So here's what happened:
i started a gallon of cider on 9/1/06. Within a week and a half fermentation had stopped and i racked it to the secondary. I had a taste and it was very dry, so i decided to sweeten it up just a bit with some frozen apple juice concentrate. I killed the yeast with one crushed campden tablet, then the next day added just a little (3 oz or so) concentrate to mellow out the flavor. I bottled the cider on 9/25 and it seemed quite a bit better. I filled 4 bottles completely, but the last bottle was a little short, so i decided to add a tiny bit more concentrate and some water to fill up the space, thinking that the yeast was dead so it wouldn't matter. it was a very small ammout of juice that i added, so i didn't mark the bottle or anything, and i have no way of knowing which bottle had the extra juice.
So last night, at about midnight, i'm awoken by the a loud POP, and i find my room covered with yeasty cider and one of my bottles un-corked. SO it appears i didn't kill the yeast as i thought i did. I assume that the bottle that exploded was the one with the extra juice in there, but i have no way of knowing for sure. I put the remaining four bottles in the fridge, thinking that perhaps the low temp might knock out any yeast remaining alive in those bottles.
My questions are:
where exactly did i go wrong? and
what can i do to ensure the remaining bottles don't explode? Is the fridge a good idea?
thanks in advance for any advice
p.s. it was nottingham ale yeast if that makes any difference
i started a gallon of cider on 9/1/06. Within a week and a half fermentation had stopped and i racked it to the secondary. I had a taste and it was very dry, so i decided to sweeten it up just a bit with some frozen apple juice concentrate. I killed the yeast with one crushed campden tablet, then the next day added just a little (3 oz or so) concentrate to mellow out the flavor. I bottled the cider on 9/25 and it seemed quite a bit better. I filled 4 bottles completely, but the last bottle was a little short, so i decided to add a tiny bit more concentrate and some water to fill up the space, thinking that the yeast was dead so it wouldn't matter. it was a very small ammout of juice that i added, so i didn't mark the bottle or anything, and i have no way of knowing which bottle had the extra juice.
So last night, at about midnight, i'm awoken by the a loud POP, and i find my room covered with yeasty cider and one of my bottles un-corked. SO it appears i didn't kill the yeast as i thought i did. I assume that the bottle that exploded was the one with the extra juice in there, but i have no way of knowing for sure. I put the remaining four bottles in the fridge, thinking that perhaps the low temp might knock out any yeast remaining alive in those bottles.
My questions are:
where exactly did i go wrong? and
what can i do to ensure the remaining bottles don't explode? Is the fridge a good idea?
thanks in advance for any advice
p.s. it was nottingham ale yeast if that makes any difference