IrritableGourmet
Active Member
I'm making a 5 gallon batch of EdWort's Apfelwein (my first homebrew) and I wanted to try an experiment so I siphoned off a gallon into a PETE water bottle I bought.
Before siphoning, I sterilized everything, added a 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and a crushed campden tablet as well as a can of concentrated cranberry juice simmered with 1/2 tsp apple pie spice to the bottle, and siphoned the apfelwein on top.
I put it in the fridge to settle and have been venting the builtup gas every couple hours. Today (2 days later) I noticed that the bottle was very firm so I loosened the cap slowly to vent. The cap literally exploded off the bottle (and hit me in the face). I quickly covered the opening with a sterilized inverted measuring cup, adapted the cap for a airlock, sterilized everything again, and put it back on. It's been bubbling about every 3 seconds since then. The gas emitted smells like CO2 and yeast, nothing nasty.
I was under the impression that campden + sorbate should kill the yeasties. Is this builtup CO2 that's just offgassing or is there fermentation going on? Should I kill it again?
Or should I relax?
Before siphoning, I sterilized everything, added a 1/2 tsp of potassium sorbate and a crushed campden tablet as well as a can of concentrated cranberry juice simmered with 1/2 tsp apple pie spice to the bottle, and siphoned the apfelwein on top.
I put it in the fridge to settle and have been venting the builtup gas every couple hours. Today (2 days later) I noticed that the bottle was very firm so I loosened the cap slowly to vent. The cap literally exploded off the bottle (and hit me in the face). I quickly covered the opening with a sterilized inverted measuring cup, adapted the cap for a airlock, sterilized everything again, and put it back on. It's been bubbling about every 3 seconds since then. The gas emitted smells like CO2 and yeast, nothing nasty.
I was under the impression that campden + sorbate should kill the yeasties. Is this builtup CO2 that's just offgassing or is there fermentation going on? Should I kill it again?
Or should I relax?