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On June 7 I brewed a small batch of strong cider. After aging it for about 5 weeks in a brewing bucket I noticed it was leaking around the O ring where the spout comes out near the bottom, so I decided to move it to my small, ported carboy and then bottle it the next day. I added some priming sugar and some extra juice into the secondary vessel then made the trasfer. This was about six weeks ago, and I never did get a chance to bottle it. I saw no airlock activity in the carboy nor did any kind of krausen ever form. (got both in primary) Now I'm ready to transfer again and bottle, but I'm afraid my yeast may be dead. How can I check?

Searched the forums for a similar post and couldn't find one. Sorry I wrote a tome, but I thought it would be best if all the info was available.

Cb

Try putting more info in the title. That would help get viewers and help others searching for relevant info.

Unless you heated the wort to an unacceptable level or did a stupid abv it's very unlikely that you killed the yeast.

The ABV is high, 15%, but I used Lalvin EC-1118 and was told at the LHBS it was rated for higher than that.

Tried to edit the title and it wouldn't let me. Good advice, wish I could use it.

Cb

Did you use a hydrometer to get the ABV? What is the reading now? You may be at the upper limit of ABV (EC1118 does go to 18%, but not always), so you can bottle but may or may not get carbonation.

I brewed another batch of cider and did a yeast starter for it. I added about a cup of yeast to the strong cider after adding the bottling sugar. I let it sit for around 20 minutes prior to bottling, and very gently stirred it a couple of times. We'll see what happens. I'll crack one in a couple of weeks to see if it is carbing up. Its so strong its going to have to age for a long time to be good anyway.