Carb flavor problems

[tristan1220]

I had my cider flavored to a beautifully sweet amber flavor then I carbonated it. I popped it last night to check it out and the flavor is gone. HELP...

 

[LeBreton]

Bottle conditioned or kegged? If the first, Did you take into account the sugars that are consumed to cause carbonation (ie sweetened AND primed)?

 

[tristan1220]

Bottled. Your saying I should "over sweeten" it? So that there's sweetness left in there?

 

[LeBreton]

Bottled. Your saying I should "over sweeten" it? So that there's sweetness left in there?

Exactly. First, sweeten to taste, then add another 0.003-0.004 points of sweetness to account for carbonation. The yeast won't stop on its own, so you'll have to monitor the process and stop them once proper carbonation is achieved.

When bottling, fill up a plastic soda bottle along with your glass ones and store them together. Now one can squeeze the soda bottle to see how much CO2 has built up. Once the bottle is very hard you have achieved the proper carbonation and it's time to stop the fermentation. Then either cold crash and store the bottles in the fridge until consumed, or stove top pasteurize following the direction in the sticky at the top of the cider section.

Depending on how much sweetening you did with this current batch, you may want to cold crash and store them in the fridge to prevent bottle bombs.