong, around 11%, I added some sugar to a few bottles to try carbonation, but it didn't really work well, and was just flat. So, you may have to repitch some yeast as well.
I just bottled my cider this morning 
I fermented freshly crushed, non pasteurized, no preservative added juice, pitched the yeast and let it go. I racked once, added a cup of raw honey boiled with water, and let it sit for 2 months. Today I racked again, and added 3/4 cup of rapadura boiled in 1 cup of water to the bottling bucket. I tasted later in the day and it already had some fizz. And quite a kick.
I don't like flat cider. I understand why corn sugar is preferred from a chemical perspective, but I didn't have any on hand, so I went with plain old sugar.
brewing cider
I have been brewing cider for about 12 years now.
I am a diabetic, so I do not add sugar or any other sweetner.
I buy 3litre bottles of applejuice from supermarkets. NO PRESERTAVIVE
I place 24 litres of this (no presertives) in a plastic 30litre beer brewing container.
I throw in beer yeast (ANY cheap brewing yeast I can get my hads on) then put the airlock in and let it ferment until it stops fermenting and it settles.
I bottle it off into beer bottles (700mls) with 2 teaspoons of white sugar per bottle.
It takes different amounts of time to age (depending on the time of year) but generally I can "crack" the first bottle after 8 to 12 weeks.
It ALWAYS turns out like a semi sweet sparkling wine, and different brands of applejuice or different types of yeast do not change it.
I HAVE FOUND if I use wine or champayne yest the cider becomes dry.
I also tried cider made with applejuice from an orchard, but it was too dry and too high in alchol when it was ready to drink.
I am considering carbonating the bottles instead of adding sugar.
Has anyone tried gassing the bottles ?
Booze is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy:lol:
Actually aussie, your quote is a variation of a famous quote by a famous American Colonial, Benjamin Franklin.
"Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy"
On the thread, I agree that the champagne yeast makes a cider that is too dry, I've had good sucess with Lavin -47 in both ciders & meads. It leaves more residual sugar.
I am a bit confused about the recipe that AussieJohn mentioned. He stated "no added sugar" because he is a diabetic, but then adds 2 teaspoons of sugar to each bottle. That is enough sugar to put a diabetic in the hospital. (I have many diabetics in my immediate family). John, can you clarify your post just a bit or did I read it correctly?
Tess wrote:
I am a bit confused about the recipe that AussieJohn mentioned. He stated "no added sugar" because he is a diabetic, but then adds 2 teaspoons of sugar to each bottle. That is enough sugar to put a diabetic in the hospital. (I have many diabetics in my immediate family). John, can you clarify your post just a bit or did I read it correctly?
Seeing how the last time aussiejohn wrote was Aug 2009 I wouldn't hold your breath.
But I was a little concerned of 2tsp of sugar and the hospital comment. 2 tbsp maybe but 2 tsp isn't all that much for a well managed diabetic. I work in diabetes research and I don't mean any disrespect to any family members struggling with DBM. But many diabetics 'cheat' with the occasional piece of chocolate or even eat fruit. 2 tsp is less than these examples.
Thank you for the response Brewchez, I sometimes forget to look at the dates. My concern and train of thought was the addition of 2 t. sugar to a highly natural sweetened beverage is enough to push many diabetics sugar levels over the edge. Natural sugars are still sugar just the same. I had justational diabetis while pregnant several years back and really had to watch my natural and added sugars in my diet. Even a 1/2 of bottle of beer was enough to send my sugars racing out of bounds.
My other thought was since he made mention of no sugar added perhaps this was a typo concerning the size of the container or the amount of added sugars to the finish product.
One thing I think you guys are forgetting is that this is a thread on carbonating cider. The sugar aussiejohn added to the bottles is going to be metabolized by the yeast, converted to alcohol and produce CO2 and is not going to sweeten the cider.
Aussiejohn didn't provide any gravity numbers but stated he didn't add any other sugars or sweeteners to his ciders. Apple juices don't have super high specific gravities and I think whatever yeast he used, whether it be an ale yeast or wine yeast, would eat up whatever fermentable sugar is available and I wouldn't be surprised if his final gravity was in the single digits.
Just for comparison sake, I did a little math and compared his 2 tbsp (1.8oz dry weight) per 700 mL bottle for a 24 L batch to my cider batch which was 5 US gallons and carbonated with 4.55 oz of sugar. After the conversions, he ended up using 1.027 oz of sugar per 1 US gallon of cider where I used 1.099 oz of sugar per 1 US gallon.
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