Potassium Sorbate

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Runyanka

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I have 5 gallons of apfelwine done fermenting, I am wanting to backsweeten. I bought some potassium sorbate, but it doesn't say how much to add or how long I should wait, prior to back sweetening. Could someone help me out?
 
1/2 tsp. per gallon...

But I think you'll also need some campden tablets if you want to completely make sure fermentation won't restart when you backsweeten.
 
Potassium sorbate is used as a preservative/yeast inhibitor, not a sweetener. If you use this all it will do is act as a preservative to prevent yeast from continuing so if you want to carbonate you must force carb it. To back sweeten use Lactose (non-fermentable sugar). Maybe start with 1 C per 5 gal and sample to see if it's where you want it to be, if not add more to your liking.
 
I will not be using the sorbate as a sweetener, I want to inhibit future fermentation when I backsweeten. I will be kegging.

AZ_IPA... How many campden tablets would I add for 5 gallons to go along with the sorbate?

I also am new to backsweetening, I was thinking of making a simple syrup out of 1lb of dark brown sugar, and then siphoning ontop of that in the keg? what do you think, to sweet, not sweet enough?
 
1 lb. of brown sugar should do a fair job of adding some additional sweetness.
 
It's hard to pick a specific amount to backsweeten. Especially not knowing your final gravity. I usually backsweeten to taste. A pound of sugar has 45 points of gravity. Add that to 5 gallons and your gravity goes up about 9 points (45 divided by 5 = 9).

I would add about 3/4 of your simple syrup. Taste it. If it needs more, add the rest of the simple syrup. Stir gently and taste. Add more if needed. I try to stay a little lower than what I'm aiming for. It's easy to add more to your keg later if needed, but you can't take it out if you add too much.
 
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