Priming 3 Months After Bottling (Ed's Apfelwein)

So I bottled up 5 gallons of Edwort's Apfelwein back in February.

I primed half and left the other half still.

I opened two bottles last night: one primed, one still.

I definitely preferred the sparkling over the still.

Could I feasibly uncap all of the still bottles, add a little bit of dry cane sugar (or perhaps a small amount of simple syrup made from cane sugar) and then recap them to effectively carb them?

Or should I spend a little bit of money and get some carbonation tabs (which I've never used)?

Thanks guys, and thanks Ed! I'm loving the Apfelwein. I used local fresh pressed cider, 3 lbs local blackberry honey and 8 oz of mulling spices. Tastes great so far!

If they were from the same batch, and the ones that were primed carbed up......yeah, prime the other bottles should do the trick.

On another note, I have never done it. I am having the same problem on a high alcohol ale and am deciding, since I rousted my bottles, and they don't take off, do I sterilize and put a few drops (boiled priming solution) in each one? Or do I empty all bottles, introduce the priming sugar solution and fill bottles to recap.

The later seems like it is asking for contamination.

What ever you decide, good luck.

I would worry about oxidation more than contamination. I would vote for priming tabs for that reason.

cervezarara said:

I would worry about oxidation more than contamination. I would vote for priming tabs for that reason.

Click to expand...

+1

I would never think of dumping bottles of beer to batch prime. First, that would take FOREVER to try not to oxidize. And second, regardless of how careful I was, I would probably oxidize.

On that note, can Apfelwein become oxidized the same way beer does?

Edit: I'm just going to get some carb tabs on Friday if my LHBS has them.

I always treat my wines pretty carefully to avoid oxidation. They can oxidize pretty rapidly and develop a cardboard flavor even if a bottle is left half full. This is one reason we're careful to minimize head space in the fermenter. I believe apfelwein will also darken if it becomes oxidized.

Hmm... that, I did not know. Thanks, cervezarara!