Top off, ferment again, then carbonate?

[KarmaCitra]

So I recently started fermenting a cider, raw cider (pasteurized) with orange blossom honey and Nottingham yeast. Unfortunately we started out with 4 gallons in the primary, and I transferred to the secondary with a lot of headspace initially. I decided to top it off with additional apple juice to bring it up close to the carboy neck. My question is, if I were to wait another week can I still carbonate this using corn sugar, or am I asking for bottle bombs?

 

[CaptainCoJo]

As long as it's done fermenting and the alcohol level isn't too high you should be able to.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Quick note. My target FG was .996, primary ended at 1.000

 

[KarmaCitra]

Thanks. It shouldn't be too high, low to mid 6s on ABV.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Alright, so after I topped off and let it go for two more weeks, my FG was at 1.008-1.009. I bottled with some corn sugar, but now I'm worried that there will be bottle bombs...anyone have experience with this?

 

[KarmaCitra]

I'm tempted to go test one, but it has only been three days.

 

[CaptainCoJo]

As long as you didn't use an excessive amount of sugar (I use 3/4 cup per 5 gallon) you should be fine. Go ahead and crack one open if you want. I usually do just to make sure it's going smoothly. Usually takes up to 2-3 weeks for full carbonation.

 

[eman_resu]

Your sg can potentially go down to 1.000 again (or even lower). 1.008-1.009 + priming sugar sounds like the recipe for bottle bombs to me. After racking, there might have been so little yeast that 2 weeks wasn't enough to fully ferment the top up juice...

 

[KarmaCitra]

I used 4oz of corn sugar, and it was close to 5.5 gallons.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Your sg can potentially go down to 1.000 again (or even lower). 1.008-1.009 + priming sugar sounds like the recipe for bottle bombs to me. After racking, there might have been so little yeast that 2 weeks wasn't enough to fully ferment the top up juice...

That's what I was afraid of. I'll have to check one today and see. If anything, I can hopefully save them by stovetop pasteurizing.

 

[eman_resu]

I wonder if a forced fermentation test-sort of thing would be helpful? Open one bottle, put some foil on top, keep somewhere warm and swirl it often. Then you can monitor the sg to see how low it goes. Use that information to determine if you have potential bottle bombs. Just a thought.

Whatever you do, be careful. Better safe than sorry.

 

[KarmaCitra]

I may try that with the one I open tonight. If I do open it tonight and its to the level I wanted, I'll probably just pasteurize all of them. Carefully.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Oh, and I probably should have mentioned this....when I took my FG measurement, I took it AFTER I added the corn sugar solution (2 c. water, 4 oz sugar). Would that have skewed my reading much?

 

[KarmaCitra]

Dumb mistake on my part.

 

[KarmaCitra]

Bump

 

[KarmaCitra]

Sooo, just checked my test bottle and I have zero carbonation after 5 days. Good, no bombs. But now do I have to worry about no carbonation? Or should I just wait my standard two weeks like I do with beers?

View attachment 1447806623885.jpg

 

[eman_resu]

The priming sugar would affect the fg reading. Was the reading taken at room temp? What was the bottling volume?

If every gravity point yields 0.51 volumes co2 (according to braukaiser) and you take into account residual co2 from fermentation, you're still looking at a total of around 5 volumes co2. Which is more than double than what you'd get from 4 oz priming sugar, assuming a bottling volume of 5 gal. And assuming it goes down to 1.000.

So you could definately have bottle bombs on your hands, given enough time. If you end up pasteurizing, make sure you do it before there's too much pressure.

 

[KarmaCitra]

The reading was taken closer to roughly 66°, after warming up a bit from sitting out while transferring to bottling bucket. The bottling volume was about 5.25 gal or so, maybe even closer to 5.5. But wouldn't you expect at least some carbonation after 5 days?

 

[KarmaCitra]

I think I'll wait a few days to check another one, especially since this one was essentially flat.