First timer, bottles gushing...

[zcrxt]

Details of my cider:
Local UV Pasteurized cider
Nottingham yeast
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.010
Bottled with 5oz of priming sugar.

I bottled on October 14.
I opened the first yesterday to find a nice gushing bottle (bottle at room temp). I chilled one and opened when cold; this resulted in not much overflow (opened very slowly).
Opened another tonight (6 days from bottling). Another gusher after slowly letting gas out.

The cider is very carbonated, champagne like.
I referenced this thread about early carbonation- https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/another-possible-bottle-bomb-thread-196001/
Also checked this out- https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/carb-process-watch-these-vids-tell-me-what-wrong-197943/
Mine doesn't shoot high, but just continues to roll out of the bottle.

My plan is to Pasteurize using Pappers method.

So my question: Should I do it now or try something else?

I have been silent for a while now, but thanks for all of the help.
Ben

 

[AbeLincoln]

That seems a rather high FG for bottling. Perhaps fermentation hadn't slowed sufficiently and is still going on in the bottles.

 

[AbeLincoln]

Nottingham Ale Yeast properties. Reference section 3 entitled "Brewing Properties." Nottingham achieves a high attenuation, with FGs around 1.008

My guess is that fermentation was not done at the time of bottling. If you do attempt pasteurization, try one bottle to test and wear safety glasses. If there is a real risk of bottle bombs, you can try venting the pressure with tiny holes in the caps, recapping, and then pasteurizing.

 

[zcrxt]

Well, that may not be good. I may try to recap.

I followed Pappers procedure
"So, you've made your cider (I keep it simple with juice, ale yeast and pectic enzyme) and have it in the carboy. When fermentation slows down, I start taking gravity readings and tastings. When its at the right level of sweetness/dryness (for me, that's about 1.010- 1.014), rack to bottling bucket with priming solution and bottle. Let the bottles carbonate and condition for about 1 week and start opening a bottle every two days or so, until you find that carbonation is at the right level. Now, we're ready for the point of this thread - pasteurizing. "

I just know this has been done many times by many people.
Thanks for the responses.

 

[RugenBrau]

I think you bottled before fermentation was finished. If you have gushers now and pasteurize it now you will still have the same carbonation in it so you will still have gushers

 

[Pappers_]

Yes, the point of using the pasteurization method to produce sweet (or at least semi-dry) bottle conditioned cider is to bottle before fermention is complete.

I think you waited too long to pasteurize, your carbonation progressed very quickly. If your bottles are highly carbonated, then stove-top pasteurizing isn't a good idea - you run the risk of the gas expanding and the bottles blowing.

I think the best idea is to uncap your bottles, release quite a bit of the pressure/carbonation, then recap and pasteurize. Another is to chill the bottles to stop the fermentation (but you'll still have over-carbonated gushers.)

Sorry this didn't work according to plan for you. It sounds as if your carbonation progressed quite quickly.

Lately, I've been using WLP028 Edinburgh yeast - one of the things I like about it is that it works a little more slowly, which works well when the cider maker is trying to time things like bottling and pasteurizing at the right times.

 

[zcrxt]

Thanks to all for your quick responses! I have loaded up the fridge with the 42 bottles of cider. I will recap tomorrow and pasteurize. I put them in the fridge because chilling showed a drastic decrease in the gushing yesterday. I hope this works... operation save cider is underway!

Thanks again, Abe, Rugen, and Pappers!

 

[Pappers_]

Make sure you leave them open long enough to release a significant amount of carbonation. The goal is no exploding bottles!

I've edited the first post in the pasteurizing thread to explicitly warn that while my cider usually takes about one week to carbonate, some may progress more quickly - and added a warning not to pasteurize over-carbed, gushing bottles.

 

[vicratlhead51]

Did you say you just bottled them on the 14th? It may not be over carbonation. It could just be that the CO2 hasn't fully disolved. I wish I had a link for you but I watched a youtube video on bottle conditioning and the poster opened bottles from the same batch of beer at different periods during the conditioning and the one at one week gushed but the later ones didn't. I was curious after watching this and opened one that I had in bottles for a week and it gushed. I was laughing and SWMBO couldn't figure out why something I did wrong would make me laugh, but the thing is I did nothing wrong. One more week and they opened fine just like normal. If fermentation was done this could be your only problem. RDWHAHB

 

[Pappers_]

Did you say you just bottled them on the 14th? It may not be over carbonation. It could just be that the CO2 hasn't fully disolved. I wish I had a link for you but I watched a youtube video on bottle conditioning and the poster opened bottles from the same batch of beer at different periods during the conditioning and the one at one week gushed but the later ones didn't. I was curious after watching this and opened one that I had in bottles for a week and it gushed. I was laughing and SWMBO couldn't figure out why something I did wrong would make me laugh, but the thing is I did nothing wrong. One more week and they opened fine just like normal. If fermentation was done this could be your only problem. RDWHAHB

The difference here is that this is a simple cider that the OP purposely bottled when it was semi-dry - before it had finished fermentation. The level of carbonation in the bottles is almost assuredly unsafe to pasteurize at this point.

 

[vicratlhead51]

The difference here is that this is a simple cider that the OP purposely bottled when it was semi-dry - before it had finished fermentation. The level of carbonation in the bottles is almost assuredly unsafe to pasteurize at this point.

Ah, guess since I saw he used priming sugar I assumed fermentation was complete. Looks like I'm the ass in assume today :fro: my apologies

 

[zcrxt]

Update:
Currently half-way through the pasteurizing process. I slowly released gas little by little today until it was safe to open. This took a long, long time, but saved almost all of my cider. I then recapped and prepared for stove-top pasteurizing. Haven't had an issue yet!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Jim (Pappers) I wanted to let you know that I don't think its your "fault" that this cider reacted differently. I just said I followed your recipe to help others understand that this is a proven method. Thanks for all of your help!