Apple Cider

[Leanne Deerain]

Hi I have made a batch of Black Rock Apple Cider again and this time I have the taste but hardly any bubbles.

I followed the instructions and after racking, I bottled them and as I like a sweet taste like Strongbow sweet I added some Hermesetus 4 tabs to each 740ml bottle for taste and then added 2 carbon drops to each bottle as normal.

I have had them sitting for 3 weeks approx. and I am dissappointed with hardly any bubbles.

What did I do wrong and how can I improve on this for the next time?

Regards
Leanne :excl:

 

[Screwtop]

What was the FG

 

[Leanne Deerain]

Dear Screwtop

I think from memory the FG was around 1000.

Regards
Leanne

PS I have been told by another Home Brew shop man that perhaps I should be patient and give the cider more time. Ciders he said take longer to fully mature and carbonate than beers.

 

[Screwtop]

Thats very low, try to find a priming calculator on the web maybe beertools, someone may have a suggestion. When priming the amount of sugar required to reach a given volume of Co2 (bubbles) depends upon the SG (remaining sugars) and the temp and volume of beer/cider.

Bulk priming is by far the easiest (calculate how much priming sugar you require, add a little water and bring it to the boil, cool before adding to a sanitised fermenter, then rack your beer/cider to the fermenter using a length of hose long enough to go from the tap of one fermenter right to the bottom of the fermenter containing the sugar/water with at least one coil round at the bottom, this reduces aeration and the swirling is enough to mix the sugar solution into the beer/cider as in runs into the second fermenter) then you can bottle into as many and varied size bottles as you desire as the entire batch has been primed, no measuring, missing some or double priming, real easy bottling.

Don't worry, you will have to give it time. Carbonation will happen, just takes time if the priming rate is low. If you prime too high then the trick is to drink them all before the bottles start exploding

Leanne, it's all about learning. Brew, Brew

edit: typos

 

[PhilS]

I'm thinking along the lines that the dissolved sugar may still be sitting in the bottom of the bottle. Can you see the syrup Leeanne?

Perhaps a bit of a gentle shake might better mix things up & make the syrup more available to the yeast? What temp are they maturing at?

Any comments on this one guys?

 

[tangent]

stratification is a *******.
bulk priming can lead to 30 underprimed bottles and 2 bombs if you don't keep things mixed up
syrup sinks and also stays in a goopy glob in a tap
it's not a bad thing to hand prime each bottle when you start out
"Hermesetus"?? anyone?

 

[Screwtop]

I'm thinking along the lines that the dissolved sugar may still be sitting in the bottom of the bottle. Can you see the syrup Leeanne?

Perhaps a bit of a gentle shake might better mix things up & make the syrup more available to the yeast? What temp are they maturing at?

Any comments on this one guys?

[post="111049"][/post]​

I would try a gentle shake!

 

[Keith the Beer Guy]

Hi I have made a batch of Black Rock Apple Cider again and this time I have the taste but hardly any bubbles.

I followed the instructions and after racking, I bottled them and as I like a sweet taste like Strongbow sweet I added some Hermesetus 4 tabs to each 740ml bottle for taste and then added 2 carbon drops to each bottle as normal.

I have had them sitting for 3 weeks approx. and I am dissappointed with hardly any bubbles.

What did I do wrong and how can I improve on this for the next time?

Regards
Leanne :excl:

[post="110887"][/post]​

Hi Leanne,

what are the "Hermesetus" tabs?

If they are SO2, or something similar, designed to make your cider sweeter by stopping fermentation, then you will have no bubbles becuase there ain't no yeast left alive to ferment the priming sugar.

Good luck,

Keith

 

[mika]

"Hermesetas
Get a free sample of Hermesitas - the well known sugar supplement - especially handy if you are on a diet. Especially low in calories and carbohydrates, and also fibre rich, this is a good replacement whether you are trying to lose weight, or just cut down on your sugar intake. "

Artificial sweetener by the looks of it. If they're recommending you add this, I'd say the FG was right, and they're using a champagne yeast or something like that, that's chewed up all the sugar. The carbonation drops in the bottle should have worked though ?