Carbonation problems

Hi everyone,

I am on my fourth attempt at making cider and everything is going along perfectly, well apart from the fact that once i open my finished cider they seem flat, once I bottle my ciders, I leave them for a month or so but they don't seem to be carbonating properly !! does anyone have any ideas as to why that is happening ??? or anyway i can fix it ???

thanks,

jimmy

How much priming sugar are you using? On what size batch? What temp are you storing them at? For how long before trying them? We will need more info to better help you figure out what's what. What is the recipe so we know your process walk us through your day. It will all help get you a better response.

If you let it sit in the 2ndary without active fermentation for a long time (like 2 months) there will still be yeast waiting for something to eat, but not a lot...I age my ciders a long time, and by the time I bottle it's often a good month and a half before I see reasonable sparkle. this is with wine yeasts I use, beer yeasts tend to work faster

What yeast are you using? As asked, a little more info is good. If you're using a wine yeast, they can usually eat away at table sugar with no problem...I usually bottle with a 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar in every 12 oz bottle, and a heaping teaspoon in every 750 mL champagne bottle; in doing it bottle by bottle I can also choose to make some of it still to see which I like better for any given recipe (assuming it's something I haven't tried both ways and made a decision.)

The way i brew my cider is as follows:

I add 1 KG of standard dextrose, along with 2 litres of hot water, and "Mangrove jack" cider mixture. I top my fermenter up to the 23 Litre mark and then add yeast (Usually the yest that comes with the mixture, have used nottingham yeast as well as dry ale yest). I then wait 10 days (until the gravity is steady) and then bottle adding 1 carbonation drop per 330ml bottle (2 for 740ml bottles). I then leave the sealed bottles under the stairs at home for around 5 weeks before i open a bottle to try (the temp under the stairs is around 16/17 degrees).

does this help ? any suggestions ?

Might try warmin them up a bit more 21-22C/70F is about where you want and usually what I see reference about the forum that this should be a minimum for lighter gravity beverages. about three weeks at those temps is what is recommended. I'd give that a shot and see if your doing any better then. Also make sure to chill at least 24hrs in the fridge before drinking to let the co2 be put back into suspension.
Just my .02. If I'm leading you wrong someone more qualified will be along and point out any glaring mistakes I've given you.

I agree with Gil, a little warmer will help...I bottle carb in my basement which is usually running around 66*F and they take a good month and a half.

The other option that hasn't been considered is if your bottle capper is working properly. If it caps your bottles but leaves a little leak, they wouldn't be contaminated (just like if you put celephane and a rubber band over the fermenter) but they wouldn't be carbed either because the CO2 was escaping.

You could try putting some ginger ale in an empty bottle, capping it and shaking the bottle to eliminate this possibillity. If you end up with Ginger ale all over you...well...get a new capper.

I have a feeling it's the temp being to low, though...take them out, give them a good swirl upsidown to make sure the sugar and yeast are all in suspention, and set them in a corner of a room you know is closer to 21*C, give it four weeks and check again....
Good luck!