First Time Cider Maker

hey guys and gals,

working on my first apple cider. took 3 gallons of apple juice (no additives), added 1/4 cup of dextrose and used 5gr of US-05 yeast. it's been fermenting now for a little over a week. i'm guessing that it's going to be rather dry. i would like to sweeten it up and bottle uncarbed.

What are my best options for backsweetening and to be able to store the bottles for a long period of time? would the pasturizing sticky work even though i'm not carbing it?

thanks in advance.

Yes, it'll work, but you can add stuff (can't remember what it's called) but it kills off the yeast.

JuiceyJay said:

Yes, it'll work, but you can add stuff (can't remember what it's called) but it kills off the yeast.

Click to expand...

Potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulphite (kmeta). Kmeta stops the yeast that are currently working. Sorbate prevents new yeast cells from joining the party.

so i can add that to stop fermentation, can i then bottle in my clean sanitized bottles? how long will they store? if, of course, everything is clean and proper??

Not quite, Kmeta and sorbate will not stop an active fermentation. First the live yeast must be removed from the cider, ideally by filtration, but most homebrewers don't have a filter you can cold-crash the whole batch and rack off the lees, then repeat as needed. Once the cider stops throwing lees you can add the Kmeta and sorbate and keep the batch cold for another 24-48 hrs before backsweetening or bottling.