Newbie Question : Storage of cider in plastic bottles? :|

[Polymath]

Hiya all,

I'm currently in the process of doing a nice kit of cider for my girlfriend and me to split. She paid half for it wahey. Here is the kit i'm using : http://www.homebrew4u.co.uk/homebrew-ci ... -cider.asp

The question I have, is I'm going to have to split the final product as she lives 50 miles from me. I don't really want to have to bottle it using normal bottles as this would end up quite expensive. I was hoping to use standard 2 litre plastic bottles such as the ones used for coke and lemonade etc. However my "spidy sense" tells me there could be explosions ahead if i'm not careful. I was planning on getting round this by leaving a good 3 inches at the top of the bottle empty and squeezing the top of the bottle so all the air is out, then putting the cap on the bottle. Intention being that when/if its still throwing out air/oxygen (Actually unsure what it would be putting out), you could see the bottle has expanded and then you can open and I think the term is "off gas?".

What I need to know is peoples opinions on this approach. Having never done a cider before, and never put any brew into a plastic 2 litre bottle before .... well it could be fun .....

 

[tubby_shaw]

When your cider is ready to be bottled, just sanite the bottles, add two level teaspoons of granulated sugar to each 2 litres bottle and screw the cap on :thumb:
Don't squeeze the air out of them its not necessary. The CO2 that is produced during fermentation wil carbonate your cider ( give it fizz) and the 2 litre PET "pop" bottles are actually more resistant to bursting than glass bottles
The only drawback to using 2L bottles is that as a sediment is formed on the bottom of the bottle you will have to pour the whole of the bottle in one go to avoid getting the sediment mixed into the cider

 

[shadow47]

The only drawback to using 2L bottles is that as a sediment is formed on the bottom of the bottle you will have to pour the whole of the bottle in one go to avoid getting the sediment mixed into the cider

Don't think of it as a drawback, it's an excuse to drink more "Oh I have to pour the lot out in one go ohhh dear, can't just have one glass, what a tragedy"

 

[Aleman]

I have seen a video where people connected a PET bottle to a CO2 cylinder and turned the gas on . . . . IIRC the gauge showed above 250psi before the pop bottle 'Popped' . . . . It resembled a football at the time, and the 'pop' was a little bit spectacular.

I doubt if you could ever get that sort of pressure from carbonation . . . . Incidentally leaving a good amount of headroom could have just the opposite effect, 1/2 to 1" inch is more than enough . . . The other benefit of PET bottles is that you can loosen the lid to release the pressure and then tighten it again.