Finn
Well-Known Member
Hi guys, I thought I oughtta share something I learned. When I started out to make my first batch of cider, I had a couple empty Martinelli's Sparkling Cider bottles in the recycling bin. I realized that these were real, live, bona-fide crown-cappable champagne bottles, so I bought a bunch more and pressed them into service.
A bottling accident resulted in several of these becoming charged with so much pressure that they couldn't be opened without losing contents. Then I tried my plan to pasteurize them in the dishwasher with the "sterilize" setting enabled -- that's 160 degrees for 9 minutes -- and they came out with the bottle caps DOMED.
Can you imagine how much pressure it takes to push a crown cap into a dome on the bottle? Anyway, that clinched it. These Martinelli's bottles are hell-for-stout real-thing champagne glass.
And the best part is, if you shop carefully you can get 'em (full of very yummy sparkling apple juice) for less than you'd pay for a case of empty champagnes. I get mine at Winco for $1.78 apiece; I've seen 'em for sale for $1.50 during the holiday season. That works out to a little over 20 bucks a case.
Biggest problem I've had with 'em is, my last batch was about 10 percent. Three quarters of a liter is way too much 10-percent hooch to drink all at once, unless a feller's making a night of it!
--Finn
Cheers!
--Finn
A bottling accident resulted in several of these becoming charged with so much pressure that they couldn't be opened without losing contents. Then I tried my plan to pasteurize them in the dishwasher with the "sterilize" setting enabled -- that's 160 degrees for 9 minutes -- and they came out with the bottle caps DOMED.
Can you imagine how much pressure it takes to push a crown cap into a dome on the bottle? Anyway, that clinched it. These Martinelli's bottles are hell-for-stout real-thing champagne glass.
And the best part is, if you shop carefully you can get 'em (full of very yummy sparkling apple juice) for less than you'd pay for a case of empty champagnes. I get mine at Winco for $1.78 apiece; I've seen 'em for sale for $1.50 during the holiday season. That works out to a little over 20 bucks a case.
Biggest problem I've had with 'em is, my last batch was about 10 percent. Three quarters of a liter is way too much 10-percent hooch to drink all at once, unless a feller's making a night of it!
--Finn
Cheers!
--Finn