do finings stop cider carbonation?

[cyderspace]

Hello all. Posted this on the intro board by mistake.

My first post. My name's andy, from Winchester near Isle of Wight.

Anyway, my question is. .

I just made cider from actual apples. I used findings and got it really clear. Just bottled and primed but worry the gelatin finings may have stripped out too much yeast for carbonation? When will I know? Should I have put in a bit of yeast when I primed? Would that cloud it again? Im thinking of re bottling?

[fatbloke]

Hello all. Posted this on the intro board by mistake.

My first post. My name's andy, from Winchester near Isle of Wight.

Anyway, my question is. .

I just made cider from actual apples. I used findings and got it really clear. Just bottled and primed but worry the gelatin finings may have stripped out too much yeast for carbonation? When will I know? Should I have put in a bit of yeast when I primed? Would that cloud it again? Im thinking of re bottling?

Whether there is any yeast cells left would need a bit of an experiment......

Normally, you'd add the priming sugar. If the batch had been cleared naturally, there'd still likely be enough yeast cells left to carbonate it, but you would probably get a little bit of yeast evidence in the bottle. It's why "they" do the riddling process bit when carbonating wines for "methode champenoise", so that the yeast that is added when it's primed ends up as a little cap in the top of the bottle, which can be removed befor the bottles are corked.

Given the size/type of bubbles that show in sparkling commercial cider, I'd presume that they just make it in the usual way, then it's chilled before force carbonating, then bottled/capped.

Hence I'd have thought that if you just leave the bottles somewhere warm(ish) for a couple of weeks, before chilling one and checking for the carbonation level (if any of course) by opening one, then you'll know if it's worked.

If it hasn't, you could always just uncap the lot, and add a couple of grains (dunno, maybe 10 or so as it'd have to be enough to do it's thing, but not to multiply too much and leave too much sediment in the bottles for aesthetic reasons) of a champagne yeast to each bottle and try again.......

[cyderspace]

Fatbloke that's good advice thanks. I was thinking of white wine yeast cos I have some but do you think champagne yeast being more aggressive would be better if I'm just doing a pinch?

[fatbloke]

Fatbloke that's good advice thanks. I was thinking of white wine yeast cos I have some but do you think champagne yeast being more aggressive would be better if I'm just doing a pinch?

Yes I do. Lalvin EC-1118 by choice if you can get it..... of course it might end up dry too so maybe a little non-fermentable sweetness like lactose or xylitol too ?.........

[Mitchamitri1]

What finings did you use / how did you add them?

[Jambo]

For what it's worth, I always bottle around 6 pints of my beers as my entire brews don't fit in my Corny kegs, and they are always fined with Beer Brite and they always carb up OK.

Doing a secondary fermentation in the bottle for cider terrifies me though, as you have to add so much sugar to it and try and stop the fermentation by keeping it cold at some guess time, unless you like it as dry as a nun's chuff and/or exploding bottles. Or use non-fermentable sweetness as mentioned above.

[Mitchamitri1]

To be honest, I don't see the point of making cider if the thing that obsesses you is clarity (same with beer, I don't even irish or protalfoc anymore). If you use champagne yeast it's so aggressive that its practically impossible for even the tiniest bit of surviving yeast not to kick off again. So, for anyone making cider who doesn't have cider apples I would recommend using champagne yeast - but be prepared for it to be so dry your feeble mates may want some lemonade in it. With practice you can man-up before they come round and pretend you aint puckerin. If you have cider apples.....well.....that's a whole other story!!!