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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Cider pastuerization on hold...

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homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I was expecting to pasteurize my cider on the stovetop tonight (ala the method described in this post), but the silly thing is apparently not carbed enough yet. 

Tonight marks three full days in the bottles, but my plastic water bottle (aka the "tester") is not yet fully hard.  It has firmed up, but it want it to be quite rigid before I pasteurize.

Man, I hope that I know what I'm doing!  lol




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Four days in, now.  The water bottle is firm, but I *can* still squish it a bit. 

I guess I'll wait another day?



Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Tried one last night, carb level was good.  I'm heating on the stovetop right now.



Posted 34 days ago.

Stauff
El Paso, TX
13 Posts


I've had a lot of issues with stovetop pasteurizing in the past. I find that the PET bottles can be misleading sometimes. I've taken to just checking the actual bottles now. I don't mind drinking it still if it hasn't carbed yet. Another thing I have run into with back sweetening is some bottles carb faster than others. I had 3 bottles explode last time I did it. The rest of the 3.5 gallon batch was fine, and not at all over carbed. I've had many successes prior to that, so this was a bit of a shocker for me. I bulk pasteurize now in a cooler. The whole batch of bottles goes in the ice chest, hot water gets added, I leave it all in the cooler over night until cool. This way I never handle hot, pressurized bottles.



Posted 34 days ago.

mchrispen
Bastrop, TX
485 Posts


Hey do you by chance have a sous vide immersion circulator? I ask because that stove method has always seems dangerous.

I wonder even if you just loaded up a crock pot and connected a johnson controller, you could raise and hold pretty accurately at 180F for an extended period of time... and it would be a much more gentle heating cycle. I should give this a trial with my next batch.

Stauff - is that you Mike?




Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by mchrispen

Stauff
El Paso, TX
13 Posts


Yup, it's me.. 


In my ice chest method I just go 150*F, since it sits for many hours. It works great for the most part..





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Stauff, you do 150F... water temp?  Bottle temp?  I'd love to see a writeup on your process in detail.



Posted 34 days ago.

Stauff
El Paso, TX
13 Posts


It's bottle temp. I put all the bottles in the ice chest, tape a temp probe to a bottle in the middle which is attached to my Fluke thermometer, add water that is 190ish, and leave them alone until the next day. I imagine you could use a meat thermometer with a probe on a wire, in the same way. The bottle temp will range from 140 to +150.. Anywhere in that range will work, since they will stay at that temp for hours. In the morning, if the temp is still in the 100-130F range, I open the cooler lid and allow them to cool the rest of the day while I'm at work. Then when I get home I take the bottles out and box them up for storage. I do this in the backyard, so if there is an explosion I won't have glass shards in the house.



Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Nice.  I might have to try this myself, next time.



Posted 34 days ago.

Stauff
El Paso, TX
13 Posts


Let me know how it works out for you..



Posted 34 days ago.

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