Oztops

[Thuys]

Hey All,

Has anyone here used Oztops before? They are for making cider.
Basically they are a pressure regulating cap. You buy a bottle of juice, pitch your yeast and replace the lid with an oztop.
As fermentation progresses the top will keep the pressure in the bottle at X amount. This prevents bottles bombs and allows carbonation.
After a few days of fermentation you move your bottle into the fridge and the yeast will settle and go into hibernation (depending on the yeast).
This will leave you with fermented and carbonated cider. It also allows you to keep some residual sweetness by not allowing complete fermentation.

That's whats advertised anyway!
Does anyone have any experience with these? The theory seems pretty good, and at $25 delivered for 12 reusable tops and 2 viles of yeast I'm willing to give it a go.

Anyone got any recipes? Given you can brew in a 2L bottle it makes it easy to experiment!
I'd love to have a crack at making a dry hopped cider, I'm thinking citra or cascade. Any other suggestions?

[Ozwald]

The only Oz Tops I have are dirty t-shirts & hoodies.

[peas_and_corn]

I've used them, they do what they claim to do- throw some yeast in, put the top on, and after a few days you have alcoholic, carbonated cider. It takes a bit of trial and error to get the sweetness balance you like down, but it's a no fuss way off making cider. Just make sure you get juice that doesn't have preservatives in it.

[brewinhard]

I have never heard of these before. Pretty cool! I may have to try my hand at some for good ol' Thanksgiving day.

[Klickitat Jim]

Great for pruno when your doin time. Actually I like the idea. I like making a little cider but not if it's going to take ANY effort.

[brewinhard]

Great for pruno when your doin time. Actually I like the idea. I like making a little cider but not if it's going to take ANY effort.

Ha! Pruno...I bet that comes out better than some of my local guys home-brews have back in the day!

[Klickitat Jim]

I had about 20 lbs of pinot grapes this year. So I made a gallon of pruno noir. Unwashed crushed, added meh amount of sugar and a half pack of Fleishman bread yeast. Just did first racking and it smells marvelous