Bottling My Yeast Experiment

[milworm1]

So I'm fairly new to making cider, I have three five gallon batches under my belt and so far they have turned out great. My process is after they are done fermenting I move them to my keg and carbonate.

After reading reviews about various yeasts and tastes I decided to try my own control test to see what yeast I like best. So I got five, five gallon Carboys and put five gallons of the same cider in each. And put a different yeast in each. After two weeks the bubbling stopped and after another week I bottled one gallon of each. While bottling I used these little priming tabs recommended from local brew shop and used four tabs in each for medium carbonation per package instructions. I left these 50 bottles in the same location I ferment in which is a corner in my basement elevated off the floor, high 60s mid 70s range. After two weeks of being in the bottle I put them in the fridge to chill.

A few days later my friends and I popped them open to drink. Initial pop had the fizz sound but that was about all the carbonation they had in the bottles. Some were ok and others not so much. But it was so hard to get past the non carbonation so it was tough to make a decision on which we liked the best.

Has anyone else had this issue when bottling? Any recommendation on how to fix? I still have about 20 gallons total and my keg setup will only support one at a time so I was hopping to bottles these batches but so far it failed so I don't want to keep wasting materials.

Thoughts/suggestions?

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This pic is the five, five gallon batches and yeast next to each.

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Setting on my rack shelf. Top one is pumpkin which I have yet to try. I want to get this bottling figured out before I do it.

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Box of bottles

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BSG Carbonation Tabs

 

[MarkKF]

Next time just put approx. .15 cup brown sugar in each gal. Mix then bottle. I never used those tabs.

 

[ericbw]

WTF, you made 25 gallons of cider??? That's a lot!

If you're getting a *pop* when you open them, then you got carbonation. It sometimes takes time for the liquid to dissolve and absorb it. It absorbs better/faster at colder temperatures.

How long were they "in the fridge to chill?"

I usually carbonate for 2 weeks minimum, then try to chill/cold condition for a week (3 days minimum). After a while, even the warm bottles will carbonate properly and you can chill faster. But in the beginning, it takes some extra time to be ready.

 

[milworm1]

Yeah, 25 gallons, I was thirsty lol. No, I had three batches under my belt so I wanted to experiment with different yeasts to determine how they changed the flavor using everything else as a control with only the yeasts being different. But what can I say, I like cider, lol.

Yep they initially popped but that was it. Almost like drinking apple wine after that.

I left them in the bottles in the boxes for a little over two weeks in same fermenting conditions. Mid 60s to mid 70s I would say. After those two weeks were up I moved them to the fridge. I would say they were in the fridge at least three days maybe a little longer but not much to get good and cold before we pooped the first one open.

I called my brew shop to get recommendation and they said to take out of fridge and shake them up and then let them sit someplace a little warmer for two more weeks and then re chill.

I have no idea, but my experiment was a fail and now I'm glad I use my Kegerator more than ever.

 

[milworm1]

MarkKF, I bottled straight from Carboy so if I did this I would need something else to put it in first correct? And would the brown sugar alter the taste? I was trying to keep it as controlled as possible so the only difference was the yeast. And how well does the brown sugar get mixed up in that temp of cider? Does it break down all the way or leave it gritty like trying to mix sugar in cold iced tea?

 

[Terek]

not sure, im not a big fan of carbed cider. I pretty much have some cider fermenting all the time, but i never carb it. I usually go to measures to stop it from carbing. Cider will usually will ferment down to like 0.998. At that point, the yeast is completely spent. I dont think those carb tabs have enough stuff in them to kick start the yeast again. Best way i would think, is to bottle when the cider is not quite done yet. The few batches i have carbed, i bottled when gravity was around 1.010-1.012. And then you dont really need to add sugar. Also, remember, those tabs oare designed for beer. Beer sugar and cider sugar are 2 completely diff. things. If anything, you should prime with either brown sugar, or more apple juice. I tend to go with the ladder

 

[BGBC]

not sure, im not a big fan of carbed cider. I pretty much have some cider fermenting all the time, but i never carb it. I usually go to measures to stop it from carbing. Cider will usually will ferment down to like 0.998. At that point, the yeast is completely spent. I dont think those carb tabs have enough stuff in them to kick start the yeast again. Best way i would think, is to bottle when the cider is not quite done yet. The few batches i have carbed, i bottled when gravity was around 1.010-1.012. And then you dont really need to add sugar. Also, remember, those tabs oare designed for beer. Beer sugar and cider sugar are 2 completely diff. things. If anything, you should prime with either brown sugar, or more apple juice. I tend to go with the ladder

The carb tabs are just dextrose in a tab form, should be fine for carbonating cider. Unless you added a ton of sugar to your ciders (sounds like you used just juice), your yeast should still be healthy enough to ferment the additional sugar added at bottling.

However, those tabs aren't super exact, and might vary slightly in size/weight. This is why it's recommended to bottle from a bottling bucket where you can mix in a measured amount of sugar and mix it into the full volume, ensuring an even distribution of the added sugar. You can mix the sugar in a small volume of boiled water, then add your sugar solution to the cider to help it dissolve evenly.

Also, bottling when gravity is around 1.010-1.012 would likely lead to bottle bombs, unless you pasteurized the bottles. General rule of thumb is .5 vol CO2 for each gravity point drop, which could be 5+ vol CO2 if you bottle at 1.010 and it drops to 1.000 in the bottle - recipe for bottle bombs.

All that said, it sounds like two weeks in the bottles just wasn't enough time for them to all carbonate. Did you notice any consistent results across each yeast? Like Yeast 1 & 3 bottles were all carbonated while Yeast 2, 4 & 5 were not? Which yeasts did you use?

Finally, did you take any FG measurements prior to bottling? 3 weeks was probably enough time for primary fermentation, but might be kind of quick for some yeasts, depending on conditions. Without measurements though, there's no way to know if there was still residual sugar present at bottling.

 

[Terek]

Also, bottling when gravity is around 1.010-1.012 would likely lead to bottle bombs, unless you pasteurized the bottles. General rule of thumb is .5 vol CO2 for each gravity point drop, which could be 5+ vol CO2 if you bottle at 1.010 and it drops to 1.000 in the bottle - recipe for bottle bombs.

i have done it like this 4-5 times, and never had bottle bombs, and they seemed carbed about in line as say a regular beer. Not disagreeing with you by any means. I prefer to be safe than sorry. Mabe i just got lucky. I have never had a bottle blow up

 

[ericbw]

MarkKF, I bottled straight from Carboy so if I did this I would need something else to put it in first correct? And would the brown sugar alter the taste? I was trying to keep it as controlled as possible so the only difference was the yeast. And how well does the brown sugar get mixed up in that temp of cider? Does it break down all the way or leave it gritty like trying to mix sugar in cold iced tea?

If you're using sugar to "batch prime" (meaning priming the whole batch instead of "bottle priming" each bottle individually), then you can dissolve it in enough warm water to get rid of the grains of sugar. It won't dilute your cider because it's like 2 cups AT MOST in a 5 gallon batch.

Priming with a little more juice is an interesting idea, but harder to calculate properly.

Bottling before it is done fermenting all the way is an old school way to do it. But it is asking for trouble, in my opinion