racking and other questions

started my first batch 2 weeks ago on the date, 1 gal, 3 cups brown sugar, backers yeast. im planing on racking it today because theres allot of lees building up on the bottom and its only bubbling once every 43 seconds.

i know that if you rack it can slow down fermentation but can it cause a staled fermentation. also what exactly is a staled fermentation. can racking alone stop a fermentation.

also what can you do to actually stop a fermentation. i know cold crashing will separate most of the yeast but if you warm it back up it will start fermenting again. is there anything you can put in the cider to kill the yeast to stop fermentation for good that dosnt affect the flavor

racking slows down fermentation because not all the lees is dead, and by racking you have left a bunch of the live yeast at the bottom of the previous container. If you are worried about it slowing than be a little sloppy with the racking and syphon up a small amount of the lees as you go.

a stalled or stuck fermentation is a situation where there is adequate sugar for the yeast to eat, the alcohol % has not reached the point where it is toxic to the yeast, but for some other reason the fermentation has stopped. Racking does not usually cause this, in fact it can some times be a solution to the problem.

If you let it ferment out dry or cold crash it and rack off the clear liquid, you can use potassium sorbate to keep the fermentation from starting back up if there are residual sugars in the mix or if you intend to back sweeten. This will not kill the yeast but inhibit their ability to reproduce that is why the quantity of yeast in the mix must be reduced first buy cold crashing or letting it ferment out.

I personally however do not like chemicals so for me a better option IMHO is to either vat pasteurize if you want to bottle it still or bottle pasteurize if you want to bottle it carbonated.