Another possible bottle bomb thread

I wasn't expecting my cider to carbonate so fast! I checked a bottle last night from a batch that was just bottled for 3 days and it was a gusher! I only used about 3.5 ounces of corn sugar in the bottling bucket so I don't know why it carbonated so much, so quick. Anyways... I was originally planning on doing the stove-top pasteurization this coming weekend but when this happened last night I freaked out... I didn't want to leave them out any longer and I didn't have time to pasteurize so I put them in the garage fridge. So am I now stuck with leaving them in the fridge? I'm not sure I like the idea of taking them out and putting them in hot water... Any thoughts?

I'm no expert... but I think this might indicate your brew is -early- in the carbonation process, not late.

see

ewerbeck said:

I'm no expert... but I think this might indicate your brew is -early- in the carbonation process, not late.

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I see... Did not know about that, thanks! I suppose I will pour a glass and see what kind of carbonation is in the actual liquid. I may be taking them back out of the fridge to see if they finish up. Are there any issues with this?

You got me... I'm not sure if your chilling stopped the yeast from doing their thing temporarily... I'd suggest you ask Pappers. He's been nice enough to be my go-to guy on cider.

Did you hydrometer tell you fermentation was complete...It sounds like you may have bottled it too soon

ewerbeck said:

I'm no expert... but I think this might indicate your brew is -early- in the carbonation process, not late.

see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBlnTfZ2iw

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After watching the video, I understand the posts. My cider is and was full of bubbles. Not being a beer drinking, I couldn't really say for sure what is the difference between cider and beer carbonations.

Germelli1 said:

Did you hydrometer tell you fermentation was complete...It sounds like you may have bottled it too soon

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I didn't want it too dry so I didn't want it to completely ferment which is why I would have pasteurized.

When I got home today I opened a bottle that had been in the fridge and it didn't foam up like before. Took a drink and it definately had a carbonation bite to it. This was my first cider attempt and kind of an experimental batch anyways... Maybe next time I'll try backsweetening. No worries!

Interesting... Well, I have my first cider batch sitting in bottles right now. I'm on day 4. I've seen some small bubbles in the cider but I haven't opened one yet. My plan is to wait until day 7, following pappers' recommendation. Since day 7 is on Sunday, Maybe I'll pop one open Saturday. Just in case they're ready for me to drink.

Hey, since we're both on our first goes... Let me know with what and how you decide to backsweeten. I'm probably going to do that next time as well, perhaps as early as this weekend. I'm not sure what I want to do though.

Just add some sweetening to it... or add a taste of cranberry, perhaps. I've seen recipes that call for the cranberry juice up front, I'm wondering if it is possible to backsweeten with the cranberry instead. I wonder if I would get any flavor that way.

ewerbeck said:

Hey, since we're both on our first goes... Let me know with what and how you decide to backsweeten. I'm probably going to do that next time as well, perhaps as early as this weekend. I'm not sure what I want to do though.

Just add some sweetening to it... or add a taste of cranberry, perhaps. I've seen recipes that call for the cranberry juice up front, I'm wondering if it is possible to backsweeten with the cranberry instead. I wonder if I would get any flavor that way.

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I think my next ones will be something like these:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/raspberry-apple-cider-63471/
or
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/sams-choice-sparkling-cider-99923/

I just don't know which one yet...

Yeah, refrigeration will make the bottles less likely to overflow like that. CO2 being more soluble at lower temperature.