Primed bottles ready to explode??!

[mattlucas1]

so i primed my cider sunday with apple juice, 2 litres in 5 gallons, its bottled in fizzy drinks bottles, ive been checking and they are getting harder FAST! at first the bottles didnt harden but now it seems like there rock solid every few hours!im opening them every 4 hours to relieve pressure (will this bother it?) im worried about leaving over night?? would the priming already be done? will ilose all the fizz if i put in the cold to kill the yeast?

thanks

[trucker5774]

I can't remember what amount most people use when priming with more apple juice but 2 litres seems high. I reckon one litre would have been plenty. You say your bottle are already hard, so they will have sufficient carbonation. Just put them in the fridge and the fermentation will stop. It may still be a little sweet.You MUST keep them in the fridge or it may restart. Plastic bottle are able to stand high pressure so, they will be fine.

I use a similar method all the time...........read this.............viewtopic.php?f=13&t=35802&hilit=+how+i+sweeten

[mattlucas1]

Thanks for the advice, i ended up putting them in the freezing cold conservatory and fearing the worse but they survived the night, i think they may be a lil overprimed as after letting the gas out i basically watched it bulk back out in seconds! on the plus side......tastes good!! just gonna leave it till xmas now >_<

hopefully

[avtovaz]

well, as i am an idiot at heart, i have tried putting plastic bottles etc onto air lines at my mates garage to get them to explode.

Now, working pressure of the compressor is usually 6 bar, 1 bar = 14.5-14.7 psi, so thats 87 psi or there abouts. At that pressure the bottles didnt explode, or even at that full pressure, and getting " ginge " to kick them to see if they would go off then, nope, still took the pressure.

So imho, dont worry! They will be fine.

[jason123]

First of all, Let me congratulate you on your experimentation and furthering our knowledge of destructive testing on a fizzy pop bottle. 2 litres, Fu*k me that was brave, and lucky you didn't use cheap recycled bottles.

I agree with Trucker and avotaz the bottles should be fine but beware when opening as well. You might find the fizz will try and leave the bottle along with half your cider if your not careful. Especially if you let it warm up again without maintaining the gas releasing process.

I would be tempted to sterilize another FV and tip it all back in, let it ferment out again and then re-bottle with approx 250ml of apple juice which would be enough.