It's been 10 days since I made my Elderflower Champagne, and already I've lost one bottle.
The bottles need to be TOUGH. They need clip-on tops, and to be made of good solid glass. Unfortunately I have used a few old Fischer Beer bottles, and others that looked OK, but weren't. Below is one example of the latter which exploded last night..
Anyway, this is also a sign that the alchemy has worked, and I have the product I was after. A very pleasant sparkling drink that is both refreshing and delicious. There's nothing worse than finding your Champagne has no fizz.
Before next year, I really must obtain a lot more bottles like the above. They do the job, and can take the pressure. It's a terrible waste to have them explode!
37 comments:
Oh dear ..... maybe my comment the other day put the kiss of death on it !!! I won’t say a word next year !! Cheers 🥂 XXXX
So it was you, sending bad vibes!!!
Yeh for your champagne. But I hope everyone is not following your example and doing homemade. I saw on the news that french champagne is going through a crisis. No one is celebrating this year and sales are way down
Ah, memories of the 70s when my dad's homemade wine would suddenly pop it's cork and make us all jump.
Hopefully you have plenty left to enjoy.
It's funny how we all have different risk thresholds. If I fully expected a bottle like yours to explode you wouldn't catch me making any "Champagne". I don't even use a pressure cooker. I did, briefly. When they were all the rage, ages ago. Leaving aside the frightful hissing noise they make I don't trust them not to hurl their contents at both me and the ceiling.
And then there was one of my teachers during the last stretch at school. Funny little man. He was enthusiastic about his subject (maths), jumping up and down the blackboard like Rumpelstilzkin on speed. He also had a vile temper. The reason for which, no doubt, at least that's my theory, by having lost an eye, replaced with a glass one. You may be a Maths genius but if you don't know how to open a bottle of champagne (face the bottle's neck away from your face and everyone else's) you may find yourself minus an eye. Cork, pressure, and all that.
He is dead now. Long may he rest in peace.
U
Get out, and pick those Elderflowers! It costs nothing, and is 'almost' as good as Epernay's finest.
I remember making some 'Cider' as a child, corking it really tightly, and hiding it in my mother's pantry. Of course it blew up, taking lots of things with it, and no doubt I got a good telling off.
Yes there's plenty there. I'm used to them exploding, but the strongest bottles always survive.
When we visited my parents in law, the occasional bang happened in a he night, in the pantry, from her homemade apple juice. Such a mess. I don’t think she ever realised it was because of the alcohol.
Our local Chatelaine (who was a very good friend) allowed her pressure cooker to explode, and her whole kitchen was covered in whatever she'd been cooking. I was commandeered to help with the clean-up. I did the ceiling, and it took me all day. No, I wouldn't use one either; other than as a still.
That sounds exactly what happened with my Cider (see above). We live and learn (hopefully).
I remember " ginger beer" being made back in the day.....that used to explode too! I think you used a " starter" for it rather like sourdough these days!
My gran used to make ginger beer - yes, with a starter. We lived with her for a while as children and were used to hearing the odd explosion in the night!
The thought of exploding glass bottles worries me more than using my pressure cooker (which I have used for decades without mishap). I remember as a child the occasions when Dad's home brew would explode in the cupboard under the stairs. Very messy.
In the neighbourhood of Magnon Towers at 3am:-
PIERRE Oh Mon Dieu Cherie! Quelle eez zat? Eez it un attaque de terrorism?
MARIE Non, non Pierre it eez juste zat crazy homme anglaise Monsieur Cro. Il fait le champagne encore!...Maintenant let nous fait l'amour mon petit choux!
PIERRE Oh Mon Dieu Marie! Je suis fatiguee!
Yes, we used to call it the 'Mother'. I believe one can also make it with yeast, but it could be very lively.
I think that makes it all the more exciting. A few bangs here and there.
It seems to be a common problem... exploding bottles everywhere!
Perhaps I should move to Epernay, and show them how it should be done properly!
Thanks for the laugh, YP. For reasons not clear to me (je ne sais quoi) your French accent sounds German to me.
U
And a dangerous chore clearing up the glass.
Luckily this one seemed to collapse onto itself. A very considerate bottle.
This is a little irresponsible.
I remember when aerosol cans first appeared and as teenagers we used to chuck them on bonfires. It is very satisfying, so much so that I still do it to this day. I found half a dozen shot cartridges lying in the forest all wet and withered. Thought they would be really good but they just go Pufft! Aerosols are much better.
I think I could take to this Champagne making malarkey. Don't the proper brewers cheat and freeze the neck of the bottle? Wimps and wussies to a person they are.
If you're looking for excitement (plus a little danger) then Elderflower Champagne making is the answer. JUst make sure you store it in the garage.
Win some, lose some and glad you still have some to enjoy.
My Retired Man’s one time attempt in making wine ended with my walls and floors getting more of the bubbly than us. There were lots of explosions and I was the clean up crew.
My wife once made Apple wine. It was amazing, but she couldn't remember how she'd made it. No more Apple wine!
So excited to open my first bottle of elderflower champagne, and then disappointed when there was absolutely no fizz, not even a sigh.
Proper strong bottles is the answer..I use empty wine bottles for bottling apple juice (unfermented, sorry!) You have to be careful not to use the newer lightweight style of bottle as they don't take well to the processing...so proper bottles for your fizz, certainly.
Cheers!!
I have a neighbour who experienced the same thing TWO YEARS RUNNING!
It's essential. Otherwise Nov 5th comes early!
Pressure cookers terrify me. Still remember being forced to use home in Home Ec classes in high school. Vowed never again. Don't care about the advances in safety made with new ones, they still terrify me.
I helped a friend with her elderflower champagne once - the first step was raising neighbours' recycling crates for used methode traditionelle bottles! She capped them, once the process was finished, with new (plastic) corks and wiring from a homebrewing supplier. No explosions.
"raiding" - whoops.
Bringing back memories of my beer making experience.
Strong glass, and strong caps, are definitely required. I know to my own cost. I have lost dozens over the years!
It happens to the best of us.
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