EuDvine
Member
Okay let me just get straight to my recipe and my technique:
August 22 1 gallon of raw cider straight from the press O.G 1.046
Nottingham ale yeast
1 tsp nutrient
1/2 tsp energizer
cinnamon stick
.20 oz oak chips
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
Fermentation at 76 degrees F (a little high for my liking)
August 26 S.G reading is 1.012 and still fermenting violently so I put the whole carboy into the fridge and let the yeast go to sleep and drop out.
August 31 I bring the carboy out of the fridge, it's nice and quiet now after being cold for a couple days. S.G is still around 1.012 so I rack to the bottling bucket, bottle and cap. Now here's where a bizarre thing happens...I let the capped bottles sit in the kitchen for 3 hours to carbonate (last year I had a bottle gusher shoot across the kitchen after sitting for 43 hours like this) and I open one just to check the carbonation...well it bubbles over the top and makes a mess, so I degas them carefully and then cap them again and let them sit for one hour this time. After one hour, I figure they have enough carb, so I stove top pasteurize https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/ and as I'm taking one out of the pot after ten minutes of sitting in 180-190 degree water A BOTTLE EXPLODES IN MY HAND AND SENDS SHARDS OF GLASS 15 FEET IN EVERY DIRECTION! Surprisingly unharmed, I finish up pasteurizing with a paintball mask on and I clean up the kitchen for the the next three hours.
Okay, so obviously my bottles are over carbonated because I almost died from a bottle bomb...well apparently not because I just opened a bottle of it the other day after them being in my basement clearing for almost 2 months AND THERE'S NO CARBONATION! WTF!!!!! Am I missing something? I know fermentation produces alcohol and CO2, and when CO2 is trapped in a bottle, it dissolves in the liquid an produces that lovely fizzy-ness we call carbonation when you open it...isn't that right? So if there's enough CO2 dissolved in some cider, that is capped in some beer bottles, and one of them explodes, why don't the others have even a hint of carbonation when I open them? Here's a quote from the stove top pasteurizing thread:
August 22 1 gallon of raw cider straight from the press O.G 1.046
Nottingham ale yeast
1 tsp nutrient
1/2 tsp energizer
cinnamon stick
.20 oz oak chips
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
Fermentation at 76 degrees F (a little high for my liking)
August 26 S.G reading is 1.012 and still fermenting violently so I put the whole carboy into the fridge and let the yeast go to sleep and drop out.
August 31 I bring the carboy out of the fridge, it's nice and quiet now after being cold for a couple days. S.G is still around 1.012 so I rack to the bottling bucket, bottle and cap. Now here's where a bizarre thing happens...I let the capped bottles sit in the kitchen for 3 hours to carbonate (last year I had a bottle gusher shoot across the kitchen after sitting for 43 hours like this) and I open one just to check the carbonation...well it bubbles over the top and makes a mess, so I degas them carefully and then cap them again and let them sit for one hour this time. After one hour, I figure they have enough carb, so I stove top pasteurize https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/ and as I'm taking one out of the pot after ten minutes of sitting in 180-190 degree water A BOTTLE EXPLODES IN MY HAND AND SENDS SHARDS OF GLASS 15 FEET IN EVERY DIRECTION! Surprisingly unharmed, I finish up pasteurizing with a paintball mask on and I clean up the kitchen for the the next three hours.
Okay, so obviously my bottles are over carbonated because I almost died from a bottle bomb...well apparently not because I just opened a bottle of it the other day after them being in my basement clearing for almost 2 months AND THERE'S NO CARBONATION! WTF!!!!! Am I missing something? I know fermentation produces alcohol and CO2, and when CO2 is trapped in a bottle, it dissolves in the liquid an produces that lovely fizzy-ness we call carbonation when you open it...isn't that right? So if there's enough CO2 dissolved in some cider, that is capped in some beer bottles, and one of them explodes, why don't the others have even a hint of carbonation when I open them? Here's a quote from the stove top pasteurizing thread:
So why do my bottles only take one hour to become highly pressurized, and then be completely flat when it's time to drink them, when other people can leave their bottles sitting for a week before they're ready to pasteurize and then enjoy with nice carbonation?When fermentation slows down, I start taking gravity readings and tastings. When its at the right level of sweetness/dryness (for me, that's about 1.010- 1.014), rack to bottling bucket with priming solution and bottle. Let the bottles carbonate and condition until the carbonation level is right - for me, that is usually about 1 week but for others it could be sooner. Start opening a bottle every two days or so, until you find that carbonation is at the right level. Warning - if the carbonation level is too high, if you have gushing bottles for example, do not pasteurize, the pressure will be too much for your bottles.