Upstate12866
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2018
- Messages
- 204
- Reaction score
- 162
Sorry for another post about this, but I wanted to collect and share some of my records to help paint a picture...
Basically my ciders are typically rather low carbonation, especially compared to my beers. They are more like a lightly sparkling wine. This isn't so bad but I'm just so curious.
I have made a lot of ciders, mainly from store bought juices because it is so easy for me to make. I took detailed records for the last 18 cider brews.
I have used two yeasts: most often Safale 04 English Ale yeast (12), and less frequently a generic Cider yeast bought from CrossmyLoof. I think the low carbonation is more extreme with the 04 yeast. This makes sense because English Ale yeasts don't ferment all the sugars, right? But my gravity readings suggest they run it dry.
My OG is usually 1.046-1.050 for a around 6% alcohol or so.
Since this is my standard and easy recipe, I don't take FG every time. But a sample of my last few records, all with 04 Eng Ale yeast, are as follows, typically after 4 or more weeks in primary:
FG after primary
1.001
1.001
1.000
1.004 (included 33% pear juice, fermented in February in fairly cold upstate NY basement)
1.002
0.998
1.001
After taking FG, I prime to 2.5-2.8 vol CO2 with white sugar. I have been upping it towards 2.8 in the last few brews due to the low carbonation. I find 2.8 is too high and scary for me to do with beers. My beers are all 2.5 vol CO2 and come out OK. Not super poppy but I always fear bottle bombs and like to err towards caution.
Also worth noting, I like to use a few plastic bottles to tell me when priming is complete. In beers, these get very tight from CO2. But my ciders remain a bit squishy, even after several weeks. I prime from 10-14 days and since I don't drink fast enough, it's common to have ciders left for a couple months afterward. So I don't think that I'm rushing priming.
And when I pour, again, I have low carbonation so it's like a sparkling wine.
So my question is, how can a yeast eat up sugar and not make CO2? That process seems to defy me. These yeasts are not leaving residual sugars (though I admit I haven't taken readings after carbonation is complete). They seem to dry out the juice completely, but without making much CO2.
I have been thinking about the factors that could be at play:
less CO2 in suspension to begin with before priming--but why? This would be interesting to me.
False FG readings--but why so consistently off and no false readings for beers, which are never anywhere near so low?
Maybe my bottles are faulty--but the sheer number of bottles and bottle types involved (a mix of plastic, flip top, capped, all different brands) makes this very unlikely.
Does anyone have any idea? I am super curious. The cider is fine to drink I suppose, and I don't see myself priming to 3 vol CO2 to push at the problem. So it's just a peculiar pattern to me. Thanks for any experience you can share.
Basically my ciders are typically rather low carbonation, especially compared to my beers. They are more like a lightly sparkling wine. This isn't so bad but I'm just so curious.
I have made a lot of ciders, mainly from store bought juices because it is so easy for me to make. I took detailed records for the last 18 cider brews.
I have used two yeasts: most often Safale 04 English Ale yeast (12), and less frequently a generic Cider yeast bought from CrossmyLoof. I think the low carbonation is more extreme with the 04 yeast. This makes sense because English Ale yeasts don't ferment all the sugars, right? But my gravity readings suggest they run it dry.
My OG is usually 1.046-1.050 for a around 6% alcohol or so.
Since this is my standard and easy recipe, I don't take FG every time. But a sample of my last few records, all with 04 Eng Ale yeast, are as follows, typically after 4 or more weeks in primary:
FG after primary
1.001
1.001
1.000
1.004 (included 33% pear juice, fermented in February in fairly cold upstate NY basement)
1.002
0.998
1.001
After taking FG, I prime to 2.5-2.8 vol CO2 with white sugar. I have been upping it towards 2.8 in the last few brews due to the low carbonation. I find 2.8 is too high and scary for me to do with beers. My beers are all 2.5 vol CO2 and come out OK. Not super poppy but I always fear bottle bombs and like to err towards caution.
Also worth noting, I like to use a few plastic bottles to tell me when priming is complete. In beers, these get very tight from CO2. But my ciders remain a bit squishy, even after several weeks. I prime from 10-14 days and since I don't drink fast enough, it's common to have ciders left for a couple months afterward. So I don't think that I'm rushing priming.
And when I pour, again, I have low carbonation so it's like a sparkling wine.
So my question is, how can a yeast eat up sugar and not make CO2? That process seems to defy me. These yeasts are not leaving residual sugars (though I admit I haven't taken readings after carbonation is complete). They seem to dry out the juice completely, but without making much CO2.
I have been thinking about the factors that could be at play:
less CO2 in suspension to begin with before priming--but why? This would be interesting to me.
False FG readings--but why so consistently off and no false readings for beers, which are never anywhere near so low?
Maybe my bottles are faulty--but the sheer number of bottles and bottle types involved (a mix of plastic, flip top, capped, all different brands) makes this very unlikely.
Does anyone have any idea? I am super curious. The cider is fine to drink I suppose, and I don't see myself priming to 3 vol CO2 to push at the problem. So it's just a peculiar pattern to me. Thanks for any experience you can share.