Confused about priming cider

[jamesjr]

Well I popped the top to the cider and well it went every where its been about to weeks to the hour. It taste great but its extremely carbonated. Its still bubbling now like mad lol

 

[seth8530]

Looks like you over carbed it. I would be careful and let those guys sit somewhere safe for a week or two more and see if they start exploding. Best that does not happen when you are holding it.

 

[jamesjr]

Lol ya I kno thanks it only does it if I open them quickly but man does it have some fizz

 

[petey_c]

You might try cracking one open just a bit, just enough to start hearing the CO2 escape and then stop. See if you can gradually bleed off some of the pressure. Was the cider cold? Did it sit in the fridge for long? I've never made cider, so I'm just throwing some beers tricks out there. Pete

 

[jamesjr]

Ya im gradually stepping into beer Im trying to learn carbonation with cheap ciders but ya I did it slowly on the rest of them and its good just fizzy but I like it and I think I made it to strong lol but does it help with refrigeration? What does it do? Pros cons?

 

[seth8530]

Refrigerating the beer/cider after carbonation has completed allows the CO2 to make its way into suspension. Ie, your cider stays bubbly longer. Plus perhaps some other goodies too. Who knows.

 

[jamesjr]

Ok kool ya someone was telling me on here that no cider will retain much of a head because the lack of protein.

 

[JohnT]

Well said seth.

You should chill you cider down for a couple of weeks before opening. The CO2 has not had a chance to go into solution.

Just like a cold beer saying carbonated longer when cold, and a warm beer erupting when opened, you want to have it chilled.

Also,

No one here has suggested forced carbonation. If you have the means, and would like to make a modest investment in equipment, forced carbonation is far better (IMHO) then natural carbonation.

Forced carbonation requires no disgorging, will never result in exploding bottles, and has no problems with clarity.

In forced carbonation, I place my finished, clear, sorbated and back sweetened cider into a cornelious keg, pump it up to 35 psi (with Co2) and chill for 2 or 3 weeks. In the end it is clear, crisp, sparkling hard cider on tap!! YUM!

 

[seth8530]

Well, cider won't hold much of a head no matter the level of carbonation ( unless you put something in it). I live in bottle carbonation land. I have mused with getting a kegging setup for some of my wines/meads that I want to carbonate, but I could live without it for beer and cider.

In beer and cider land, people tend to be ok with knowing you are supposed to decant off the sediment, in wine land people are like SEDIMENT>!!>! What is that?!?!? PLEGH! Ie, it is considered a MAJOR fault.

The one thing that makes me want to stay in bottle land is that it is SOO much easier to share bottled beer/ cider than say its kegged counter part... Ie, in one case you go to the party, but in the other the party comes to you. That being said, their are ways to go from a keg to a carbbed bottle, but I have not had much luck with that. ( ie not holding good carbonation) but that might have been just because I sucked at the beer gun.

However, a MAJOR advantage of the kegging setup is that you can bottle carbonated backsweetened wine/cider/mead... That would be nice...

 

[JohnT]

Seth,

As long as the cider is cold, you will not lose a whole lot of carbonation when you tap your kegged cider into a growler. I have a kegerator set at 34 degrees.

Also, I have a portable CO2 cartridge (about $12).

Since the cider is clear, I have no worries about bringing the keg to the party. With the above co2 charger, all I need is a length of tubing, a pin connecter on one end and a tap spigot on the other.

so, besides the keg, all other equipment I need can fit into my jacket pocket.

In other words, I get invited to a LOT of parties!

 

[seth8530]

Yeah, it is something I have been looking into. But, still for me, I would like to 12 oz or 25 oz bottle to be the final delivery device. Issue is, I have not seen many kegs that are 5 gallon+..... Which makes the idea of me using it for bottling on the large scale kind of impractical.

 

[JohnT]

Seth,

Trust me, give it a try!

The average corney keg holds 5+ gallons.

I used to feel the same way about bottles, until I saw my pal's set up. Once I started using kegs and forced carbonation, I never looked back.

Consider the following..

- You only have 1 keg to clean and cleaning the keg is made very simple because of the large hatch on top of the keg. This is WAY better then cleaning 40 12oz bottles!

- Since you are pumping in CO2, you loose no carbonation over time.

- If you keep it cold, your sparkling beverage will keep for 6 months or more.

- Since the keg has a safety release valve, it will not explode on you. I have had many bottles explode over the years (once while it was in my hand).

- Like I said before, since you are using forced carbonation, and do not need yeast for carbonation, you do not have to disgorge or worry about decanting in order to remove that yeast.


Sorry to go on like this.. I did things the hard way for years (bottles/natural fermentation) and am really excited about this forced carbonation method. I know that this can be pricey, but I would advise everybody to give it a try.

 

[seth8530]

Well, I am pretty stubborn at time. I might give it a go. Either way, I would at least at first start out kegging then going into the bottle. All depends on the $$$.

 

[JohnT]

Yup, It could be pricey, but I am sure that if you gave this a try you will no longer want the bottles!