sugar to carbonate cider

by **floating_liquid** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:12 pm

Hi guys, first post here just joined up and just had a question about a cider im about to bottle.
Half of my bottles are 750Ml bottles which i am just going to be using the standard 2 carbonation drops per bottle, but some of them are 500Ml bottles and i was just wondering if anyone has had experience with carbonating these size bottles and just wondering if maybe i shoule just use 1 drop in the bottle to be safe as this is my first batch i just really dont want any explosions.

thanks

by **floating_liquid** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:15 pm

or perhaps if someone had a measurement of sugar to add that would be great also

by **Sam.** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:21 pm

You shouldn't worry about carbonating the cider and charge your boiler with it and give it a run ;-)

Either that or post this in the beer brewing section mate, maybe duck over to the welcome centre and introduce yourself :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Serious answer though, I carbonate my cider the same as beer

by **floating_liquid** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:24 pm

yeah realised after posting it i was in the distilling section haha

by **invisigoth** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:16 am

if you google around you should be able to find several online priming calculators. if you have a second fermenter to rack to and you know what volume you are going to bottle, then bulk priming is the way to go. then it doesn't matter what size bottles you use. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

by **BackyardBrewer** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:15 am

I use this one, allows you to figure bulk priming rates very easily in imperial or metric
http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/s ... lator.html

by **Hill** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:14 am

You can by little measures but as a guide 3g per 375ml stubby 6g per 700ml stubby. In saying that go really easy with cider, you need to watch your starting and finishing gravity, if the gravity has finished high you won't need much. alot of guys use pet bottles for cider so they can handle a little more pressure just in case.

by **BackyardBrewer** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:33 am

Bulk prime, it's more reliable and then you can use random size bottles like 330ml and 600ml grolsch swing tops.

by **Hill** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 9:38 am

yeah and easier than filling each bottle separately :laughing-rolling: If you do bulk prime you need to rack and be careful about infection or introducing a lot of oxygen into the brew.

by **invisigoth** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:12 am

Hill wrote:yeah and easier than filling each bottle separately :laughing-rolling: If you do bulk prime you need to rack and be careful about infection or introducing a lot of oxygen into the brew.

i've found the easiest way to deal with that is to use fermenters with taps, and gravity feed the transfer from tap to tap with the lid on the second fermenter closed and the minimum amount of water in the lock. the brew fills gently without a lot of aerating but still enough to mix the priming solution into it. :D