cracked1
Well-Known Member
I want some people to learn from this.
I bottled some cider and a couple days later I left town for the weekend. When I got home there were two broken bottles (bombs) in the crate. I thought I'd do a little experiment and try to pasteurize some of them. Heated some water to 190 degrees with a towel at the bottom of the pot. Armed with face, hand and arm protection I added 8 bottles and set the 10 minute timer. Within 1 minute the first bottle exploded. The other seven blew up within 5 minutes. If I had been unaware of the potential danger and not prepared this could have been very bad. The explosions put 1/4 - 1/2 inch dents in the pot. I would have to say after this experiment that although the process works great if done correctly I would not recommend that anyone pasteurize any bottles from a batch that has already shown too much pressure for the bottles to handle. My SWMBO thought that we should have recorded a video of it and looking back I think she was right. The force at which some of them exploded was incredible!
I bottled some cider and a couple days later I left town for the weekend. When I got home there were two broken bottles (bombs) in the crate. I thought I'd do a little experiment and try to pasteurize some of them. Heated some water to 190 degrees with a towel at the bottom of the pot. Armed with face, hand and arm protection I added 8 bottles and set the 10 minute timer. Within 1 minute the first bottle exploded. The other seven blew up within 5 minutes. If I had been unaware of the potential danger and not prepared this could have been very bad. The explosions put 1/4 - 1/2 inch dents in the pot. I would have to say after this experiment that although the process works great if done correctly I would not recommend that anyone pasteurize any bottles from a batch that has already shown too much pressure for the bottles to handle. My SWMBO thought that we should have recorded a video of it and looking back I think she was right. The force at which some of them exploded was incredible!