Ron Bell
Active Member
This is my third year of making cider from apples in my orchard. So I should know what I'm doing by now, but right from the start, I've had trouble with building up a good "sparkle" in the bottles. I do not use Camden tablets at any stage but I do add Pectolase immediately after pressing. It is fermented in our kitchen - which is on the warm side at about 21 deg C. I use sparkling wine yeast and rack once when fermentation slows down after about 10 days. Then, when fermentation has almost stopped and the gravity is measured below 1 (0.999 or 0.998), I rack again, add white sugar at the rate of 10 grams per litre, and bottle in old half litre beer bottles closed with Crown corks. Because of the fairly high fermentation temperature, this is probably only two weeks after pressing. Over the years, I have had some bottles that show a tiny amount of sparkle - a few bubbles rising after pouring - but usually nothing. I bottled the latest batch (4 cases of 12 bottles) on 10th October and am storing 3 cases in an outhouse - but I'm keeping one in the kitchen and sample it occasionally. I know it's only about 6 weeks after bottling - but the last sample was completely flat and had a gravity of 1.002 probably indicating that the bottle fermentation has not got going. From past experience, it would still be flat if I keep it another 6 months. I can think of several possible solutions to the problem. (1) Add more sugar before bottling - maybe 10 grams per litre is on the cautious side?? (2) Add some fresh yeast before bottling - maybe the high fermentation temperature and very complete fermentation to a gravity of 0.998 led to all the yeast dying?? (3) Get a new Crown Cork closure tool - maybe they are not sealing properly?? Can anyone help please? (It is worth saying that, even with no sparkle, the cider is very drinkable!)
