Bottle bombs

[Gerald46]

I made 5 gallons of cider and used campden tablets before bottling per the recipe I was using. The cider has been in the bottles for 2 weeks and I have had several bottles explode over the last two days. I opened one of the bottles and it was a gusher. The cider still tasted great. I am going to open all of the bottles to let off pressure and then recap them. Will this save my cider?

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Campden tablets do not kill yeast or stop fermentation. Using them with potassium sorbate should inhibit yeast from reproducing however. This will result in a still cider. Definitely release the excess CO2 and recap all of your bottles. Also, read up on stovetop pasteurization.

 

[Gerald46]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will read up on and use stove top pasteurization with my next batch. I spent all morning cleaning up the bombs and reducing the pressure in the remaining bottles. I cracked the caps and bled off pressure as slowly as I could to keep as much cider as possible from foaming out. I let quite a bit out, but the bottles still have a lot of carbonation. I put half of them in the refrigerator and the rest went in a large wine bucket with a lid and will be stored at around 74 degrees. Do you think any more will blow?

 

[Apple_Jacker]

In the fridge it might be OK but at 74 degrees the yeast will keep eating up any sugars left in the cider and keep producing CO2. Relieve the pressure on all of them and out them in the fridge if you don't want to pasteurize yet.

 

[Gerald46]

I took all of the bottles that wouldn't fit in the fridge, opened them, and poured them into a bottling bucket. After the cider quit foaming, I re-bottled it in clean bottles. The cider was a little flat at this point, so I will let the bottles set at 74 degrees and see if they carb up again. If so I will pasteurize when they reach the level I am looking for. If this doesn't work I still have half of my batch in the fridge and ready to drink. I will never make cider again without pasteurizing.

 

[hallerobin]

Just be sure to never attempt to stovetop pasteurize a batch that yields a "gusher" (without releasing the pressure, of course). Trust me... I learned the hard way!