Elderflower Champers/Fizz/Beer...

[HeltorChasca]

Just in case anyone is wondering what all the gunshots ringing out from Somerset are: It's the wife's 3.5% fizz blowing up in my shed! So far about 10 pints have gone. Pretty unbelievable pressure. You can't even make out the glass was from bottles originally. I've put the rest in a large cooler box in cold water, but they are still going off. Boy did I look attractive in my safety visor, ear defenders and leather gloves!

It was almost inevitable in this weather(though a first in my brewing career) bottling it early for her so it was weaker. The stronger stuff has stopped fermenting in the fermenting vessle so things will be safe on that front (I hope).

Still - On the plus side: One side of the inside of my shed is all spangly and glittery (shards of brown glass).

 

[gregorach]

Oh dear... You might want to think about stopping the fermentation with some potassium sorbate and a camden tablet next time. It doesn't matter when you bottle it, the yeast will ferment any available sugar until it hits its alcohol tolerance. Bottling early won't result in less alcohol, just more BANG!

On the other hand, my wine is bubbling away steadily under its airlock...

 

[gregorach]

Shouldn't post before finishing my first cuppa... Of course, if you stop the fermentation before bottling, you'll get no fizz. For risk-free fizz, you'd need to take the brewer's approach - let it ferment out, then add a controlled amount of sugar to "prime" it for bottling.

 

[marcelxl]

We've blown the top off two now (which btw I've re-bunged up as it was only a day or so in to the bottling-is this OK?)

I expect to loose some more too looking at the plastic corks starting to lift! Mine are in a relatively cool garage and they are covered with a towel just in case........

 

[HeltorChasca]

Shouldn't post before finishing my first cuppa... Of course, if you stop the fermentation before bottling, you'll get no fizz. For risk-free fizz, you'd need to take the brewer's approach - let it ferment out, then add a controlled amount of sugar to "prime" it for bottling.

Cheers Dunc. With the lower % batch I was chancing my arm not using potassium sorbate & a camden tab. That was just down to the fact last year was such a success and I thought I could do it again. Natural yeast is so unpredictable. I'm also not one keen on all the chemicals useful as they are.

Like you say "my batch", which has reached max fermentation, will be bottled tomorrow with half a teaspoon of sugar for fizz. Guaranteed this lot won't blow.

 

[gregorach]

Natural yeast is so unpredictable.

Yup. I'm a big fan of domesticated yeast - it's a very rewarding pet, and much easier to manage than most livestock...

 

[daveO]

Plastic bottles that had fizzy drinks in before seem pretty resistant to exploding. They'll go full rugby ball shape without popping.

 

[gregorach]

Yeah, I've heard anecdotal reports that they're good up to about 100psi... Although I have also heard anecdotal reports of them splitting down the seams. Which shows you just what sort of horrendous pressures yeast can achieve in a sealed vessel...

 

[marcelxl]

We lost another four overnight!

 

[HeltorChasca]

I'm still too shell shocked to go near the cooler box of unexploded devices. However I bottled the other half of the brew this morning which had finished fermenting at FG996 so I make that 8.6%. Pretty chuffed with that being wild yeast. Too right Dunc. Unpredictable livestock. Tried a Springer Spaniel before? Must be in the same boat. Heh heh.

It's a pretty dry champagne, but the flavours will develop over the next few months. WITHOUT ANY EXPLOSIONS!

 

[hiho]

none of mines blown this year... open the tops every other day though

 

[marcelxl]

Had my first taste last next and I am impressed...................two twists of the cork cage thingy though and the plastic cork was sent into outer space!

VERY fizzy and an all round delightfull tipple!

 

[Ruvio]

Since I've been absent for nearly a year with..lots of problems and good things...
It's my time of year, summer, and i can do lots of things
Got my elderflower bubbly on the go, already drunk one batch, and the next one has vimto in it...
the third has lime as well as lemon
and the 4th has hops and barley as well as elderflower, shall let you all know how they get on, now I'm not losing my mind at university

 

[DMadden]

Hi guys, another question. I've seen talk about finding the % of the drink, how do you do this??
Cheers,
Dan.

 

[gregorach]

You take a hydrometer reading at the start of fermentation, and another at the end. Subtract the final gravity from the starting gravity and divide by 7.36 (assuming your hydrometer is calibrated for Specific Gravity rather than brix or some other weird unit...). If you don't have a hydrometer or didn't take a reading at the start, you're bumped.

(OK, you can also do it with a refractometer, but they're more expensive than hydrometers and if you had one, you wouldn't be asking. )

 

[DMadden]

Cheers Dunc, but I've got/done neither of those things. So it looks like I'm in for a suprise!

 

[gregorach]

If you know how much sugar you added (and your total volume) I can probably hazard a reasonable guess...

 

[DMadden]

I added 700g of sugar, and there's 6L of water...

 

[Ruvio]

I prefer the more fun method of waiting until it's all nice and fermented...then drinking it and working it out based on tolerance.

 

[gregorach]

OK, off the top of my head, you're probably looking at somewhere in the region of about 6-7%.