Problems with carbonation in cider

[luis.salas]

I'm usually a beer brewer, but once in a while, I go into cider making. My problem is that, again, once in a while, I have serious issues carbing my sparkling cider. What I do is following the standard beer brewing method: pitch yeast and nutrients, wait for full fermentation (around 4 weeks), prime, bottle and wait 2 weeks. With beer I haven't had any problems until now. Why would it be that sometimes cider doesn't carb? What I have thought is that, as I use beer yeast (S04 mainly), when fermentation finishes it is already exhausted due to the "strange" environment where it is. This is my theory but I'm not sure if it makes sense. Any idea on this?

 

[Chalkyt]

Your process sounds normal. I often use SO4 and don't have any issues, however I find that SO4 can stop at around 1.003 or so.. I typically have a test bottle (a Grolsch bottle with a pressure gauge fitted) and monitor carbonation that way. You can also use a soft drink bottle full of your cider for the test bottle and simply squeeze the bottle to monitor carbonation. At least using these methods you get early warning if carbonation has failed.

I guess the questions are... how much priming sugar do you use per bottle, how good are the seals (crown cap or Grolsch which will leak at around 70psi), have you used anything that might kill the yeast etc. It can be a bit hard to avoid carbonation if everything is working as sometimes even fully fermented cider when bottled can develop a bit of spritzig as fermentation continues down below 1.000