Experimenting with crashing at different SGs, bottlebomb question:

[inexplorata]

My final batch is turning into an experimental one.

I've got a great cloudy fizzy mess of wild yeasties going, and I'm planning to pull and fill several small PET bottles' worth out as things progress, to see where I like the taste -- take an SG reading, pull out a bottle's worth, let the bottle firm up and stick it in the fridge. Started at a robust 1.050 with some late season apples, real sugary and delightful from the tree out back.

Anyhow, I just pulled my first bottle's worth (1.034), and I'm letting it firm up before I stick it in the fridge. Question: should I not wait, e.g. pull it out and crash it right away? How quickly is the yeast likely to go dormant? Am I experimenting with bombs?

 

[CvilleKevin]

How quickly is the yeast likely to go dormant?

That depends. Wild yeast ferments can be tough to slow down. If you keep the ferments cool, so that they dont take off real fast in the first place, they are easier to stop - but 1.034 is pretty high.

Question: should I not wait, e.g. pull it out and crash it right away?

Depend on when you want to drink it. With an SG of 1.034, its going to carb up real fast at room temp, and getting it cold wont slow it much. OTOH, you can probably drink it carbed tonight. If you put it in the fridge now, it will probably take a little longer to carb and will take longer to get to the point where the bottle fails.

Am I experimenting with bombs?

Yep. OTOH, no gut, no glory - just make sure you understand the risks here. 1.034 is inherently unstable and wild yeasts are tougher to crash than most. Once you find the SG that you like, you are much better off using bottle pasteurisation if you want a wild yeast ferment with high SG. For small batches you can get away with what you are doing, but you definately have the potential for exploding bottles, so be careful.

 

[inexplorata]

Thanks. I sort of split the difference -- gave it three hours at room temperature, then stuck it in the fridge. It's slightly firm, but not crazy hard just yet, so I'll keep an eye on it. It's the best advantage to having PET bottles around, I think.

It's been an interesting batch; took almost a month to "take off", and did some separating that looked a lot like keeving to me. I took a lot of notes and pictures, and should have some good stuff to share by the time I'm done.

I have this fantasy of getting this all down to where I can say "Yep, nothin' but juiced apples from that tree over there in this cider, good, eh?"