how do I stop fermentation?

OK guys, how do I stop fermentation??? Persay I want to stop a cider when it hits 1.015 or so. I would like to stop it around there to make sure that it is a sweeter finish, instead of being really dry.

Potassium sorbate should stop those buggers from reproducing. My brother used some when he was wine making a few years back.

*edit*

I realized that I was speaking on a subject that I am not fully versed on and decided to do a little research. Looks like you want to stop them from reproducing and then kill the living ones via chemical or temperature. Here is some info I was glossing over:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/finishin.asp
Or a thread here that mentions pasteurization:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/sweet-cider-trying-stop-fermentation-150062/

I would not suggest trying to stop an active fermentation with sulfite and/or sorbate. There are just too many hungry yeast cells. You gotta slow down the train before you can stop it.

I prefer to put the carboy in the refigerator. Chill it for a few days. Then rack to another vessel and add Potassium Metabisulfite (camden tablets) and Potassium Sorbate. The cold temp of the fridge halts fermentation and the yeast go dormant. Racking leaves many of the yeast cells behind. Sulfites kill the remaining yeast. Sorbate sterilizes any yeast that survives the sulfites, so they can't reproduce.

Chilling the cider halts fermentation. If you let it warm up w/o adding chemicals, fermentation will usually restart.

Another option would be in-bottle pasteurization. There is a sticky at the top of the cider forum. It's not my first choice, but it seems fairly popular.

Do you keg? I stopped my last cider (graff actually) at 1.018 by kegging and refrigerating. So easy.

PVH said:

Do you keg? I stopped my last cider (graff actually) at 1.018 by kegging and refrigerating. So easy.

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I dont keg, unfortunately. Will all be going into bottles.

I second Ginkings stance.

if you want sparkling, you can't add sorbate, and backsweetening becomes tricker unless you use splenda or truvia.

GinKing is right, you need to cold crash, then rack onto sorbate and sulfite.

I would like to try half and half. Half of it carbonated and half not. I have no issues with back sweetening with splenda. Just how much do I add to 4 gallons?

rodneypierce said:

OK guys, how do I stop fermentation??? Persay I want to stop a cider when it hits 1.015 or so. I would like to stop it around there to make sure that it is a sweeter finish, instead of being really dry.

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If you stop fermentation early to retain sweetness, there shouldn't be a need to backsweeten. However, if you add sulfites and sorbate, carbonation is not possible unless you force carb in a keg.

ginkings, lets say I let it run all the way out fermentation wise, and it finishes at like 1.002 lets say just for sake of argument. Now, thats obviously going to be a pretty dry finish. How much would I need to back sweeten if it finishes this dry??

rodneypierce said:

ginkings, lets say I let it run all the way out fermentation wise, and it finishes at like 1.002 lets say just for sake of argument. Now, thats obviously going to be a pretty dry finish. How much would I need to back sweeten if it finishes this dry??

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It will depend on what you use to sweeten and how sweet you like it. You will need to do a test to fit to your taste.

rodneypierce said:

ginkings, lets say I let it run all the way out fermentation wise, and it finishes at like 1.002 lets say just for sake of argument. Now, thats obviously going to be a pretty dry finish. How much would I need to back sweeten if it finishes this dry??

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1. If you have limited equipment here is what I would do. When fermented dry, rack into bottling bucket. Add splenda to taste stirring gently as to not aerate. When you get the splenda level set, add your 3.5-5oz of dextrose to the mix and stir in (carbing corn sugar). let it sit for 15 minutes and give it another stir and then bottle.


2. For sugar additions, bust out your hydrometer and gently stir in your sugar. If adding sugar you can add until your sugar gravity is 1.000 for dry 1.010 for semidry 1.020 for sweet 1.025+ for very sweet. Splenda doesn't change teh gravity, so splenda additions are by taste. However if you do this you are giving the yeast food and expect bottle bombs if you go above 1.010 - and dry tasting carbed cider.

I think you are better off with the first approach.

CidahMastah!! Thanks brother!!! Thats exactly the step by step I was looking for. Makes perfect sense. I will use splenda as the back sweetner, if needed. I checked the OG and it was right at 1.060. I ended up using US-05 yeast, so we will see where it stops at. Here was my recipe that I made last night, and plan:

4 gallons cider
32 oz honey
6 oz molasses
US-05 yeast.

Let ferment for 14 days (or untill complete if longer) then transfer to a secondary. Rack on top of 1 vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks for another 14 days. Then bottle.

Sound OK or would you recommend a change?

No problem - Glad to help!

You might get some residual sugar with Safale-05 so hope for the best (you might have some unfermentables in there with the sugars you are using (may give you residual sugars). I would check your gravity before you pull it for bottling. i.e. Your airlock isn't always the best indicator and your ferment may restart. I have big ciders still fermenting along after 3 months. If you get a reading less than 1.010 ish you might be alright. but if your cider is at 1.018+ I would be leary - would say your ferment paused, and to wait a week and retest. I have't used that yeast for cider, only beers, so I can't personally speak to its attenuation in ciders.

at 1.060 you have some fermenting to do Sit back and enjoy the show

one other suggestion - I would rack when the airlock slows and you have a good pile of lees (might be 3-4 weeks, might be less). I assume you are topping off with more cider, so if you rack when the ferment is still slowly going, the yeast will have at your new addition of sugars right away. Try to match fermener temp and top off temp to avoid a stall in fermenting.

I wasnt really planning on topping off with more cider. Was just going to make a 4 gallon or so batch. Should i top off with more cider??? And, yes, i always check with the hydrometer. I have to have 3 days in a row of the same readings before I bottle.

If you are racking off into a new container, you want to reduce headspace to deter O2 from diffusing into the cider and oxidizing it. You can top off with water if you don't have cider (you will lose some volume when you rack from the lees, you want as little head space in your carboy as possible after your first racking).

alright, cool. Im actually using a 5 gallon carboy, so I will just add another gallon of cider to the mix and should be good to go.

yeah that works! be sure to rack off the lees and then back into your cleaned fermenter and top off - you plan on doing that right?

note: It will also start back up the fermentation again with that new sugar (from the gallon of cider), so be prepared to give it a few more weeks for that to subside.

Good luck!

CidahMastah said:

yeah that works! be sure to rack off the lees and then back into your cleaned fermenter and top off - you plan on doing that right?

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Yeppers. Thanks man. And no problem on the fermentation starting up again. I can just wait it out. I thought about adding the cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean to the primary after fermentation had completed, but wasnt sure if that was a good idea or not. As they would most likely kick off fermentation again. How will that work in the secondary?? Will the vanilla and cinnamon flavors still be there, or will the sugars ferment out with the addition of the extra top off cider??

Oddly - I have never put anything into the cider spice wise (except in individual glasses). However, I have heard a lot of people put the spices/vanilla etc into the secondary - so add them when you rack it next (or after the fermenting slows on your next racking). Maybe someone will chime in with real experience and amounts for usage. I know a lot of people say to go easy on the vanilla. Again - this isn't my forte, so hopefully someone speaks up.

The cinnamon/vanilla bean shouldn't cause any additional fermentation - they don't have simple sugars that the yeast would readily ferment.

If you can wait it out - you have 75% of the cider game figured out haha!

thanks brother!

CidahMastah said:

one other suggestion - I would rack when the airlock slows and you have a good pile of lees (might be 3-4 weeks, might be less). I assume you are topping off with more cider, so if you rack when the ferment is still slowly going, the yeast will have at your new addition of sugars right away. Try to match fermener temp and top off temp to avoid a stall in fermenting.

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I have a question here; When racking to the secondary, you recommend topping off with more cider to reduce head space. If I am using unpasturized cider w/ no preservatives (from the local orchard) Is it nessesary to sterilize (camden or pasturize?) the fresh cider that is being added to the carboy?

my preferred top-off method is to juice a few apples in my kitchen juicer, let it settle for a few hours or overnight in the fridge, and use it straight, no chemicals. the only problem i have ever had doing this is a bit of foam blow-out from new fermentation.

It isn't necessary (pending the juice is fresh etc.) - In my opinion, though I do sulphite (most of the time).

For me, if I am working on a demijohn, I end up topping off about a gallon+ (I leave a large initial head space to avoid blowoff issues; I fill that head space on the first racking). In theory, the commercial yeast you are using should knock the snot out of wild ones that are present when you top off. I guess I sulphite out of routine and habit - though I have forgotten to sulphite on occasion with no incident.

(I should clarify - I only sulphite the addition, not the necessarily the whole batch on the first racking)

When I sulphite I wait 24 hours then add the juice, or you will likely stall your fermentation for a bit. I use my fresh pressed stuff (taken from the freezer and thawed). I usually do a basic to light sulfite of 15-30PPM, if the cider has to sit in the refridge.

Due to blow off issues, you sort of want your cider to work for 3-4 weeks so most of the sugar is out. As someone said, you will add your top off and whosh - blow off if your cider isn't dry enough. On my demijohns (15 gallon), I usually top off half a gallon and then another half a gallon in a week to avoid blow off. This isn't necessary with my 6.5 carboys

Well, I have fermentation going in mine. a bubble about every 2-3 seconds. No Krausen buildup though, which I have read is a pretty common thing (lack of krausen that is). Im stoked.

Cidah, is it normal for the cider to have a sort of natural "sparkling" flavor. Almost like its got some carbonation in it? I just tested the gravity (just to see where it is at) and tasted the cider from the hydrometer tube, and its got sort of a carbonated feel in the mouth, if you will. It has a very nice taste so far, minus obviously the yeasty/bready after taste currently, because its still fermenting.

Fermentation creates alcohol and CO2. Put it in a sealed bottle and the CO2 under pressure gives you carbonation. Put it in a carboy with an airlock and most of the CO2 bubbles out the airlock, but there is some CO2 in solution. This gives it some carbonation. The CO2 in solution will dissipate after fermentation ends.

Yes sir - as per ginkings comments.

When you bottle carbonate, all you are doing is putting in an amount of sugar that you think won't blow your bottle up, then sealing and letting ferment. once the head space fills with CO2, the Co2 is forced into solution (carbonating the beverage). If it has too much sugar, (above 3volumes)... bang!

cool, thanks guys!!!

Cidah, sorry but I have another question. The cider is still fermenting away, and is currently down to 1.010 from a OG of 1.060. My question is, the yeast has made the cider very very cloudy. There is a ton of yeast in suspension, because when I take some from the fermenter for a gravity reading, my hydrometer tube is covered in a white yeast haze. Is this normal???

Absolutely normal. The cider will throw off lees (that sediment) for about a year. Fortunatley most of the lees will be off in the first 3-4 months, sometimes I have ciders that clear in a month. Once you rerackit off the first set up lees that will be the majority of the sediment. From there you will see a major clearing.

Alright, cool! Im having a hard time seeing any lee's in the bottom of the primary fermenter. So im not sure how "deep" they are in the bottom. I figure I will check the gravity again here this weekend and see what it is.

oh I see, is it a glass fermentor? If it is plastic, I would consider racking into a glass carboy soon

Why so many gravity readings? Every time you touch your cider is a chance to screw it up. Relax and let the yeast do it's thing.

CidahMastah said:

oh I see, is it a glass fermentor? If it is plastic, I would consider racking into a glass carboy soon

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yes, it is in a plastic fermenter. I dont have any glass carboys unfortunately.

You may want to grab one (unless you have the better bottles). Plastic is gas permeable, i.e. the 02 will diffuse in and into the cider. Usually the recomendation is you use plastic for primary ferment only. After that, you rack to glass or, if you have deep pockets, stainless steel. If you can't get a glass/stainless fermenter you should consider bottling sooner. You will just have more sediment in your cider as it clears out.

Oxygen is ciders enemy, the more it gets, the faster it degrades.

note: I have heard that the better bottles are not gas permeable, but I don't believe it. Personally, I would spend the extra 10 bucks and get glass. A carboy you can own a lifetime. The better bottles, I just can't see them lasting a lifetime, never producing off flavors, being a gas barrier. Plastic degrades with time.

been a little while since I updated. I have transfered it to a secondary, and added the gallon of juice to top it off to 5 gallons. It had already slowed down to about a bubble every 35 seconds or so, so I transfered it and it fired back up to about a bubble every 8 seconds. Now, its bubbling maybe once every 45 seconds or so, and its starting to clear. I can really see the sediment falling out of suspension and gathering on the bottom. Its getting there!!!