I made a batch (~50l) of cider from apples last autumn. Added campdens then a champagne / cider yeast.
Fermented in fermenting buckets. Racked off to demijohns / carboys to settle. A few weeks before Christmas I bottled about 20 litres. I added about 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar to some of the 660ml bottles, brought them up to 20C for 4 days before sending out to the garage. These refermented and had a nice slightly sparkling fizz develop.
I left the rest of my cider settling in the rest of the demijohns / carboys in the garage until May when I racked off / bottled the rest of the cider. Again I added sugar to some of my bottles (same amounts / volumes as before), brought the bottles inside to around 20C for a few days then sent the bottles out to the garage for storage. These bottles didn't develop any fizz.
So would the yeast have died off over the rest of the winter, meaning the later batch couldn't restart fermentation? Or is another variable that I haven't considered affecting the non carbonation of the second batch!
Fermented in fermenting buckets. Racked off to demijohns / carboys to settle. A few weeks before Christmas I bottled about 20 litres. I added about 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar to some of the 660ml bottles, brought them up to 20C for 4 days before sending out to the garage. These refermented and had a nice slightly sparkling fizz develop.
I left the rest of my cider settling in the rest of the demijohns / carboys in the garage until May when I racked off / bottled the rest of the cider. Again I added sugar to some of my bottles (same amounts / volumes as before), brought the bottles inside to around 20C for a few days then sent the bottles out to the garage for storage. These bottles didn't develop any fizz.
So would the yeast have died off over the rest of the winter, meaning the later batch couldn't restart fermentation? Or is another variable that I haven't considered affecting the non carbonation of the second batch!
