Carbonating cider

[Sttifyd35]

Just did a pineapple cider. Used xylitol to backsweeten and then added priming sugar to add carbonation. After a month i checked on it to find its still flat. Is there something i did wrong?

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

I find that it takes a lot longer to carb my ciders than my beers. What is your PSI at? or did you bottle?

I think it took...2 maybe even 3 months to carb really nice in the bottles.

 

[Pappers_]

Did you add anything that would have knocked the yeast out? That could be the issue. You might also try raising the temp. If its been a long fermentation, the yeast might have also just tired out. I assume you've already bottled, correct? It would be a pain in the tuckus, but you could add a grain or two of yeast to each bottle.

 

[Sttifyd35]

Yeah i have my cider in half gallon growlers with the swing top lids. So youre saying add a couple grains of yeast to it and it may work?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

For me the swing tops are hit or miss with carbonation, but I wasn't wiping the gasket and the rib of the bottle with a damp starsan lint free cloth. That could have helped. I quickly moved to crown caps.

 

[Jim311]

I have never tried it but I have heard you shouldn't carbonate in growlers, as they aren't designed to hold the pressure.

 

[TurnipGreen]

I've only done one cider but it took fore-ever to carb. I wonder if since there is so much simpler sugars in there if a lot more of the yeast just poops out and drops?

I've also been carbing in growlers and swing tops for years. You can definately do it with a standard amount of carb but I feel like they don't hold the carbonation as well as crowns. I always make sure drink those first.

 

[TattooCelt]

I've also had to remind myself that a proper cider doesn't have the same "fizz" as a beer or soda. I bottled a Caramel Apple Cider in regular brown bottles using frozen concentrate to sweeten and act as an agent to get the fizz going. After four days there was a very nice carbonation to it - had a nice, healthy head at pour and had just a slight effervescence while drinking. I used four of the frozen juice concentrates per a five gallon batch. It was sweet, but only took four days to carb to my likes.

 

[dmtaylor]

It may take 2-3 months to carbonate a cider. Just be patient. Or learn to enjoy it flat. Either way. Cider is not traditionally carbonated in most cases.