Cider not carbonating

tradowsk · Nov 14, 2019

I made cider with fresh apple juice (UV pasteurized, no preservatives) from my local market. Pitched EC1118 on 9/22, fermented dry, cleared with superkleer. I then added a can of apple juice concentrate and bottled in flip-tops. I also filled a 20oz plastic pop bottle as a tester that I can use to gauge the carbonation level.

I thought it would carbonate in 4 days, but after a week there was nothing. I then moved the bottles from my basement (62F) upstairs in front of the heat vents to get them warmer, but after 4 days I still don't detect any carbonation in my tester bottle.

I could open the fliptops and add some fresh yeast, but I'm trying to figure out why these didn't carbonate already. I added no sorbate or kmeta, and nothing I added had any preservatives. Fermentation also went fine with no issues or off-smells, it was less than 2 months from pitch to bottle.

Any ideas?

salcoco · Nov 15, 2019

I see nothing that would prevent carbonation. Maybe more time required. I usually wait a month before I even think about checking.

bshef · Nov 15, 2019

The concentrate may not have added enough sugar for a quick carbonation. They will eventually carbonate. My beer often takes weeks to months to carbonate properly. Are you going to try to pasteurize?

tradowsk · Nov 15, 2019

bshef said:
The concentrate may not have added enough sugar for a quick carbonation. They will eventually carbonate. My beer often takes weeks to months to carbonate properly. Are you going to try to pasteurize?

My goal is to have a semi-sweet sparkling cider, so I was planning to pasteurize the bottles once they carbonated because if not, they might explode with all the extra sugar in there.

But thank you for the timeline, I'm going off some basic research for my timeline but it's very helpful to know it might take longer.