diff --git a/src/MD_STD_CACHE.php b/src/MD_STD_CACHE.php
index ca4c241..b1a0871 100644
--- a/src/MD_STD_CACHE.php
+++ b/src/MD_STD_CACHE.php
@@ -16,6 +16,20 @@ final class MD_STD_CACHE {
     /** @var integer */
     public static int $redis_port = 6379;
 
+    /**
+     * Opens a connection to redis.
+     *
+     * @return Redis
+     */
+    public static function open_redis_default():Redis {
+
+        $redis = new Redis();
+        $redis->connect(self::$redis_host, self::$redis_port, 1, null, 0, 0, ['auth' => [MD_CONF::$redis_pw]]);
+
+        return $redis;
+
+    }
+
     /**
      * Shutdown function for caching contents of output buffer.
      *
@@ -29,8 +43,8 @@ final class MD_STD_CACHE {
         $outputT = trim(MD_STD::minimizeHTMLString(MD_STD::ob_get_clean()));
         echo $outputT;
 
-        $redis = new Redis();
-        $redis->connect(self::$redis_host, self::$redis_port, 1, null, 0, 0, ['auth' => [MD_CONF::$redis_pw]]);
+        $redis = self::open_redis_default();
+
         $redis->set($redisKey, $outputT);
         $redis->expire($redisKey, $expiry);
         $redis->close();
@@ -52,8 +66,8 @@ final class MD_STD_CACHE {
             return '';
         }
 
-        $redis = new Redis();
-        $redis->connect(self::$redis_host, self::$redis_port, 1, null, 0, 0, ['auth' => [MD_CONF::$redis_pw]]);
+        $redis = self::open_redis_default();
+
         if ($redis->ping() !== false) {
 
             ob_start();