Having imbibed the precious portion of hops over the space of 3 days it was time to stuff this, the last of our 2020 cider, into clear 500 ml flip-top bottles. I took a quick gravity reading before commencing the ritual and was surprised to find 1.003, a whole 3 points higher than when I added the hops, but then again there was very little greenery on the surface (compared to a dry-hopped beer) so I suppose all that organic matter must have some impact. 1.003 from 1.046 translates to 5.64% ABV which is just fine with me. As always there was some experimentation at bottling time:

• 01 – 15 got 3 carbonation drops (target = 750 ml) and 10 ml Erythritol
  • 01 and 02 (stopper marked ’R’) were bottled un-hopped 3 days ago
• 16 – 25 got 2 carbonation drops (target = 500 ml) and 10 ml Erythritol
• 26 – 30 got 3 carbonation drops (target = 750 ml) and 15 ml Erythritol
• 31 – 35 got no carbonation drops and 5 ml Erythritol
• 36 & 37 nothing at all

There were also two (unnumbered) green Heineken crown-caps, one 275 ml and one 330 ml, which received 2 carbonation drops (target = 500 ml) and 10 ml Erythritol. Watch out for those two!