Secondary yeast viablity

How long will residual yeast stay viable in secondary bulked apfelwein with a ABV of about 8.5%? Possible to still bottle carb it? It's sweet at a FG of 1.002

AndrewTodd said:

How long will residual yeast stay viable in secondary bulked apfelwein with a ABV of about 8.5%? Possible to bottle carb it still? It's still sweet at a FG of 1.002

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If the FG is 1.002, the yeast is finished. It probably won't bottle carb if the yeast is done. Cider will often go below 1.000 so if it's not moving it may not go anymore. Some wine yeast strains will easily go 15% or so, so I suspect either you used a lower attenuating yeast like ale yeast or have a stuck fermentation if you used wine yeast.

Yep ale yeast. I may just bottle it still. Thanks!

i always ferment all the way then secondary for at least 2 or 3 weeks (until it clears enough to see through). add priming sugar a few hours before bottling and all the batches i've done have carbed nicely. no pitching new yeast..

it seems like it wouldnt carb but they always do. worked with ale, champagne and wine yeast

This has been bulked for about 8 months.

Its a tad sweeter than I wanted and now thinking about adding some Montemorency Cherry juice to tart it up. Just wondering if that might set off yeast again. If the yeast is done it shouldn't.

8 months is a long time. If my ciders sit for more than a couple months in secondary I add more yeast at bottling time along with the priming sugar.

Failed to do that this spring when I couldn't bottle a couple of my batches for a while (3 mo). Just added priming sugar and bottled like normal. Nothing happened, the yeast was no longer viable and at only 7% ABV was well within the tolerance. Still drinking through 10 gallons of still cider that is sweeter than I want.