Sulphite and botle carbing

[chevalcider]

I bottled 10 gallons of cider last night four of them being in 1 gallon carboys. They have been sitting in secondary since late October. Two of the small jugs seemed to have a film yeast on them about a month ago so I sulphited, topped up the airlock and let them. When we bottled last night I intended to add a little champagne yeast back into the bottling bucket. I remembered that intention just as I put the last cap on the last bottle. A little of the sediment from the bottom of the jug made its way into the bottling bucket.

Am I going to see carbonation happening here? Will I have to drink it flat or pop all of the tops and add a few grains of yeast? I filled a test pop bottle for this batch as well as the un-sulphited jugs so I will be able to see in a week or so if there is any pressure building in them.

Might I note the I was using EC 1118 and I have found it to be incredibly resilient, even continuing to ferment after I put bottles in the fridge...a bottle of ginger ale actually blew up in my fridge a couple of weeks after I put it in there! ... and I noticed a difference between the carbonation in my pasteurized ciders and the ones that I attempted to cold crash in the fridge.

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

If you were at a specific gravity around 1.000 and didn't prime the cider for carbonation, it will be flat. There aren't any sugars left for the yeast to produce the CO2 needed.

Did you add juice or priming sugar to the batch before bottling? What was your final gravity reading? That will determine wether you have bombs or end up with flat cider. 1118 is a work horse and you shouldn't need to add more yeast at bottling unless you are at 18% ABV or more. Even champagne yeast probably wouldn't help much over 18% ABV.

 

[chevalcider]

If you were at a specific gravity around 1.000 and didn't prime the cider for carbonation, it will be flat. There aren't any sugars left for the yeast to produce the CO2 needed.

Did you add juice or priming sugar to the batch before bottling? What was your final gravity reading? That will determine wether you have bombs or end up with flat cider. 1118 is a work horse and you shouldn't need to add more yeast at bottling unless you are at 18% ABV or more. Even champagne yeast probably wouldn't help much over 18% ABV.

Yes I did add priming sugar. My question is regarding the sulphite I added about a month ago. Will this affect the yeast for carbonation? Is there still live yeast in the batch?

 

[Randzor]

It shouldn't most commercial yeasts are semi resistant.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Yooper]

Yes I did add priming sugar. My question is regarding the sulphite I added about a month ago. Will this affect the yeast for carbonation? Is there still live yeast in the batch?

Sulfite in the correct amounts does not affect wine yeast. Winemakers use sulfites routinely. It's primarily used as an antioxidant.

 

[chevalcider]

Thanks! I'll just have to wait and see what the final results are. At less than a day in I was seeing bits of sediment settle out on the bottom (the cider was crystal clear when bottled) so this would seem to indicate that there is some yeast action going on with the new sugars being added.

 

[chevalcider]

Sulfite in the correct amounts does not affect wine yeast. Winemakers use sulfites routinely. It's primarily used as an antioxidant.

I added one campden tablet per gallon. Seems to be the standard amount, correct?

 

[Yooper]

I added one campden tablet per gallon. Seems to be the standard amount, correct?

Yes, that's what is generally used as an antioxidant, one crushed tablet per gallon at every other racking and at bottling. If you've only used it once you're way below the amount most winemakers use.