Bottling Hard Cider

I finally bottled up my hard cider last night.  I can finally bring this brew log to a close….until I pop one open and taste it.  I am thinking that won’t be for another few months.  I told my wife that it wouldn’t be really ready until February.   Our son’s birthday is on the 11th of that month so maybe the adults can share some hard cider while the kids have some apple juice.

I went ahead as planned and added some bentonite to the finished cider.  It settled out after a couple of days.

As I was racking from the fermenter to the bottling bucket, the cider appeared very pale and very clear in the siphon’s plastic tube.

My wife thought it looked like pee.  I think it was at that point that her help was not needed any more.  :)  I think she’s funny though.

For priming, I followed the tip in the BYO article to add a tablespoon and a half of sugar for each gallon of cider.  I prepared the priming solution by adding the sugar to a pint of water and boiling it for 15 minutes.  I added it to my bottling bucket before I started racking.

It’s carbing up right now.  As of this morning, no bottle bombs.

Brew On.