Temp and time for pasturizing bottle carb cider

[Will Cox]

Is 142f for 10 minutes enough to sterilize yeast in bottle carbonated cider?  I can't seem to find any reliable and repeated information and I feel that I might have not went quite hot enough.  I've sterilized ice cider before twice but I can't recall the temps and time I was using.  I don't want to over do it as I had a couple of crown caps blow and a mess trying this last year, however there was much more pressure in the bottles prior to pasteurizing last year.  This time SG at bottling was 1.008ish and it is now 1.005 so not a crazy amount of pressure in the bottles and bottles are heavy glass with crown caps.  Was 142f for 10 minutes enough or did I need to go higher/longer?

[gareth chapman]

should be plenty that should equate to around about 15 pasteurisation units (PUs)though current industry wisdom seems to favour over 50 PUs personally I heat to 60C (141f), product temp and leave to cool  and have never had a problem with refermentation.
This might be of some interest.
A Preliminary Evaluation to Establish Bath Pasteurization Guidelines for Hard Cider - ProQuest

[terryc...@gmail.com]

Whoops looks like I might have doubled up while replying off-line... sorry!

I regularly pasteurise in a 65C (149F) waterbath and have done a fair bit of research on temperature, level of pasteurisation, and consequent bottle pressure.

It takes about 5 – 6 minutes for my bottle contents to reach 65C by which time pasteurisation of about 15 pasteurisation units (PUs) have occurred and the bottles are removed to cool down. During cooldown to below 60C a further 20 Pus are achieved for a total of over 30 PUs.

Your 61C (142F) should generate 1.4 PUs per minute, so over 10 minutes about 14 PUs should accumulate. The currently accepted target for cider is 30PUs but there is evidence that even this is more than needed.

A very good paper by Valliere and Harkins from Washington State University on Pasteurising Guidelines for Hard Cider, was published in “Beverages” a few years ago. It is easy to find with a google search. In this they suggest that even a few minutes over 60C is more than adequate to pasteurise cider and stop fermentation, although they suggest that more research is needed to determine the effect of this on pathogens. This suggests that your 14 PUs should be O.K.

As far as bottles are concerned, the pressure generated will be a function of how much carbonation (CO2) you have and the temperature. Andrew Lea’s Carbonation table will let you determine this. As a guide, no carbonation (typically less than one volume of CO2 from fermentation) should only result in 3 bar or 44psi of bottle pressure at 61C. On the other hand, with a normal carbonation of 2.5 volumes, the bottle pressure could be 7.6 bar or 110psi. My research shows that most common beer type 330ml (12 oz) bottles will handle over 150psi, and are batch tested in manufacturing to well above this. However, there is always the chance of a below spec bottle so PPE is always recommended when pasteurising in this way. 

[Alma Cider]

Bri Ewing conducted research on this topic in 2020 that changed my processes. I now use shorter duration and lower temps than I used too. 

Ultimately, it’s up to you, but I feel like evidence based practice is a good direction to take. Here is the citation/ abstract and link to the literature. 

TY  - JOUR

AU  - Valliere, Brianna

AU  - Harkins, Sarah

PY  - 2020/04/13

SP  - 24

N2  - Though in-package water bath heat pasteurization for hard cider production is commonly employed to improve product safety and stability, there is a considerable lack of research-based guidelines to inform industry practices. In this study, fermented cider was bottled and inoculated with high populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zygosaccharomyces rouxii yeast. The bottles were then subjected to water bath pasteurization 60 °C at varying lengths of time. For both yeast species, populations were reduced to undetectable levels after just 1 min of processing time. Though validation of each individual process is recommended, cider producers may be able to sufficiently reduce the risks of spoilage organisms with minimal water bath pasteurization, especially when combined with other methods to reduce the presence of spoilage organisms.

T1  - A Preliminary Evaluation to Establish Bath Pasteurization Guidelines for Hard Cider

VL  - 6

DO  - 10.3390/beverages6020024

JO  - Beverages

ER  - 

Y. Dave Klawer (he/him)

Alma Cider 

Cidermaker/ Orchardist 

4253125734

Certified Pommelier ™️

Board Member of the Northwest Cider Association 

On Apr 25, 2025, at 9:06 PM, Will Cox <willcox...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is 142f for 10 minutes enough to sterilize yeast in bottle carbonated cider?  I can't seem to find any reliable and repeated information and I feel that I might have not went quite hot enough.  I've sterilized ice cider before twice but I can't recall the temps and time I was using.  I don't want to over do it as I had a couple of crown caps blow and a mess trying this last year, however there was much more pressure in the bottles prior to pasteurizing last year.  This time SG at bottling was 1.008ish and it is now 1.005 so not a crazy amount of pressure in the bottles and bottles are heavy glass with crown caps.  Was 142f for 10 minutes enough or did I need to go higher/longer?

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[Brent Miles-Wagner]

What temps and times have been working for you, generally speaking? 

[gareth chapman]

waterbath until product hits 60 celcius take out leave to cool, never had refermentation yet