Carbonation after racking 3 times.

I am making a still clear cider but I have decided to carbonate a couple of bottles just to see if I like it more..

As I've already bottled, this question could be a touch posthumous but am interested to know the answer for next time.

What I'm worried about is that I haven't got enough active yeast left in the cider to enable carbonation. Note - the cider had stopped bubbling and the hydrometer was stable for several days before bottling.

I racked from primary to secondary and then from secondary to bottling bucket (which is just the primary fermenter as it has a tap on it.. ) then racked (?) into the bottles. So I have moved/racked the cider 3 times.

Each time I racked I was very cautious with not disturbing the sediment. I understand the sediment is the dead yeasties and that there will still be yeasties in suspension in the cider but would racking 3 times and no obvious activity in the cider mean that the yeast has gone into hibernation?

My question is - Will the carbonation drops be enough to wake up the yeast and create carbonation?


Cheers in advance



man that took me ages to get to the point - apologies if there was way too much info and the question is a very simple one - I just wanted to give as much background as possible to get the most informed answer..

Unless you filter/pasteurize your cider you will always have enough yeast in suspension to complete carbonation. (thought it might be marginally slower?)

The vast majority of the yeast in the sediment aren't actually dead, they're only dormant and they wont die for close to another year (when autolysis occurs and dormant yeast wake up and die/cannibalize decaying yeast cells producing bad flavors/ect)

Carbonation drops work independent of your yeast, they dissolve and release CO2 in a reaction that I dont remember off the top of my head.

Cheers for that - very helpful..

Another question would be how long between racking? If you did it all in a day or a week then I wouldnt expect anything different from racking once or three or more times.

When I want to make a still cider I generally let it go for a month our preferably two, if the conditions are right, between rackings. Then I will rack three or four times so that I bottle 6-7 months after starting. For still I dont add sugar when bottling. Even then there is a slight pop and CO2 haze coming out when I open a bottle. But the cider will pour clear and still.

If you really want a still cider you could always follow the wine practices for bottling and chemicals. I dont bother with the chemicals at bottling time and mine come out fine.