Pet nat aggressive fizz

[Mark Warnett]

Hi all

We bottled a cider at SG1004 4 - 5 months ago...blend of bittersweets. I don't have the FSU in front of me but it was fermenting out fast at the end.

It now jumps out the (champagne) bottle when opened! Lucky if half the bottle is left and a big mess ensures.

We are looking to mature for another 9 months anyway...will the mousse calm down a bit or are we stuck with this problem?

Thoughts welcome!

[Albert Johnson]

No, the co2 won't lessen unless you release it somehow. Many bittersweets can ferment out to .997 so 1.004 will work sometimes and not others with pet nat style. Plus with pet nat you have a heavier sediment which aggressively nucleates the co2 so they will often be comparatively more visually explosive.

In my opinion, the best thing to do in this situation is disgorge the bottle. This will release some of the co2 and remove the sediment. Hopefully through both leaving you with a recapped bottle with a better level of sparkle and the bonus of being visually more appealing to the customer. 

Cheers

Albert 

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[Patrick McCauley]

Hi Mark. I've been bottling nearly all of my ciders "pet nat" whenever possible, and this can be an issue, especially if you don't have a firm control over the fermentation. I like to bottle mine when I am at about 5-10 FSUs, over at least a month or so in the late spring or summer. Claude's book goes into great detail on this. I am also using wild yeast, which is a bit easier to control. I've had ciders below 5FSUs, that still got decently carbonated, which makes me question my hydrometer readings. I'm not sure how many bottles of this pet nat you have made, but when I've had this issue, I use my bottle opener to slowly release the pressure from the bottles by slightly lifting the caps and burping them, without removing the cap completely and causing an explosion of carbonation. Once I burp them to the point where they are not gushing, I quickly recap the bottles. It's time consuming, but it beats having to plan on an explosion every time, and then losing half the cider all over the place! You may want to wear gloves and safety glasses if the carbonation is as bad as you are saying. Slowly burp those ciders and recap and save them for some future drinking!

Pat

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[Claude Jolicoeur]

Le samedi 20 août 2022 à 03:32:48 UTC-4, markww...@gmail.com a écrit :

We are looking to mature for another 9 months anyway...will the mousse calm down a bit or are we stuck with this problem?

In my experience, yes it should calm down somewhat after another 9 months.

I have had ciders that were overly lively at bottle opening when young and were much quieter after a prolonged maturation in the bottle. The reason is the lees will settle in a more compact sediment with time, and although the pressure will remain the same, there will be less nucleation and consequently much less foam at opening.

Good luck!

Claude