Unintentional Sparkling Apple Cider

[Scooter68]

Well it's been at least 7-8 months since I've opened a bottle of a batch of Apple Cider sweetened with Honey. Pretty certain that I used sorbate and K-Meta. When I pulled the cork I didn't notice an pressure release but as soon as I poured some in a glass it looked a little hazy. Hmm, tasted it and WOW! It's got a very mild carbonation to it. Obviously not enough to pop corks or blow up a bottle but just a nice subtle Carbonated tang to it. Actually quite enjoyable even if it was uninteneded. Now I have to go look at my records on that batch and see what I did.

 

[Bossbaby]

The first time I made a blackberry wine I bottled it at around 8 months old and let it sit on the wine rack for another 6 months until I found a mess, 1 of the 5 bottles popped a cork, evidently it wasn't degassed enough idk, so popped open a other bottle and sure enough it had a little fizz which I actually enjoyed as well but I'm not sure I will try to replicate since it was a pain to clean up. I still haven't found that cork.

 

[Rice_Guy]

enjoyable is as good as it gets!

Actually quite enjoyable even if it was uninteneded. Now I have to go look at my records on that batch and see what I did.

Likewise am curious on your notes, ,,,, I ordered in several cider varietals this week and am curious what a good finished cider/ cyser specification should be.

 

[salcoco]

sorbate may not have been valid any longer. shelf life is only about one year. if a grayish overcast is has passed volatility

 

[Bkat]

It's always a welcome surprise when a batch of unpasteurized sweet cider does its own thing and develops a buzzy fizz all on its own.

 

[Scooter68]

enjoyable is as good as it gets!

Likewise am curious on your notes, ,,,, I ordered in several cider varietals this week and am curious what a good finished cider/ cyser specification should be.

Will post notes from my records when I get up to the other house in the next day or so. A little snow here so I'm working on some other things first, like keeping wood stove stoked up with firewood. Not that much snow (3") and not that cold (24f) but.... I'm getting a little lazy these winter days

 

[Stretch]

Lucky surprise for you! I greatly prefer my ciders to have a decent amount of sparkle. I'm still relatively new to cidermaking, but I like to run my primary fermentation down to SG 1.000 (or even less) but that obviously leaves a really dry cider. I back sweeten with a nonfermentable sweetener (I like splenda best) and then add a bit of tannin and also a nice high-quality dark maple syrup as a primer. I've used honey as well, but prefer the maple as it gives a bit more body. I then bottle it and allow it to use the primer to naturally carbonate in the bottle. I obviously don't use any sorbate or K-meta as that would prevent the natural carbo. Using about 500gm of maple syrup per 5 gallons yields a carbonation level of about 3 volumes which is moderately fizzy if all goes well and the bottles don't leak. When bottling, I fill one plastic bottle like a 16oz soda bottle or a 1/2 gal plastic cider bottle (both sanitized) and then use glass flip top bottles for the rest of the cider. I let all of the bottles sit out at room temp for several days while priming. When the plastic bottle is VERY firm, I put them all in the fridge to markedly slow the fermentation, and then *fingers-crossed* most of the primer should be gone by then too. I use flip top bottles of decent strength and so far (knock on wood) haven't had any fridge grenades.

Exciting that you seem to have gotten a natural carbo without even really trying...now good luck trying to replicate it!

Cheers, Stretch

 

[offthehipevents]

I recently opened my first batch of sparkling wine that I made from a gallon of mulled apple cider. It has beautiful tiny bubbles, but not much flavor. I've made the mulled apple cider wine plain before and it always comes out great. I corked a batch early and champagne caged it to see if I could get a sparkling version. It is not what I expected at all. I was hoping it would keep some of the sweetness or at the least have the cinnamon notes but it's very flat. There is no mouthfeel or pucker. It does taste like theres a lot more alcohol content than the 13% PA I started out with. Here is the recipie I used
1 gallon fresh pressed apple cider
1 quart water
1.5 lbs sugar
1 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp pectin enzyme
1 crushed campden tablet
1 pkt of champagne yeast

I simmered cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cardamom pods with the sugar in a quart of water. Stained out the whole spices into the primary with the cider. Added my acid, tannin, and yeast nutrient. 2 hrs later I added the campden. 12 hrs later I measured my ABV. At 13%. I added pectin enzyme. After 24 hrs I then added my yeast. I let it ferment almost all the way out then added additional sugar yeast nutrient and bottled into champagne bottles. 6 months later this is what I've got