Backsweeteneing Apfelwein w/ concentrate

So here is what I am looking to do:

I have 4.5 gallons of Edwort's Apfelwein that is completely fermented out sitting on top of the yeast cake in the primary right now.

I want to rack this into my keg with a couple cans of apple juice concentrate to backsweeten and give it a stronger apple flavor, however, I don't want the sugar in the concentrate to ferment out.

So, my question is, can I toss some Campden tablets in the primary right now to kill off the yeast and then rack into the keg with the concentrate? Will this do the job?

you'll also want to add some potassium sorbate at the same time you add the campden tablets...

then let it sit for a day or so, and you should be good.

Right on! I got both so I'll just do that. Thanks for the input

AZ_IPA said:

you'll also want to add some potassium sorbate at the same time you add the campden tablets...

then let it sit for a day or so, and you should be good.

Click to expand...

What he said. I've done this many times with very desirable results, except I let mine sit for a few days. I've found 1.5 cans of concentrate gives me what I like, but it's all personal taste.

Your other option would be to cold crash it in the fridge... though a 5-gal jug is pretty huge to stuff in the fridge... It works pretty well with 1-gallon jugs... and you don't get the Sorbate taste (Some folks like it, some don't.)

I recently did almost this same thing on my recent Cider batch... Racked, cold crashed, racked, back sweeten with frozen concentrate, bottle, then pasturize....

I added concentrate to bump my SG from 1.020 to 1.025 -- though I think I like the flavor better at 1.030

Pretty tasty stuff!

Thanks

Cool. Thanks for the ideas guys. I went ahead and crushed up four campden tablets and added it along with 1 tsp of potassium sorbate. I'll let it sit for a couple day and proceed from there. Thanks guys!

I've done this twice now without adding anything to stop fermentation and it works fine. I let it sit in primary for about 6 weeks, then rack to secondary or straight to keg and let it sit in the fridge for a few more weeks. Then I add about 1.5 to 2 apple juice concentrate containers and drink it up. It has not noticeably re-started the fermentation on any of the batches I've done. It will start to dry out just a little bit towards the end of the keg, but if it does I just add a little bit more concentrate. Then again, I've never had a 5 gallon batch last more than about 4 weeks so far once I started drinking it, so maybe with more time it would start fermenting again . I'm not a fan of the taste sorbate adds to the final product. I'm now on my 6th batch of apfelwein, or a variation of it. Man this stuff it good!