Jasmine cider!

Dearest cider people!
I'm planning to make a batch of cider this week and I thought maybe it's time to spice things up! Its Jasmin season here and I was thinking I would "dry hop" the cider in secondary with Jasmin flowers and oak chips… but since I plan to bulk age I was wondering if I will have the ferment a 3rd time in order to separate the flowers from the cider so I wouldn't get off flavors or something. Anyone have experience with flower brewing and aging? Thoughts, suggestions? (p.s. how long do you think would be a good amount of time for "dry jasmining"

A few things come to mind.

First, look into using a dry hop bag. These can be suspended with a piece of floss and pulled out without having to change fermentors. They're a great way to add flavors after moving to the secondary fermentor. I use it all the time, even when I'm using my keg as the secondary. As a tip, using a spoon or other piece of stainless that's been boiled for at least 15 minutes is a great way to ensure it sinks.

Second, when you use hop pellets you can get away without doing anything else for sanitation as hops are themselves a preservative and are shipped in sanitary bags. If you're using locally sourced Jasmin you may need to be more careful. The typical solution is to use campden tablets to kill any bacteria introduced with your addition. Just be sure that the fermentation has completely stopped before going to this step, then add 1 tablet per gallon of cider (crushed into a powder) along with your dry hop bag.

Good luck!

I get images that this will taste like potpourri ...