Newest Threads

MartyB · 07-25-2009, 01:29 PM

Finishing some research that I should have done last week before I bottled my Apfelwien. Apfelwien was crystal clear last weekend when I bottled.

I bottled 1/2 my Apfelwien in beer bottles with Coopers Carb Drops.

The other 1/2, I added 3 crushed Campden tablets, stirred gently (lots of degassing at this point). Waited a couple hours, added 1 can of apple juice concentrate, stirred again (very little gas coming out of solution this time) then bottled in 750ml wine bottles.

Now all those wine bottles have yeast sediment and 1 popped the cork last night. So I'm guessing the Campden wasn't enough to prevent the frementation of the concentrate.

Is there any good way to relieve pressure in the wine bottles so they don't all blow? Should I carefully pop the corks and pour back into into the fermentor and wait for this to finish before I try bottling again?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

***Yooper*** · 07-25-2009, 01:59 PM

Campden tablets don't kill yeast, so I assume that the apple concentrate will keep fermenting until the corks blow.

You could uncork and then either very gently pour back into a fermenter and let it finish up, or you could uncork and then recork.

Campden tablets are a great antioxidant and preservative, so you may have good luck with putting the cider back into a carboy without oxidizing it.

If you want to sweeten a wine or cider, you can use potassium sorbate when fermentation is finished. You usually add the campden along with 1/2 tsp sorbate per gallon, and let that sit for a few days. (Rack the cider into the carboy into which the campden and sorbate have been dissolved with a little water). After a few days, you can sweeten as desired. Wait about three days to ensure fermentation doesn't restart, and then bottle.

Sorbate doesn't kill yeast, either, but it does inhibit yeast reproduction. So you may have a little sign of refermentation while the few yeast that are in here try to ferment your added sugar, but since they can't reproduce because of the sorbate, it should stop very quickly. That's why you wait a few days before bottling.

MartyB · 07-26-2009, 12:31 PM

Thanks for the info Yooper. I'll give things a try.

On another note, based on your photo's, I've got an igloo cube I'm getting converted over for a fermentation cooler. I'm hoping to get into some lagering with it.