Do I Need Campden Tablets/Sorbate if Kegging

Hey, I've seen this touched on, but I was hoping for a direct discussion. My plan is to let my cider ferment dry, which should take 2-4 weeks. Then, I'll rack to a secondary for another couple of months of bulk aging. Once that's done, I'll keg and back-sweetening with apple concentrate and immediately put the keg in the fridge to carb.

Here's the question: Since the back-sweetened cider will be immediately put in the fridge, is there any reason to use campden tablets or potassium sorbate?

I would assume that the yeast - WPL775 - would go dormant if the fridge, leaving alone the new sugar.

I'm only asking because I've seen previous discussions where people put campden tablets and sorbate into their cider (even cider that's fully fermented) that's being kegged. They even mentioned that they were immediately putting the keg in the fridge to carb.

Thanks for any help.

If I planned to keep in the keg for longer than a weekend, I'd probably sorbate. I've had 3 gallon batches that went into the keg around 1.015 (and cooled to 40?F) but they were consumed over a weekend. I guess in theory you could burp the keg to keep the pressure from building. But I personally wouldn't want to have to "remember" to do that.

Just my 2?. I'm sure other's have different methods of doing it.

In the fridge, the yeast will probably not start up again without sorbate. I've done it, with hard lemonade and wine yeast, it it didn't ferment after in the kegerator.

I've done it with EdWort's Apfelwein. I add frozen concentrate to the keg, rack my cold crashed cider on top of that and put it in the keezer. I have had kegs sit in there for many months and they have never started fermenting again.

It depends on the yeast. Cold alone wont stop a champagne yeast, but will reliably stop most ale and wheat yeasts. Lager and wine yeasts can be hit or miss depending on strain how low you go. I'm not sure how well it would work for 775.

If you are planning to backsweeten, I'd use something else besides 775. It makes a decent dry cider, not so great for sweet cider.

Thanks for the info.

Cvillekevin, thanks, I'll hold off on back-sweetening wpl775. My next cider will be S-04, so I'll see where that finishes. Maybe I won't need it. I generally like my ciders on the dry side anyway.

Yooper, et all, I'll give a try at some point at back-sweetening and then going straight to keg. I suppose that I'll check for the first couple of days to ensure that it's not fermenting again. But sounds like it generally works fine.

By the way, not to over-step my one question limit, but if you have access to non-hard cider from an orchard that also makes hard cider, i.e. cider with nice tannins and acid, what would be a good yeast? Are yeasts that are good for store-bought cider or even orchard cider made for regular drinking, i.e. not for fermenting, not so great for non-hard ciders that are specifically designed for hard cider?




Also, C

I've yet to run across a yeast strain that doesn't make decent cider (and I've tried a lot), although some do tend to make 'better' finished products. Use what suites your fermentation setup and your preferences. For example, if you have good temp control, like long slow ferments, and can measure your YAN levels, then EC1118 or DV10 are great candidates. If you're just putting some yeast + juice in a carboy in a closet, then nottingham or S-05 may treat you better, since 1118 and DV10 can be somewhat needy.

Yeasts seem relatively consistent across tannin and acid levels, within reason. They're mostly just interested in the sugar.

if you have access to non-hard cider from an orchard that also makes hard cider, i.e. cider with nice tannins and acid, what would be a good yeast?

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Brupaks Ale and Wy3056 are probably my two favorites for semi-dry to semi-sweet. If you want something really dry, D47, 71B, Wy4184, WLP775, youngs cider yeast are all good.

Reviving this thread, because I had the same question.

Does anyone else have opinions about whether or not I would need to stabilize my cider if I backsweeted with 1 can of FAJC then put in the keezer to carbonate immediately?