Hi all,
I'm at my wits end here. I'm making a ginger soda that needs to be sweet and carbonated and pasteurized. My process is fairly simple - I make the soda (just sugar, fresh lime juice, sliced ginger, H2O and a wine yeast), let it sit overnight, strain into a 5 gallon carboy and bottle into screw top glass bottles, except one plastic bottle which is my "tester". Once bottled, I put them all in a temperature controlled fermenting fridge. Once the tester bottle is hard to the touch (usually after 2 days) I open one or two of the glass bottles to make sure the batch has been carbonated to where I want it. I then pasteurize. My current method is to place all of the bottles into large pots of water on the stove. The bottles sit on a rack placed at the bottom of the pots. I have one bottle opened with a plug and a thermometer in it to test the internal temperature. I turn on the stove and when the internal temperature hits 70C/158F I turn off the stove and immediately remove all of the bottles. I let them cool down and then, over the course of a week, I begin testing.
Here's my problem. When I test the bottles for carbonation levels, the ones I have left out at room temperature are all perfect. So far, once I put some in the fridge and test those - all flat. I have NO idea what's going on. I would love any insight or direction to relevant resources anyone has. Thank you!
I'm at my wits end here. I'm making a ginger soda that needs to be sweet and carbonated and pasteurized. My process is fairly simple - I make the soda (just sugar, fresh lime juice, sliced ginger, H2O and a wine yeast), let it sit overnight, strain into a 5 gallon carboy and bottle into screw top glass bottles, except one plastic bottle which is my "tester". Once bottled, I put them all in a temperature controlled fermenting fridge. Once the tester bottle is hard to the touch (usually after 2 days) I open one or two of the glass bottles to make sure the batch has been carbonated to where I want it. I then pasteurize. My current method is to place all of the bottles into large pots of water on the stove. The bottles sit on a rack placed at the bottom of the pots. I have one bottle opened with a plug and a thermometer in it to test the internal temperature. I turn on the stove and when the internal temperature hits 70C/158F I turn off the stove and immediately remove all of the bottles. I let them cool down and then, over the course of a week, I begin testing.
Here's my problem. When I test the bottles for carbonation levels, the ones I have left out at room temperature are all perfect. So far, once I put some in the fridge and test those - all flat. I have NO idea what's going on. I would love any insight or direction to relevant resources anyone has. Thank you!
