[theDarkSide]

Is a cider considered still, even if there are a few bubbles of carbonation?

I want to enter my first cider this afternoon for NHC.  I've kegged my cider, holding at 40F, at 12 psi.  Out of the keg, there are some bubbles that stick to the side of the glass and very few rising up through the cider.  A gentle swirl of the cider doesn't seem to produce any significant co2 release, just the few bubbles.  So few that if I took a picture, I count probably count how many bubbles were in suspension very easily.

I'm thinking still...do you think that is accurate?

[Jimmy K]

You might call it "petillant" which is somewhere between still and carbonation. I'm not sure what BJCP cider judges would expect, but petillant can be no visible bubbles with a slight sensation of carbonation on the tongue. That sounds like what you have. If you continue to store it at 40F/12psi though, it will be carbonated soon.

[gmac]

You could bottle it, shake it up and see what happens when you uncap it.  I would think that still cider won't hiss at all, petilant would hiss and carbonated would foam.  If it hisses, shake it a few times and re-cap and it would be pretty darn still.

[jeffy]

You'll get dinged less in judging if you say it's pettilant.

[udubdawg]

still can have a little carbonation.  I don't know how much a little is though...

I'd love for some guidelines on what the term petillant and sparkling mean in terms of volumes of CO2.  I've been using ~1.5 and 2.5 or higher but am tired of judges spending too much time with personal interpretation of what they mean and not enough on actual evaluation.

I've put "very lightly carbonated, but not enough to call petillant" on a registration form before, and that sounds like your cider.

[theDarkSide]

Thanks for the replies.  I like the idea of releasing a little at bottling.  And I'm sure it will lose some too by the time it gets to the judging table.  Do the judges open their own bottles or do the stewards do that?

[Jimmy K]

Judges open their own bottles, so they'd hear any indication of carbonation when the top is removed. You can degas it in the keg with a wine whip.