Apple Cider or pile of sticky glass?

[Tomerwt]

Hey guys!

We have a batch of simple apple cider going (Apple concentrate can + 70% juice to OG[1.055] (No further added sugar)). We want to carbonate the cider by adding priming sugar to the bottles.
Anyhow, we want to bottle it in to wine bottles in a while. But we were wondering if the pressure from the carbonation will push the corks out after a while. So will we need to use champaign bottles and special corks, or will regular wine bottles and corks hold?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dinnerstick]

regular wine bottles aren't made to hold pressure, so i say pile of sticky glass, or flying corks at the least. you could use champagne bottles and caps but you have to get the larger gauge caps (and larger capper?)

by the way where do you get apple juice concentrate in holland?

 

[wooda2008]

regular wine bottles aren't built to hold the pressure. your cork will pop or your bottle will.
^_^

 

[Tomerwt]

Thanks a lot guys!
And @ dinnerstick: Brouwmarkt in Almere, a 500m² shop with all the brewing material you can imagine

 

[dinnerstick]

of course! i get all my brewing stuff from them (by post) but had never though they might have juice concentrate.
dank je wel!!

 

[Tomerwt]

Alst u blieft.

But do keep in mind that not everything they have in the shop is also in their webshop. For example, we used the apple concentrate from Finlandia, which they sell in Almere, but isn't listed in their webshop!

 

[MattyD]

I have done about 12 cases of hard cider in wine bottles/champagne bottles so far, and the wine bottles (although they are not designed to hold pressure) will hold some pressure. I have not had a broken bottle yet nor has one pushed the cork out. Id say that about 5 out of the 12 are wine bottles with corks.

So, if wine bottles are all you have to work with, then go ahead and try it out. I wouldnt put sugar in the bottles though. I'd put the sugar in your bottling bucket and then fill the bucket with cider and then steralize a spoon and give it a stir.

I'd also reduce the amount of sugar you use for carbing by 1/4.

 

[anchorage42]

Could you use screw-top wine bottles?

 

[Tomerwt]

Alright we might have a shot at it, as we're not feeling like bottling it in to 70 small bottles >.<
This does leave us with the same question as anchorage42. Does anyone know?

 

[dinnerstick]

someone else recently asked that, i once long ago wondered the same thing so i made a little pressure test by pouring vinegar into a wine bottle, dumping some bicarbonate in and quickly capping, shaking, then cleaning all the foamy vinegar off the floor. leaked like crazy
which brings me in a roundabout way to my two points:
1. i used the stovetop pasteurization method a few months ago on a semi-sweet cider bottled in 750 ml swing-top grolsch style belgian ale bottles. i though it had pasteurized because a few months later nothing had exploded. but the seals were a bit leaky, the yeast was still alive, and when i opened bottles after aging a few months they were completely dry. tasty but dry, and with about the same level of gas as before- no gushers. so i *think* the seals held a certain amount of pressure, and when it got above that threshold the extra gas leaked out. maybe screw-top wine bottles will behave the same, but it's a hell of a gamble. they seem to me more likely to leak than to seal, but if they do seal well then you're in danger of bottle bombs
2. get yourself 1000 ml swing top bottles from brouwmarkt! 1.95 euro per fles

 

[SaltyTX]

wine bottles are for bottling wine.

Beer bottles are for bottling beer.

If you have a capper for champagne, you could use that.

 

[dinnerstick]

there is no such thing as a 'cider bottle' so i guess you're stuffed

 

[SaltyTX]

carbed cider = beer