Cider lightly carbed, why?

[Canuck137]

Cider noob here, not so much a beer noob anymore... This is one of those questions that has been asked before, I know...

Curious as to what the reasons are to have cider that ends up being very lightly carbonated?

My cider, while not horrible tasting, is very, very lightly carbonated 15 days after bottling. Should I be waiting another week or two to open one? Are there other reasons? Cheers!

 

[bernardsmith]

When you say very lightly carbonated do you mean that there is no head or that the cider is not sparkling? Beer has protein and protein traps the CO2 creating a head. Cider has none and so there is nothing to trap the CO2. If you primed it or you bottled before all the sugar was fermented then any CO2 trapped in the bottle will be in the bottle when you open it- depending on how much CO2 is in the cider it will be still, petillant or sparkling...

 

[Canuck137]

I primed it with dextrose... Like I do all my beers... I guess there are some bubbles, just very, very little. Will wait another week and see I guess?

 

[Icarus9414]

It's important to first know if you want a carbonated cider or not. If you want a still cider, you will have to either pasteurize or use chemicals. I am assuming you want a carbonated beverage based on using a priming sugar. To give us a better understanding, it wouldn't hurt to know what level of carbonation you're looking for. If you can describe what you want, there are much more knowledgeable people than me who can tell you what to do. There are nifty calculators online if you know the amount of vols of co2 you want in your final product. I am lucky enough to keg my brew so I've never had to master how to bottle condition outside of squeezing a PET bottle and pasteurizing when it feels right.

 

[stella_tigre]

If you added priming sugar and bottled just two weeks ago, there are a lot of factors that can make a difference on the time it takes to carb fully. Temperature, how active the yeast was (including how much was still floating around.) If you used enough priming sugar (about an ounce a gallon) then it could take anywhere from 2-4 weeks - or even more if you're keeping it on the cooler side. I usually include a soda bottle (12 or 20 oz) as a test bottle, to see when it gets good and carbonated. It can vary quite a bit depending on the yeast, the FG, the time the cider was in the fermenter after it cleared, temp in bottle etc etc.

Without knowing more details of the process you used, the yeast, etc, it's hard to tell.

 

[meatcleaver]

Without knowing more details of the process you used, the yeast, etc, it's hard to tell.

this.
how long was this in primary?
secondary or multiple rackings?
did you cold crash?
it probably just needs more time