I had a case of gushers!

[MeadWitch]

Due to some bad timing on my part and all of the holiday baking that I needed to get done for gifts, my cider that was carb'ing in the bottles went a few days past where they should have be pasturized. I opened the first bottle all regular like only to be wearing a cider facial and hair conditioning treatment a few seconds later! Evidently, the look on my face was priceless, according to my daughter.

So I ended up popping the tops (very slowly) on the entire case, letting them breathe for a while, recapping and pastuerizing them. The carb levels are now where they should be and everyone who has tasted this batch of cider has loved it. It won't be lasting long, but hopefully until my next 3 day weekend, so I can get some more going.

The winter spiced cider I made earlier in the fall, ended up to sweet for me. The molasses flavor tended to bloom over the apple flavor, but it still was a big hit with all.

Note to self: use molasses sparely and pay attention to your test bottles!

 

[naeco]

that's bizarre as I had the same problem 4 days ago and after letting some co2 escape from each bottle, recapping them and pasteurizing each bottle, my cider ended up totally flat after 4 days in the fridge ?

 

[ChandlerBang]

new guy question.

Does hard cider have to be pasteurized?

 

[RugenBrau]

nope....most people don't pastuerize it.

 

[RukusDM]

nope....most people don't pastuerize it.

You have to pasteurize if you are bottling cider that is not fully dry.

If you bottle the cider before the cider is completely fermented, the yeast will still want to goto full dry.

Many folks like to have a sweet carbonated cider. This requires calculating priming sugar, or bottling a point or 2 above where you want it to end up.
They test every few days for carbonation, then pasteurize to kill the yeast so you won't have bottle bombs.

 

[dinnerstick]

to add to the comical holiday gushrs anecdotes, i had pasteurized a batch of semi-sweet cider, wrote about it in the sticky thread, there were some 750ml swing-top bottles that i suspected didn't quite get to temperature, but upon opening a few they seemed fine, no bombs. took one to my girlfriend's parents house for christas eve drinks, the day before it leaked a bit on the car ride! i though if anything the seal is leaky and there is no pressure at all left. got out the glasses and gf surprisingly brought them into the living room, i was ready to pour glasses in the kitchen sink but thought- screw it there's no gas left in here, no problem. popped the top (over the living room table with books magazines etc., and living room rug, and waxed wooden floor, ...) a good satisfying pop followed two seconds later by a geyser of cider all over everything, i did the normal first reaction attempt at guzzling it all by inserting the fire hose of cider into my mouth, basically pumping cider foam out my nose for a few seconds, then ran into the kitchen coughing and trailing the stuff all over the fancy waxed something or other difficult to clean floor. after that i needed a drink
deicious cider though- a friend's apples, nothing added. natural yeast and primed with juice, what could be better other than enjoying it in a glass rather than a high pressure jet

 

[MeadWitch]

that's bizarre as I had the same problem 4 days ago and after letting some co2 escape from each bottle, recapping them and pasteurizing each bottle, my cider ended up totally flat after 4 days in the fridge ?

How sad!! I think mine could have used a bit more carbonation but that is just my preference. It has carbonation and bubbles galore, but very little head on it, even with the dextrose added. I barely have any of it left after friends got a hold of it.