Kegging Hard Apple Cider?

Am I off my rocker here? I don't have any bottling equipment, but I have a spare corny keg and a kegerator set up. Could I make some cider and just put it in my kegging setup like beer? I haven't drank much cider (wifey loves it) is it carbonated? Has anyone had any luck kegging hard apple cider?

Yes lots of people keg Apfelwin which is basically apple cider. I have a keg of it myself. When I was researching this there was some concern about chrome plated faucets if you are dispensing with a kegerator - the cider is more acidic than beer than may eat away the chrome over time. I also read that people run it through chrome all the time with no worries. If you have stainless faucets then no worries at all.

Why are you asking this question?
Keg it, carb it, drink it, love it

I currently have 15 gallons in my basement condition in kegs. And I'm about to get another 15 fermenting.

you are at an advantage kegging if you want a semi-sweet and fizzy cider, so get to work

dinnerstick said:

you are at an advantage kegging if you want a semi-sweet and fizzy cider, so get to work

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I'm looking to keg a semi-sweet fizzy cider with my kegging set-up. What exactly is the advantage you are referring to?

jbloeser said:

I'm looking to keg a semi-sweet fizzy cider with my kegging set-up. What exactly is the advantage you are referring to?

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I believe the advantage he is referring to would be with kegging there is zero risk of bottle bombs. You always have to be careful bottling semi-sweet or sweet ciders and meads... fermentation can spontaneously restart unless you leave it in secondary for a really long time or stabilize with appropriate chemicals.

what vols you guys carbing to?

I kegged and back sweetened my last batch of hard cider. It was great! Very smooth, like drinking apple soda and at 6% abv could really get the party started.
I usually just let it sit at 30psi for a couple days then back down to my normal 10-11psi to serve my beer with.

jbloeser said:

I'm looking to keg a semi-sweet fizzy cider with my kegging set-up. What exactly is the advantage you are referring to?

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as nomad says you can backsweeten and carbonate without losing an eye to ballistic glass shards

I am making my first apfelwein and was planning on kegging it. Was thinking that I wanted to back sweeten to make it semi dry rather than dry. I made a 5 gal batch. How much sugar should I use? Do I need to do anything to keep it from fermenting the the sugar added to back sweeten.

what do you need for a keg setup and is there another way of carbonating without conditioning or expensive equipment

if you know someone with a ball lock keg setup who will let you borrow some CO2 you can get carbonator caps, they fit a standard plastic soda bottle and have a ball lock post for a top

First time brewer, have decided I want to keg and carb and then fill bottles.
I was looking at this setup - Ball Lock Keg System with Faucet and Shank

Will that do it? Are there any brand names or setups specific to hard cider?

Thanks,

jcford72 said:

First time brewer, have decided I want to keg and carb and then fill bottles.
I was looking at this setup - Ball Lock Keg System with Faucet and Shank

Will that do it? Are there any brand names or setups specific to hard cider?

Thanks,

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This setup should work just fine and is "on sale" today.

jcford72 said:

First time brewer, have decided I want to keg and carb and then fill bottles.
I was looking at this setup - Ball Lock Keg System with Faucet and Shank

Will that do it? Are there any brand names or setups specific to hard cider?

Thanks,

Click to expand...

Doesn't look like there's a CO2 tank included, though.