Explosions!
Our cider production is all finished now. But... there were some unfortunate incidents. The bottles were sitting in the cupboard, snuggly in a cardboard box. Returning from our happy trip to Nottingham, we found one of the bottles had broken. Strangely the whole top of the glass bottle was some distance away from the rest of it. Also, the light bulb was smashed. Gradually it dawned on us that CO2 pressure build up in the bottles must have smashed one asunder. The top had been propelled upwards, and taken out the bulb. Understandably we were slightly worried about having a cupboard full of exploding cider. For some reason I decided that must have been a one-off, and thought I'd celebrate a successful brew with a cider. I got about 50% of the fluid on the floor, and some on the wall. Luckily the worst that happened was a lot of froth, but it was clear that we couldn't allow this to remain especially since we hoped to share it with visitors.
The solution we settled on was to put the bottles in the bath tub and gradually lift off the caps to ease the pressure before re-capping them. The first bottle started bubbling violently with just a tiny bit lifted, so I started on the seconding till it calmed down. Same thing happen again, so I started on the third until the other two were back to normal. Fourth bottle was normal, so I set it aside. The fifth bottle detonated like a firecracker. A plume of cider lifted a clear meter up into the air and glass shrapnel flew out. I was slightly worried about that, but in the end only three tiny cuts showed up on my hand and face. Felt pretty weird for a few minutes afterwards. Bridgey finished the rest of the bottles (none of which exploded) with renewed caution.
Long story short, we now have drinkable and safe cider. It is fiendishly strong and smooth. It awaits guests.
The solution we settled on was to put the bottles in the bath tub and gradually lift off the caps to ease the pressure before re-capping them. The first bottle started bubbling violently with just a tiny bit lifted, so I started on the seconding till it calmed down. Same thing happen again, so I started on the third until the other two were back to normal. Fourth bottle was normal, so I set it aside. The fifth bottle detonated like a firecracker. A plume of cider lifted a clear meter up into the air and glass shrapnel flew out. I was slightly worried about that, but in the end only three tiny cuts showed up on my hand and face. Felt pretty weird for a few minutes afterwards. Bridgey finished the rest of the bottles (none of which exploded) with renewed caution.
Long story short, we now have drinkable and safe cider. It is fiendishly strong and smooth. It awaits guests.