Hard cider did not carb

[Pyg]

Made 5 gallons of hard cider.
Used some nice local NY apples consisting of:
1/3 MacIntosh
1/3 Cortland
1/3 Empire
Used S-04
SG 1.060
FG 1.014

Battle carbed with 3.5 oz of prime sugar for 4.5 gallon.
Let the bottle sit for 3 weeks at 68F.
Opened and not a single "pfffft"!

I had a similar issue with last years batch. Some bottles were still, others had some good carb.

Is apple cider just the jerk of homebrew liquids?
Or does it take more time?
(For the record, Yes I did stir the prime sugar into the cider!)
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1488843921.652232.jpg

 

[kristiismean]

It should have carbed at that abv.

 

[Maylar]

How did you get it to stop at 1.014?

 

[MarkKF]

How did you get it to stop at 1.014?

I'm guessing temp or nutrients. I wouldn't be surprise if it stalled. A little swirl and some heat might drop another ten points.

 

[Pyg]

How did you get it to stop at 1.014?

I'm guessing temp or nutrients. I wouldn't be surprise if it stalled. A little swirl and some heat might drop another ten points.

A month prior to bottling I swirled and let it sit at 68F
And it did not go down any further.

I am going to guess that I have 40 bottles of flat cider!

 

[BILTIT]

Sounds like a good time to start kegging

 

[Maylar]

I've never had S-04 fail like that. This is strange.

 

[Scrumpy!]

I think the key factor is you stuck your cider at 1.014. There are several things that will cause this. The most likely is the yeast ran out of nutrients. This is generally a good thing. By warming it to 68 with that much residual sugar plus some priming sugar, you proved your yeast was dead. You are lucky it didn't ferment. The priming sugar you added would carbonate to about 1.5 atmospheres and the residual sugar would add another 6+ atmospheres if it all fermented. Kablooey!!!

I routinely bottle around 1.015, skip the addition of priming sugar and add a little yeast to my bucket. If all goes well (usually does) the secondary fermentation in the bottle either stops around 1.005 or builds enough pressure so I can disgorge the sediment when they get up over 3 atmospheres. I use heavy (800g+) champagne bottles and monitor the pressure with a gauge to do this safely.

BTW, your cider must be pretty sweet.

 

[Maylar]

Still, this is odd. S-04 will quit at 1.004 if it's fermented cold enough but normally mine goes to 1.000 at 65F and 0.996 at 68F.

It'd be an interesting experiment to pop the cap on one of those bottles and drop a pinch of DAP into it to see if the ferment picks up again. Just to verify the cause of the stall.

BTW there's a guy in the beer forum who had a brew stall at 1.030 with S-04. Dunno what's up with that.

 

[Scrumpy!]

This cider could be salvaged by putting it back in a carboy with some nutrients and some viable yeast then let it finish. After transferring the bottled cider to a sanitized carboy, I'd be inclined to add sulfite 24 hrs before pitching new yeast to try to kill off any bacteria that might have contaminated the cider during the process. That priming sugar will up the ABV but who would complain about that?

Once its done, it should be properly conditioned with an eye to just how much sugar is left so it doesn't have the potential to make a mess of the room you are storing your cider in. Before bottling again consider goosing it with a little more viable yeast and the correct amount of priming sugar. In general, assume 4g/l dextrose will give you about 1.5 atmospheres. You also have to make an assumption about the dissolved CO2 at bottling time. Something on the order of 80% saturation is probably safe. Unless you are actively monitoring your bottle pressure and/or using heavy champagne bottles, you need to pay close attention to these assumptions and dosage rates. Bottle conditioning sounds easy but you should take a hint from the number of threads related to this that it is not a "no brainer".

Then there is always the keg route but I assume from the quality of the apple juice you started with, you want to make good craft cider.

 

[dmtaylor]

Patience. I often don't get carbonation for up to 3-4 months. It will definitely carbonate. You just need to wait longer.

 

[Pyg]

Yes the cider is a bit in the sweet side,
But that is not entirely bad.
I am more concerned that the yeast quit or stalled.
I had initially thought the cider done in December and began cold crashing, only to discover I had to warm back up and continue to ferment for a few more months.
I currently have 1 gallon aging in a jug with cinnamon.

How do I go about adding more yeast prior to rebottling?
Do I just toss in more dry s-04?

 

[Scrumpy!]

I don't use yeasts that were developed for brewing beer but I suspect all dry yeast needs to be re hydrated according to the instructions on the package. You have a lot of sugar in solution and as I said if all of that ferments in your bottles after adding yeast, they are going to explode. I would pour the bottles back into a sanitized carboy and try to get it to start fermenting again until the SG drops to a level that is more manageable. Or, build a pressure monitoring bottle so you at least have some notion of how much pressure is building up in your bottles. There is a current thread on this forum where someone tried to pasteurize bottles that had too much sugar at bottling time and they were blowing up in his house.

I strongly recommend reading The New Cider Maker's Handbook by Claude Jolicoeur to get a stronger grasp on the process before experimenting with potentially dangerous conditions in your bottles.

 

[Pyg]

Pitched another pack of S-04.
SG is now at 1.004,
Tastes super dry.
Going to bottle and hope it carbs.View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1493580394.125044.jpg

 

[dmtaylor]

Patience and time, and you'll get your carbonation. Might take a month or two but you'll get it.