Ok, I think I'm setting myself up for a scolding here, but I need advice with a variation on the same question:
I have cider that has been in primary for a month and a half. Airlock activity has almost stopped. I can't see how deep the lees are, as the 55 gal. poly drum isn't transparent. I assume it's on a fair amount of lees. I am afraid that if I rack to secondary now, there won't be enough sugar and/or nutrients for the yeast to generate enough CO2 to protect it. (I don't have a gravity reading because I'm afraid to open it at this point.)
Here's my problem: normally I would just bottle at this point, but I'm leaving on a trip in a couple days and probably won't have time to bottle until I get back. Aside from yeast autolysis, what risk do I face in leaving it in primary for another three weeks? If I did that, it would bring it to almost three months total in primary, sitting on a big cake of lees the whole time.
If this is a terrible idea, I could bottle most of it right now, but I wouldn't have the chance to backsweeten and then pasteurize. So I would be bottling dry. (Again, I assume it's dry, based on airlock activity, but haven't actually taken a gravity reading)
So, to recap, three options:
1) do nothing, leave it on the lees for another three weeks
2) rack to secondary, risk not having enough fermentation to fill headspace with CO2
3) bottle now
Thanks for any help.