How come my cider is carbonated?

Not that I'm complaining, but my cider is sparkling. It's a happy accident.
But how did it happen?

It was my first attempt at making cider so I got a few things wrong, as you do.
I used my own apples from my garden and some basic youngs cider yeast. I didn't use any campden tablets or any additives intact and left it to ferment by it't own accord for a week and half. By then the SG was around 1.020 so I decided to rack. I racked away from the leas and left it for another couple of weeks until the SG was around 1.008ish and it tasted awesome. So I added enough campden tablets and stabiliser to stop the fermentation and preserve it (I was better read by this stage) and left it a day before I added finings to clear it. After it was relatively clear (admittedly not even close to how clear it should have been) I bottled it. It has left some leas in the bottom of the bottles and is a lot clearer now.

This was all about a month ago. The other night I decided to open up a small taser bottle that I had set out to see what it's like. It's fizzy, and really nice!

Why is it fizzy?

Cheers.

Oh, I should add that I used mainly desert apples (cox's orange I think) and Some brambly cookers and a few crab apples for tannin from my parents garden.

I don't think the type of apples is an issue - should be able to use about anything.

I think the issue is the amount of campden vs the amount of yeast, possibly. Also could be some bottles got more and some less?

Did your test bottle taste dryer than before, too?

Yes it did. I'm assuming that it must have continued to ferment in the bottle and I didn't add enough stabiliser to stop it.

Would this cause that much carbonation?

yep!

depending on the yeast you used and the type of residual sugar, you can definitely get a monster that will not stop fermenting period - EC-1118 is like that. I've done a batch of mead where i used campden and sorbate and the EC-1118 plowed through that like it was nothing, finished below 1.000 sg.

But hey, you made a finished product that is drinkable and tasty! RDWHAHB

Walking_Target said:

yep!

depending on the yeast you used and the type of residual sugar, you can definitely get a monster that will not stop fermenting period - EC-1118 is like that. I've done a batch of mead where i used campden and sorbate and the EC-1118 plowed through that like it was nothing, finished below 1.000 sg.

But hey, you made a finished product that is drinkable and tasty! RDWHAHB

Click to expand...

Same here, no matter what yeast I use, it still continues to work in the jug after a good cold crash in the fridge. Campden only puts the yeast to sleep for a few days then, its back to working. It actually changes every day but, I consume it so fast, I haven't had the chance to try a batch over 2 weeks old yet...lol! Gotta love cider!

I did add Sorbate as well as Campden, but it was a 6 gallon batch. Plus I didn't kill off any natural yeast at the start. Oh well, I'm pretty impressed for my first attempt at brewing anything. It's a drinkable, sparkling, homegrown, hard cider.

Lovely!

That actually sounds like a perfect mix of apples for a welll balance cider. It just wasn' finished before bottling. By accident you have achieved what many cidermakers aspire to. Good show!

I just put my 3 gallon batch through the dishwasher. It was really carbing quickly. I hope the dishwasher killed the yeast I'm going to pasteurize my test plastic bottle, too and monitor its progress.

Haha, some serious beginners luck them. Luck finds me a good blend of apples for free and then carb's my cider for me and says "Go on Richard, you've earned it!".

None have exploded either, which i gather is a problem.

I've heard of people putting their cider through the dishwasher, weejub. It seems a little contradictory to the suggest of putting it in the fridge to cold crash it?