Bottle carb failed - what to do?

I popped open my first bottle of cider tonight, and after 3 weeks at room temp following priming and bottling...there's zero carbonation. The cider doesn't taste very good flat - sort of watery, so I'm thinking carbonation would help. I think the camden tablets I used when racking may have killed off all the yeast. Now I've got a bunch of bottles of uncarbonated cider. Would you try taking the caps off and adding a tiny amount of yeast per bottle (seems risky)? Or use one of those seltzer-C02 bottles and just carbonate before serving? Any ideas appreciated!

Hmm, yeah that's a tough one. Redoing everything always increases your risk for problems. I'd say your latter suggestion is a fair route to go and see if you like it that way. I think your insight as to why the yeast didn't work out is probably spot on, so keep that in mind next time. If you wanted to add yeast back in, yeah you could probably just sprinkle a few grains in each but it's going to be a pain.

why did you add the camden tabs? aren't those for an instant reaction?

Either would work, though re-yeasting all at once is probably your best approach. Even though the cider seems flat, work over the sink as adding dry yeast will cause foaming.

You could always drink it as a still cider. Many people enjoy it that way. When you don't have bubbles bursting in your nose as you drink it, it will change the flavor profile, sometimes significantly, giving you a different drink. I have read recipes that people have come up with specifically for still ciders. It could be that you like it that way.

I read somewhere that mixing still cider with 7-UP is a common practice in Europe. It will sweeten it at the same time as carbing it, but you will loose your ABV percentage.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I didn't want to start another bottle carbonation forum.

I bottled last week and put my bottles in the basement which is at a toasty 60F. Should have brought them upstairs but I didn't.

Normally I don't even think about this as I have quite a few brews under my belt but if I bring these up is there a chance for over carbonation? I used the tri-scale calculation in Palmers How 2 Brew so the sugar amount is dead on..

I think I will just leave down stairs for a few extra weeks.

Dr Vorlauf said:

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I didn't want to start another bottle carbonation forum.

I bottled last week and put my bottles in the basement which is at a toasty 60F. Should have brought them upstairs but I didn't.

Normally I don't even think about this as I have quite a few brews under my belt but if I bring these up is there a chance for over carbonation? I used the tri-scale calculation in Palmers How 2 Brew so the sugar amount is dead on..

I think I will just leave down stairs for a few extra weeks.

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You'll only really over carbonate if you weren't finished with the ferment. If you used the proper amount it should come out fine. One tidbit to keep in mind is that those temperature corrections are for the temperature that you fermented at, not the temperature of the conditioning phase.

Thanks for the advice - I'm going to try re-yeasting and will let you know how it goes. I did try one flat, but it wasn't very good (watery).