Carbonation question/issue

[BrightBrew]

So.....I know it is way too soon to drink it, but I wanted to know how my first TC was getting on, carb wise, so I opened a bottle last night to see. It has been in the bottle just over a week.

When bottling I added a coopers carb drop and some sweetener. When i opened it there was a tiny fizz noise, but the cider was absolutely flat. I wasn't expecting miracles after just one week, but this has got me concerned as to whether or not I have done something wrong......any ideas?

Could I have let it ferment down too far? (went to 1.000 if I remember)

Should I not have syphoned it off the yeast into a secondary before bottling?

Am I just being stupid? :rofl:

 

[Wendy1971]

We had exactly the same problem with our first batch. We found that by adding double the sugar when bottling helped. Time is the overall answer ours was put upstairs for 10 months and when we tried it last week it was amazing

 

[BrightBrew]

We had exactly the same problem with our first batch. We found that by adding double the sugar when bottling helped. Time is the overall answer ours was put upstairs for 10 months and when we tried it last week it was amazing

Was it carbonated though? You think it would be too late to stick another carb drop in each bottle now, or should it just be left?

 

[Fergmeister]

I'm not sure what the difference is between the carb drops and normal sugar, but I tend to use approx 1 teaspoon of sugar per 500ml of brew and they come out nice. I always tend to find they are fizzier and clearer after about 2 weeks. I'm more a 'brew-it-then-drink-it' sort of guy lol

 

[aggyluke]

I found that my first TC was quite flat when priming with sugar, it was carbonated just not much, now I prime all my TC with various cordials for flavour which fizzes them up nicely and adds a nice flavour and makes it a pleasure to drink even after just a couple of weeks! :

 

[Davey H]

I currently have a batch of TC going and i think i'd like to go down the juice route for carbonation/flavour. :hmm:

My question is how much AJ to add per 500ml or to the 1 gallon batch? As the sugar from the juice will ferment i'm presuming that i will also need to back sweeten with Splenda going down this route? :

 

[Fergmeister]

If you read the label of your specific juice, it will tell you how much sugar is in the bottle (or often in 100ml). I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'm pretty sure you need to know how much sugar is in a teaspoon, and then work out how much cordial you need to make it up to a teaspoon of sugar. Oh, and watch out for preservatives as these won't allow secondary fermentation and you will be left with flat cider.