Sixty days ago I bottled a cider with a SG of 1.012 which had held stable during secondary fermentation at that SG for 90 days. At bottling, I added 0.3 g/gal DAP in the hopes of getting just enough renewed yeast activity to bottle condition the cider but retain some natural sweetness. The cider is just short of semi-dry and the bottles are at about 3 atmospheres pressure at a temp of 70 deg. To be on the safe side they are in 900 g champagne bottles with crown caps.
When I opened the first bottle last night, its temp was about 40 deg. The cap came off with a soft pop and cider immediately started to overflow (not geyser) with mm size bubbles. I poured a glass and the cider immediately settled down with a very pleasant level of carbonation. As hoped for, the bubbles coming off the sides of the glass were very small. Another downside of the overflow problem was the carbon dioxide bubbles nucleated on the lees so my perfectly clear cider with lees on the bottom of the bottle turned into scrumpy or cidre bouche.
My pressure vs time graph flattened at around 45 psi two weeks after bottling so I believe no further carbonation will take place. I wonder if additional aging for a few months will reduce or eliminate the overflow problem. If it does not, I will consider disgorging.
Any comments or advice would be most welcome.
POP, ooooooo , Cheers
Tom
When I opened the first bottle last night, its temp was about 40 deg. The cap came off with a soft pop and cider immediately started to overflow (not geyser) with mm size bubbles. I poured a glass and the cider immediately settled down with a very pleasant level of carbonation. As hoped for, the bubbles coming off the sides of the glass were very small. Another downside of the overflow problem was the carbon dioxide bubbles nucleated on the lees so my perfectly clear cider with lees on the bottom of the bottle turned into scrumpy or cidre bouche.
My pressure vs time graph flattened at around 45 psi two weeks after bottling so I believe no further carbonation will take place. I wonder if additional aging for a few months will reduce or eliminate the overflow problem. If it does not, I will consider disgorging.
Any comments or advice would be most welcome.
POP, ooooooo , Cheers
Tom
