help! am I about to have an explosive experience?

[muddyriverbrewer]

Hi all.

So I have done my second apple cider from scratch and decided to try a few things to improve on last time, like better temp control & backsweetening. As the last brew tasted like nail polish.

So I juiced the apples and cast a champagne yeast.
24/2/15 starting OG 1080 brew temp 13deg
12/3/15 G1003
14/3/15 G1001
20/3/15 G1000
24/3/15 G1000 crash chilled to 4deg
10/4/15 G1000 racked to secondary 4deg
14/4/15 add 600mm apple concentrate to backsweeten 4deg
Concentrate made by freezing x2 1.2L bottles of juice. Defrosting on an angle to capture the first juice.

18/4/15 bottled with x2 carbonation drops

So today I noticed a few bottles are very firm (plastic) so I thought I'd try one. Cracked the seal and aguyser of cider spewed all over the kitchen.

I have cracked the glass bottles so they don't bomb. Should I also crack the plastic? Any ideas on why this happened, backsweeten juice?
What to do with the glass bottles, re cap?

Any advice and discussion welcome.

 

[MartinOC]

I'm no regular cider-brewer, but it seems that at bottling, you've added both concentrated juice (ie. fermentable) PLUS carbonation drops. There's your problem.

You may have got away with just the juice for sweetening & carbonation combined. Champagne yeast is pretty aggressive, even at low temp's.

'Suggest you get everything into a fridge at VERY low temperatures for a few days & see if you can de-gas them gently. If not, pay it of to experience & have another go.

 

[Ferg]

In short unless you take some methods to remove or kill the yeast any sugar added to cider will re-ferment.
Here is a good thread to read (which should be pinned in my opinion):

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/83751-sweet-cider-how-to-keep-things-sweet/

 

[Airgead]

Yep. Back sweetening a cider that you are bottle conditioning is very tricky. Anything you add to sweeten will get fermented by the yeast and overcarbonate. If you prevent fermentation by killing or inhibiting the yeast (by keeping it cold for example) then it won't carbonate.

Very difficult to do.

Cheers
Dave

 

[HBHB]

Yep. Back sweetening a cider that you are bottle conditioning is very tricky. Anything you add to sweeten will get fermented by the yeast and overcarbonate. If you prevent fermentation by killing or inhibiting the yeast (by keeping it cold for example) then it won't carbonate.

Very difficult to do.

Cheers
Dave

Not quite. There's always Low or Non fermentable sweeteners like Stevia, Lactose and Maltodextrin

 

[Airgead]

Not quite. There's always Low or Non fermentable sweeteners like Stevia, Lactose and Maltodextrin

Indeed yes. A non fermentable sugar is an option. I keep forgetting about them because my missus is lactose intolerant and can't stand the flavour of stevia.

If you don't mind the non fermentable sweeteners then they are a good option.

 

[wynnum1]

Cold will not stop fermentation may slow down.Put bottle in fridge with a lot of sediment ale yeast and priming sugar after a month was carbonated.Temperature was too cold for the yeast but still fermented.