Will my cider carbonate? Brew-noob question

[CaptainCool]

i'm a beginner and i've only made a few batches.. I started a 4 gallon cider 4 weeks ago. The recipe was pretty standard.. enough sugar added to make around 7%abv dry cider with champagne yeast and no secondary ferment.. straight to bottles. i followed the recipe well.. It didn't call for a carbonated cider and i want to add that little bit in so i was thinking i would rack out the cider into a clean container and add 2 cups sugar and then bottle.. since it's been a month sitting still it seems pretty clear.. i wasn't sure wether there would be enough yeast to carbonate the sugar after i bottle... will the cider carbonate or should i have bottled a few weeks earlier and let it clear in the bottle?
also i'm bottling in 16 and 32 ounce bottles.

any answers or revisions of what i should do are greatly appreciated..

 

[Skaggz]

Yes, there should still be enough yeast in suspension to carb it up. However 2 cups of sugar is WAY too much. Try about 3/4 cup sugar dissolved into 2 cups of water in the bottling bucket before you rack the cider into it.

edit: That may even be too much for a 4 gallon batch. Exactly how carb'd do you want it to be? Maybe try 3½ - 4 oz (by weight) to your 4 gallon batch.

2nd edit: On second thought. Go ahead and add the 2 cups of sugar to your 4 gallon batch. But you must bottle it in wine bottles with corks. And you must get video of the corks shooting out like rockets. I'll give you 30 points for every 30 feet you can shoot the corks out. Must have video though. 50 extra bonus points if a kitty cat gets in the cross fire. Hell yeah!

 

[dfc]

Agreed. If you put two cups of sugar in you'll most likely have some exploding bottles.

 

[CaptainCool]

o ya hah.. i meant 1/4 cup per gallon sugar for a sparkling batch.. and i'm using champagne bottles, and flip-top bottles.

 

[Diver165]

From personal experience...if you don't stop the fermentation in some way (pasteurization or chemically) you will create a sparkling or carbonated cider. If you add more sugar, you will creat bottle grenades if the bottles get warm.

I made a cider. It is pretty good. I used store bought apple juice and 2lbs of brown sugar. I let it fermet for 3weeks. I cold crashed it for 2 weeks and then bottled. I let it and let it set and condition for about 3 weeks. It carbed up to the max! I know this because if I let my cider sit out at room temps for long periods *KABOOOOM* the bottles will explode. And I mean will...not might....will. Trust me After 5 bottles exploding at various times this year, I feel that I've learned my lesson LOL. I keep my cider nice and chilled now.

Next batch I think I'll cold crash and kill the fermentation. Then I'll probably force carb it in a keg or maybe 2 Liter bottles

That being said, I personally wouldn't add ANY priming sugar in my cider when I bottled it. But if you're hell bent on adding sugar do so in very small quantities.