I picked up some camden tabs to kill off the yeast so the brown sugar I add will not fermentate. Doing some reading it sounds like camden tabs only prevent yeast from multiplying, rather than killing it off. Im not really sure just what I need to do from here. Any suggestions?
About to backsweeten and keg cider
- Thread starter Butcher
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nattron
Well-Known Member
Butcher said:
If you are keging it should not be a problem. The yeast will go dormant at keging temps.
XombieDeath
Active Member
I use Xylitol to backsweeten my ciders and haven't had any complaints from anyone. It's a non-fermentable sugar. It's sounds chemical and unnatural but it is completely natural. You should be able to pick some up at the sweetener aisle of your local supermarket, just look at the ingredients on everything in the specialty sweetner area. The stuff I have is actually cut with malto-dextrine, which is just a filler, so perfectly fine.
There are other non-fermentable sugars you could use as well, but I've had the best success with this one.
If you don't want to backsweeten with a non-fermentable, you'll need to pastuerize to kill the yeast. Here's a link from cider forums on stovetop pastuerizing in bottles. I don't see a good application of this for kegging, but the trick would be to get the liquid in the 150-160 range for 15-25 minutes to kill the yeast. There's lots of talk about cold-crashing, which if you have a kegerator, might be your solution.
No magic bullet to solve your problem, but maybe I've pointed you at some possible solutions.
There are other non-fermentable sugars you could use as well, but I've had the best success with this one.
If you don't want to backsweeten with a non-fermentable, you'll need to pastuerize to kill the yeast. Here's a link from cider forums on stovetop pastuerizing in bottles. I don't see a good application of this for kegging, but the trick would be to get the liquid in the 150-160 range for 15-25 minutes to kill the yeast. There's lots of talk about cold-crashing, which if you have a kegerator, might be your solution.
No magic bullet to solve your problem, but maybe I've pointed you at some possible solutions.
roadymi
Well-Known Member
If you choose to backsweeten with a fermentable sugar (I prefer to use concentrated apple juice to sweeten, 3 or 4 cans usually sweeten to my taste and helps add more apple flavor that most people expect from their cider) use campden tabs at 1 per gallon and 1/4 tsp Sorbate per gallon. You must use both to safely stabilize your cider.
As stated previous you could be ok since you are kegging but.......You may want to pull off a growler to give to a buddy or I often bottle up the tail end of a keg to make room for my next brew. I just figure better safe than sorry, do as you please.
As stated previous you could be ok since you are kegging but.......You may want to pull off a growler to give to a buddy or I often bottle up the tail end of a keg to make room for my next brew. I just figure better safe than sorry, do as you please.
dinnerstick
Well-Known Member
+1 to this but i would add that you want to let it settle as much as possible and rack carefully away from the yeast cake to physically eliminate as much as possible. i stopped stabilizing my kegged cider as it is fine at fridge temps. and most remaining yeast will fall out in the fridge, so when you fill that growler it may not appear to be fermenting further, but it could start back up slowly so indeed be careful
