Gotta share this one. I have been making cider for about a year now. I traveled around to various cideries and have tasted over 70 kinds of cider from lots of craftsmen. I now have a recipe that is "to die for" and might begin making it commercially. But here's one little trick.
I have been following Pappers "Stove Top Pasteurization" method but never was sure when to kill the yeast. So when I bottle I fill a plastic water bottle and set it aside in the same room under the same conditions and give it a squeeze every couple of days until it is good and firm. Then I open one bottle and test the fizz.
Well, on the Fourth of July I decided that the plastic bottle was hard enough, tested one bottle of my cider, it was perfectly carbed up and so I stove top pasteurized all I had and refrigerated.
When I last checked the plastic bottle I thought I'd come back and get it later so I turned it upside down in a jelly jar on my workbench in case it leaked.
Woke up today (Saturday) and went out to the garage. Something was all over my old classic Camaro. I figured it was rain from the garage door opening over it.
Then I noticed that all of my tools hanging above my work bench were on the floor and decided that a coon had gotten in the garage and caused the mayhem. Then I noticed the jelly jar, with about 3 oz of a yellowish liquid in it. I smelled the liquid and it was cider. Then it hit me.
The upside down plastic bottle had launched.
I found it 30 feet away, cap missing, bottle intact and a spray of cider all over the entire garage. Glad I wasn't there to get hurt, but sorry I missed the only fireworks I'll get to see this holiday weekend.
Got a bottle bomb story? Share it here?
I have been following Pappers "Stove Top Pasteurization" method but never was sure when to kill the yeast. So when I bottle I fill a plastic water bottle and set it aside in the same room under the same conditions and give it a squeeze every couple of days until it is good and firm. Then I open one bottle and test the fizz.
Well, on the Fourth of July I decided that the plastic bottle was hard enough, tested one bottle of my cider, it was perfectly carbed up and so I stove top pasteurized all I had and refrigerated.
When I last checked the plastic bottle I thought I'd come back and get it later so I turned it upside down in a jelly jar on my workbench in case it leaked.
Woke up today (Saturday) and went out to the garage. Something was all over my old classic Camaro. I figured it was rain from the garage door opening over it.
Then I noticed that all of my tools hanging above my work bench were on the floor and decided that a coon had gotten in the garage and caused the mayhem. Then I noticed the jelly jar, with about 3 oz of a yellowish liquid in it. I smelled the liquid and it was cider. Then it hit me.
The upside down plastic bottle had launched.
I found it 30 feet away, cap missing, bottle intact and a spray of cider all over the entire garage. Glad I wasn't there to get hurt, but sorry I missed the only fireworks I'll get to see this holiday weekend.
Got a bottle bomb story? Share it here?
