Flat Cider and ginger beer!

[chappers]

So the cider I made is flat in the bottles. I'm not sure if it's because the champagne plastic corks I used are crap or I bottled it to late and there was no yeast left to ferment the priming sugar?!

One batch is 18m old and the other 9m.

I was thinking of making some ginger beer and heard it can work with Apple juice/cider.

Could I make my ginger beer and mx it 50/50 with the flat cider to ferment again? Then I can prime and crown cap the bottles?


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[gratus fermentatio]

I've had the exact same thing happen with those plastic champagne stoppers. I discovered it was the lack of a good seal between the plastic & the glass. I was able to fix this by simply turning the bottles on their sides. The liquid actually helps to seal the stoppers, not sure how exactly, but I know it works.

You could reprime & recork those bottles, using something like carb tabs, or just meticulously measuring out the dose of sugar for each bottle, or just carefully pour those bottles out & batch prime again & then rebottle. Repriming via batch prime would run the biggest risk of oxidation & would be the biggest hassle.

No reason you couldn't use your original idea with the ginger beer, but the carb tabs would be the easiest I think. Just remember to turn those recorked bottles on their sides to get a good seal.
Regards, GF.

 

[chappers]

I had the 18m cider stored upside down and still no seal. They were the hallow ones so I was going to freeze the bottom to take the crud out. It's actually really annoying it didn't work. So no risk I bottled to late?



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[gratus fermentatio]

I've had cider that bulk aged for over a year & it carbed up just fine. What was the yeast strain you used & what was the ABV? How long did you wait for the bottled cider to condition?
Regards, GF.

 

[chappers]

I think I used a champagne yeast or a simple cider yeast. I wouldn't have waited longer than a month to bottle. One set bottled for 18m the other 9.


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[chappers]

Abv was around the 5-6%.


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