Cider won't bottle condition

[Ron Bell]

My first ever attempt to make cider from my own apples went fine through to the end of fermentation in demijohns - down to a gravity of about zero. I racked it once. It was still cloudy but I decided to bottle it anyway hoping that it would clear in the bottle - and not minding about a bit of cloudiness anyway. I added a little less than a teaspoon of sugar to each 500ml bottle and crown corked. Now, about 6 weeks later, I've tried a couple of bottles and both are completely flat - not a hint of a bubble or sparkle anywhere. The flat cider is not unpleasant to drink - a bit inspid and very slightly sweet - would be much better sparkling. Is it possible that I left it too long before bottling and all the yeast had died? Should I have added some fresh yeast before bottling? Is it too late to save this batch or could I open up all the bottles, add a little yeast and recork?

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @Ron Bell
Have the bottles been allowed to get too cool?

 

[phillc]

Is it possible that I left it too long before bottling and all the yeast had died?

Yes. The same thing happened to me last year. I racked to a second fermenter and let it condition there for some time. After bottling, even with added sugar, there never was any carbonation. I reached the same conclusion as you that all the viable yeast had died due to the long second ferment. Bottles were always kept in a 17-21 degree cellar environment. Now, I just go straight to bottles after a 2-3 week initial ferment.

Regarding opening the bottles and adding yeast now, that I don't know as I've never tried it. If I was to do it, I'd be tempted to pour all the bottles, with as much care as possible to avoid excess oxygenation, into a larger container (fermenter would do), add a crushed campden tablet or two (depending on volume), then pitch some Lallamand CBC-1 yeast, then re-bottle. As I say, I've never tried it, but if you really wanted carbonation in the bottle that's what I'd be tempted to do.

With my "flat" cider, I just ended up mixing with carbonated water in the glass at drinking time. This makes for a less alcoholic cider, but you do get some carbonation with your drink. Or if you had a soda stream, maybe that'd work.

 

[prog99]

Hi @Ron Bell
Have the bottles been allowed to get too cool?

That'd be my first thoughts too. My cider carbonated fine despite our house not being super warm this autumn. I did bottle straight from primary.

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi!
Try the method suggested by @phillc
I tried it once with some success - it was a milk stout that had been left cold conditioning for too lon - I emptied out the bottles into a FV and added a reconstituted pack of Notty.

 

[Ron Bell]

Thanks very much everyone for your replies. Maybe them getting too cold is the reason. I initially left them in my apple store, which is just an outside shed with a little heater controlled by a frost stat to prevent the apples freezing. But it's been pretty cold in there. I brought some bottles into the house about 3 weeks ago, and it's those that I opened and found to be flat. Yep, I think @phillc's advice is good - semi-carbonate this lot artificially and do it right next time! Next time is coming right up. I have twice as much as before (20 litres in 4 demijohns) just starting to ferment - frothing nicely - an eclectic mix of Katy, Ellison's Orange, Egremont Russet, Ribston Pippin, Saturn, and Kidd's Orange Red with 35% of ripe Bramleys to give it acid bite. One of the demijohns has 130 ml of juice from unbletted medlars (all I could get out of 2 kg of fruit) for a tannin bite. Don't know how much difference that will make - but a small taste of the pure medlar juice sure took the roof off my mouth!

 

[freester]

I always add a small pinch of yeast along with carbonating sugar to each bottle and bring the bottles indoors for 2 weeks if I want sparkling. So in answer to your question the yeasties may have carked it or it wasn't warm enough to kick off another ferment to self carbonate.

 

[MattH1973]

I have often wondered whether re-opening bottles to add a pinch of yeast would work. In my mind it certainly should, as flat cider would have oxygen touching the liquid anyway, and you want to get some CO2 in there asap, so adding yeast would produce that layer of CO2 pretty soon after opening and resealing, therefore the act of opening should be no worse that leaving flat cider in the bottle exposed to oxygen. And a lot less faff than messing about with another fermenter....

 

[Ron Bell]

Yes, I think I might try just adding a pinch of yeast to the bottles just to see if it works. It seems to be just one of my demijohns that didn't condition. I did keep a note of which bottles were from which demijohn, and a bottle from a different demijohn opened last night was definitely slightly sparkling - just needs longer.