Bottled Cider caution!

[Cheezy]

I like to bottle my cider, adding a level teaspoon of sugar to each to get some nice bottle conditioning, once it's brewed to full dryness (S.G less than 1.000). The problem being depending on your apple mix this can be a "bit too dry".

However in the UK cider site in the main peice by Andrew Lea , (who is the man!), he mentions it's possible to put the cider unracked directly into bottles without additional sugar at S.G 1010 or below. This should retain more of it's natural sweetness.

Now last time I brewed it was only a half batch as I couldn't get apples last year, and I was a bit late (cos I was waiting to get some more which never turned up), so I thought I'd give it a go with these 20 bottles with the cider measured at 1008, or so I thought...

When a bottle inextricably lost it's base and emptied it's contents I thought ...strange duff bottle. Then on checking this weekend two more. So I cautiously took two bottles and put them in the fridge to test.

Imaging my supprise upon de-crowning the first bottle when a fountain of cider shot up 2 feet in the air!. Now I had not shacken these bottles, since there is a heavy sediment in the bottom due to them not being racked and bottle conditioned. It was "better" than champaign at a F1 championship!. Of couse the resultant 3/4 of a pint (they were 660ml bottles) was now cloudy as hell, tasted good though with not too dry finish.

The kitchen bench ,floor had to be mopped up.

So on to the second bottle , now firmly placed in the sink, with MOH in attendence for the spectical, glass at the ready with thoughts that that bottle may have been an exception....err no it wasn't.

In my attempt to be quick with the crown I didn't fully remove it resulting in "rocket like" emmissions which covered me head to foot, a quick second attempt to retake the crown off resulted in a spectacular jet which this time hit the ceiling. I was bad laughin, unfortunatly MOH didn't quite join in, and went to get the floor mop to mop the ceiling with!. THis time there was only a 1/3 pint, which I couldn't be bothered with.

So any suggestions as to the other 20 ish bottles sat like time bombs?. I hate to waste it, so I want to recover as much as possible, before they go pop.

[John Headstrong]

that reminds me of a trish picture

[Thomzo]

Erm, take it out into the garden. Get OH to hold a dustbin upside down over the bottle and put a big bucket underneath. Cork and fountain will hit the dustbin and run down into the bucket. Alternatively, cork and fountain will knock OH off her feet causing even more laughter.

Zoe

[red]

oh dear... good luck... clean bin idea sounds like a good one!

[benner]

Had the same problem with my Nettle beer last year, lost most of it to the garden!
My solution was to point the bottles at my fermenting bucket and flick the caps off with a large bread knife, managed to save most of it, trouble was by the time it had cleared, it tasted revolting! Probably better to add some finings now!
Good luck
Ben

[Rosendula]

I don't know if it will work, but this is what I would do:
First, I'd push my sleeves up high. Then, I'd get my big mash bucket and hold the bottle as low down in that as I can reach to take the lid off in there. I would have OH holding the lid over as much as my arms would allow in order to catch the fountain and send it into the bucket. And I would have a towel covering the gap where the lid won't go down because of my arms in order to prevent any mess escaping. I'd then try pouring the bit I'd caught through a coffee filter to try to get rid of as much sediment as possible, before putting it back in the bottle and leaving it a day or two to settle again, with a towel over to keep the dust out but let the gas escape. If after all that it still tasted OK, I'd drink it - flat.

[frozenthunderbolt]

put bottles in the freezer in a container. cider will freeze - may pop the tops though. then when frozen open the crowns (if not popped by expanding cider) to realease the gas. thaw upright then decant off the sediment.
Bob's your uncle Fred's your aunt and round you go again - clear gassless cider!

[Green Aura]

My Dad had the same problem with Elderflower champagne - nearly set fire to the house when the bottles that were stored under the stairs exploded all over the electricity meter.

[Cheezy]

put bottles in the freezer in a container. cider will freeze - may pop the tops though. then when frozen open the crowns (if not popped by expanding cider) to realease the gas. thaw upright then decant off the sediment.
Bob's your uncle Fred's your aunt and round you go again - clear gassless cider!

I did think about this, in fact the first bottle I tried I put into our brand new mini chest freezer to quickly chill it .(sitting empty waiting for us to start to fill it with all things allotment and bulk meat.)

However the bottles are kinda showing signs of strain as it is and if one went off in the freezer I would be for the high jump!.It's not the crowns that are going but the bases.

It is the best solution though, I just need to get a container high enough with a lid , to keep them upright and the sediment at the bottom.)
I'll test trial one \t the weekend.

Cheers


C

[geigercounter120]

now you've all gotten me worried!

I've got 5 75cl bottles of scrumpyish lurking in a cool(ish) room in my flat. they were a bit lively earlier in their bottling, but have sealed ok///

i think i'll try an experimental popping tonight (as OH is out, I should get away with a small degree of cork-flight!)

wish me luck!

[Gert]

lol , I love this story and am now very nervous of my own little stash of potentially lethal bottles in the spare room,

A very old friend of mine recently discovered a long forgotten stash of home brew in his loft. The best of which was a fine beetroot wine from 1977 !!!

I was about 9 years old when he bottled that one and was still riding my chopper bike.

It was Bl***y good stuff and now i'm quite tempted to bury a stash of my own for the distant future. Better just make sure they are safe before I do, otherwise I might blow up any future grandchildren with a bottle of Nettle 2008.

[sheena]

I can't help laughing at these stories; it's the vision of someone flying around being propelled by a gaseous elderflower bin and elders relaying the story to their grandchildren of how their grandparents nearly wiped them out with a powerful 2008/2009!

[Cheezy]

Cider update:

I was told I could not try the frozen cider experiment.

However in true scientific stylee I put 4 bottles into the freezer. I opened one after an hour , 1:30., 2hrs. Which coincided with my consumption

Results:
After an hour the fizziness was supressed, but still very volitile, and I lost a good 1/4 pt and was v. cloudy.
After 1:30 the fizziness was controlable to allow me to sucessfully get all the contents into the glass.
After 2 hours ice crystalls had formed and on pouring blocked the neck with slush, which after a bit of shacking "fired" out and resulted in some cider loss and more cloudiness. At this point I took the fourth bottle out and put it into the fridge as obviously things had gone too far.
After 30 mins in the fridge the cider had resorted back to the hour style and I lost most of it.

Conclusion.

1. 1:30 mins is enough to supress the fizziness to enjoy cider.
2. This method is only good for one drink, as 30 min either way results in over/under fizziness.

Further work:
I decided to use up cider in other things rather than waste.

I made some cracking cider bread over Easter. Based on M' favourite bread man Richard Bertinet (see book review) his Summerset Cider bread recipe.

I made a cider onion gravy to go with the Easter Sunday Lamb, which was excellent, though the sight of me stood in the garden with a hot pan of onions on the floor and firing a bottle of room temp cider into it might have disturbed a few people.

[Green Aura]

[frozenthunderbolt]

It might not be a bad idea to make cider vinegar, i would imagine the cloudiness wouldn't matter for this application