No Carbonation...

I opened a bottle of what I call "apple sparkler" tonight & was rather disappointed. I bottled this like champagne & primed (6.0 US gallons) for 4.0 - 4.5 atmospheres with 12 oz corn sugar 8 months ago. At bottling, SG was 1.000 & I added 5 or 6 granules of dry (not rehydrated) Red Star premier cuvee yeast (same yeast as in primary) just to be certain it would carb up. Upon opening tonight, it tasted fine, but there was NO carbonation whatsoever, NONE.

This recipe, while completely original, was very similar to summersolstice's "johnny Jump Up cider," but my recipe took it to 12% ABV & added 2oz fresh, grated ginger & zest from 2 lemons. I also bottled some of this in 12oz beer bottles, though they were primed for 2 atmospheres, and those 12 oz bottles carbed up just fine. They were stored side by side in a dark closet with ambient temps at about 70*F for over 8 months.

Recipe:
6 gallons apple juice (no preservatives)
5 cans (12 oz ea.) frozen (thawed) apple juice concentrate
One 12 oz can of Welch's frozen (thawed) white grape juice concentrate
3 lbs white cane sugar
zest from 2 lemons
2oz fresh, peeled & grated ginger root
4 teaspoons wine tannin
2 tablespoons acid blend
3 teaspoons yeast nutrient
3teaspoons yeast energizer
2 teaspoons pectic enzyme
SG: 1.079

Any ideas as to why the 750ml bottles didn't carb up? Any ideas would be appreciated. Regards, GF.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the fresh yeast you added died of "alcohol poisoning" before fermenting out the priming sugar. If you were at 12% when you added it, maybe the yeast just couldn't go to work in that high alcohol environment. They would have taken alcohol across the cell membrane, since it wasn't rehydrated, and died.

But it DID work in the 12 ounce bottles, so I'm guessing it's a quantity thing. More liquid might mean a more toxic environment for the yeast? Purely a guess of course, but I have no other ideas!

I think if it worked in some bottles but not others the problem would be the bottles.
Maybe they didn't have a perfect seal and the co2 escaped.