pistolpete

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I had bottled my first batch over the weekend, and had one heck of a battle trying to keep the syphon primed and flowing from the carboy to the bottling bucket. There seemed to be alot of carbonation left in the carboy and when it was going throught hs syphon the carbonation was building up bubbles in the tubing and would eventually fill the tubing with bubbles and the syphon would loose its prime. It was bad enough that I ended up leaving a little more then a litre in the carboy cause it was geting pretty agitated and stirring up the yeast cake on the bottom trying to get the syphon primed again. Just wondering if this is normal, or if I did something wrong, any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Little background, was pitched begining of January, in primary for 3 weeks, then transfered to secondary and let sit until Saturday March 19th. OG was 1.056, OG when racked the first time was around 1.02, and OG when bottled was 1.005 (had been stable at 1.005 for almost 3 weeks). Used EC1118 yeast, tasted decent, pretty dry, and had a definate wine/champange taste to it, almost like a very light apple wine type flavour (like a chardonay with a slight apple taste).

Yooper

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It was fizzy because it had only been two months since you started it. If you're going to rush it, next time degas it before racking it to the bottling bucket. That will help a lot.

I'm surprised it stopped at 1.005- that yeast strain should have taken it to .990. Keep an eye on it- I'm not sure it was finished and you may have some bottle bombs on your hands.

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pistolpete

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I was somewhat suprised from the reading I have done too that it stopped there, I was expecting it to go down below 1.000 if not lower. I guess I didnt realise I was rushing it, as most of what I have read has said once the SG was stable it was time to bottle it which it was at a constant 1.005 for three weeks though, and temperature and such hadnt changed in that time. So I assumed fermentation hadn't stalled. Basically I left it sit, and checked the SG once a week, after the first 2 weeks in the secondary.

I guess I will pop a top every few days for the next while. Too avoid some explosions, once it is slightly carbed in the bottle just put them in the fridge?

pistolpete

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Just to ask... How long should it be left for? I realise there is no specific answer to this as it depends on the cider iteself... but a general idea of how long it needs to sit before bottling?

SaltyTX

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I would think that if all you are moving is .015 more you won't have bottle bombs... I believe that is within carbonation range- that is, unless you put it into wine bottles, then its possible.

pistolpete

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No it's in some Ez-Cap Flip Top's I grabbed from the LHBS.

Just to note, being my first batch I wanted it carbed so I did add about a 1/2 cup of dextrose to carb it when bottled (wanted a light carb). I had checked the SG again before bottling and it didnt really move from the 1.005... if it was 1.008 thats all it was, it was below the 1.010 for sure.

Calder

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I've not done the exact math, but 3 volumes of C02 is about .003. At 5 volumes, you start risking bottle bombs.

pistolpete

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Just to ask.. so you are saying a gravity move of .003 is pretty much directly related to 3 volumes of CO2?

SaltyTX

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hmmm...perhaps what I read was incorrect.

Open your flip top bottles..that will relieve the pressure. Done and done. store in fridge when you have appropriate carb levels, that will help as well.