Excessive bottle carbonization ???

[521]

I brew hard apple cider for my wife. I use a non-preserved cider - usually a spiced cider because that is what is readily available to me. I heat it for roughly 45 minutes in a large aluminium pot over a propane burner. I add 2 pounds of brown sugar. Once fully disolved, I cool it and pour it into the 6.5 gallon plastic fermenter bucket. I start a packet of White Labs 775 yeast and add that to the fermenter bucket. I seal it up, add air lock, place it in a cool place it wont be disturbed and wait 2 weeks.

At the end of 2 weeks, open the fermenter bucket and siphon with a racking cane into a secondary 6.5 gallon bucket leaving roughly the 3/4" of gunk at the bottom of the first bucket. In the second bucket - I add 1 cup of table sugar disolved in hot water into this brew assuring it is all mixed well and I bottle into amber 12oz bottles and cap.

2 weeks later we pop the first top. The carbonization is tremendous - out of the bottle by 2"! Half the bottle pours out in carbonization! We capture some of it in a near by glass - cause - going to waste is no good down the drain! But we find stuff in the bottle being stirred up by the carbonization - kind of like sheets of stuff - looks yeasty. In the glass there is remanants of this stuff - its tanish colored. The cider tastes fine - what is left in the bottle!

Nearly every bottle has this over-carbonization! A few opened well without spilling over but for the most part - its crazy!

This is my 2nd batch - first batch didnt do the crazy carbonization, was from a farm supplied cider (also no preservatives or yeast killers) brewed the same - no crazy carbonization. 2nd batch was a more commercially available cider - still with no preservatives or yeast killers present.

Any idea what is going on? My wife wants me to brew more - but with less of the flaky stuff swirling around in the bottle and way less carbonization!

 

[Yooper]

It sounds like fermentation wasn't finished when the cider was bottled, and fermentation kept going while in the bottle.

It's imperative to know that fermentation is done before bottling, and things like bottle bombs can happen and hurt someone.

Do you have a hydrometer? The only safe way to do this is to take hydrometer readings before bottling, to make sure the cider is finished. Two weeks, especially when the temperature is cooler, may not be enough time for the cider to finish fermenting.

For now, put the bottles somewhere very safe (like in a box) in a cool or cold (not freezing spot) so that they don't explode and send glass shards everywhere.

 

[521]

The room I'm storing them in is pretty cool Probably low 60's and in a cardboard box. The first batch didnt do this - but I used a different cider to start with and used a different yeast (more generic). So I should rack into a second fermenter and let it sit for a while?

My kids broke my hydrometer - I need another one. I didnt do the readings before or after.

 

[Kingbogart]

I would tend to agree with Yooper. If the fermentation wasn't complete then you could have issues with the bottling as there could still be brown sugar being processed in the secondary when you added your additional priming sugar. The only way to know for sure is to take a hydrometer reading.

How much volume do you have? I see that you're working with a 6.5 gallon fermenter, but not how much you actually have. 1 cup of table sugar from what I can find is about 7.5 ounces by weight, which seems like a lot of sugar for about 6 gallons going to bottles.

 

[user 171019]

Yes, not fermented out.those bottles are dangerous.

Sent from my mobile.

 

[Yooper]

The room I'm storing them in is pretty cool Probably low 60's and in a cardboard box. The first batch didnt do this - but I used a different cider to start with and used a different yeast (more generic). So I should rack into a second fermenter and let it sit for a while?

My kids broke my hydrometer - I need another one. I didnt do the readings before or after.

Yes. I hate to sound like an alarmist, but you really could have bottle grenades there and safety is paramount. Gently pour them into a sanitized fermenter without much splashing, and airlock. Get a hydrometer in the meantime, and wait for a while to make sure fermentation does finish before proceeding.

 

[bernardsmith]

Whether the fermentation was finished or not you probably had several volumes of CO2 dissolved in the cider BEFORE you added the cup of priming sugar. I don't know how many gallons of cider you were making but 1 C of sugar weighs about 200 gms and 200 gms will add enough sugar to a gallon to produce about 100 gms of CO2. I agree with Yooper: you are making bombs not sparkling cider. I would allow the cider to age a couple of months to enable much of the dissolved CO2 to dissipate and then add your sugar. I tend to add 1 oz /gallon to prime..

 

[rocketsan]

Wear safety glasses and long sleeves

 

[521]

Hmmm - I'm a little nervous now! The first batch I didnt have this problem at all and it was the exact same recipe just different cider.

Tomorrow morning I'll open and pour in to a sanitized fermenter with airlock.

I had made 5 gallons. Bottled 48 12-oz bottles. I suspect we have drank half already.