OH man was it dry! There wasn’t a drop of honey left in that bottle. So I had to open the other 10 bottles some of which were like champange on the inside and add a 1/2 teaspoon of honey to them. Man am I glad I bought those dark blue bottles! The pet bottle held up well too, and can be used as an alternate if good bottles aren’t available.
If you’re doing the math you realize there’s one bottle not accounted for. Well after openning about 6 bottles and having them make a loud pop and spew white foam down the side, I open a bottle and nothing happens. UH OH, ones gone flat or bacteria have gotten at it. Nope, neither of those… a clear unfizzy liquid was in the bottle. I poured some out into a small glass and looked at it. IT was the sterilizing solution I use to clean the bottles. I must have missed filling it with cider! Glad I didn’t send that somewhere to be judged!
The Mrs. and I went to Christmas tree shop and I saw a tall thick walled bottle stamped ‘best milk’ or something like that and I thought I’d give it a try. I shouldn’t have the same problem with still cider as before so I am kicking myself for donating away most of those bottles I had from before. I’ll stop by the basement sometime this week and take pictures.
If I had to drink either of the batches today, Batch A would be the best of the lot, though a couple more weeks will bring round the rest. I’m worried that Batch A in the fridge won’t have matured any further though it had a light bubbly nature to it when I tapped out a bit, which is about where it should be for a Still cider. I think I’ll try a sample bottle around June 7th and decide if its ready to be consumed or if I should let it mature for another month. Fourth of July is a good weekend to drink cider!
Final note: Since I have two batches underway totaling 22 bottles and roughly 1 1/2 gallons in the fridge I won’t be able to start another batch till I’ve ahem! Emptied about half of them. Oh the trials we go thru for our art!