Carbonation Questions

I have a cider that I'm trying to carbonate. I have tested the carbonation after 2 weeks and there isn't any noticeable carbonation. I brewed 5 gallons of cider using store bought juice, 5 lbs of cane sugar, and red star pasteur champagne yeast. The fermentation went fine and then I racked it into a secondary for about 2 weeks. I then added thawed apple juice concentrate (162 g of sugar) to the bottling bucket and then siphoned the cider on top of it. I bottled the cider in two liter pop bottles and 12 beer bottles and then left it at room temp which is currently 72 F. I am not sure if it is just taking longer due to the concentrate for priming or if my yeast is sleeping because of the high alcohol content (calculated at ~11.8%). The cider is still cloudy so I am pretty sure there is yeast in there. What do you think I should do?

I would be patient and check it again in a few weeks.

Just an observation, but a two week secondary sounds more like a beer timetable. Most cidermakers leave a cider in the secondary for a few months or more.

Give it time. At that alcohol level it could take a while. looks like you did everything right, except you rushed a bit. Don't be surprised to find a lot of sediment in the bottles, when pouring from the 2 liter bottles you might stir up a lot of sediment of you don't pour it all at once.

I guess I will just let it sit and maybe it will be carbonated by New Year's (if there is any left) :cross:. Thanks for the reassurance.

Being in Indiana, how cool is your house? My cider takes longer to carb in the winter than it does in the summer.

I thought that the recent cold snap might have set back carbonation but I measured the air temp at the bottles as 71 F. I have them in some of those omaha steak styrofoam coolers to prevent drastic changes in temp. I'm going to brew a Brewer's Best Oktoberfest tonight to try and take my mind off the cider.

I ran into a similar situation. I let mine ferment out a little too far. There still was yeast in suspension because it was still coudy. I racked it onto my backsweetening/priming sugars, and bottled it. It has taken a LONG time to get it to a good carb level. I haven't checked it for a week, or so, but I hopefully plan on checking it within the next few days, then pasturize it, to kill off the yeast.

Just hang in there, it will come around.