Cold Crashing a Cider - but what about aging??

I have a kegerator and would like to place a cider on tap for a while. I have brewed this one: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/apple-bee-woodchuck-clone-90276/ and want to keep some of the sweetness in it so I would like to try to stop it at about 1.010.

I understand that to do this I will need to crash cool it, but if I do and rack it, wont the yeast just wake back up? I know that you are pulling some of the yeast out of it, but I am reading threads from my search about crash cooling and still being able to bottle carb.

If i crash cool it, rack it, and leave it in the kegerator then it wont age very quickly and will just taste green forever wont it?

What is the official way to do this without back sweetening? And I heard that using potassium sorbate changes the taste of the cider which is not very favorable.

Most ale yeast will flocculate when cold, so if you are careful with the rack, you will remove the yeast.

If you cold crash, you cant bottle carb

If you dont lose the apple sugar, it wont taste green, but you can always age it for as long as you want in the secondary. You can do this at room temp if you crash properly. read the sticky

yeah i will be force carbing with the kegerator and co2.

So if I cold crash for like 2 days or something, rack off, I should be able to let it warm back up to age with no ill effect?

Is there a need to age it if it wont taste green if I keep some of the apple sugar? i dont mind doing so, but if you are saying there is no need, that sounds like money to me Watcha thing?

i just read your thread and ill answer my own questions in the event that someone stumbles upon my post in a search.:

cold crash: 1 day should be fine and carefully rack off...watch the new fermenter for signs of fermentation to be sure it did not start up again. If so, crash cool again and rack carefully to the other carboy.

it will taste fine if you just crash cool it before it gets below 1.004 for the most part if it is pasteurized. if it is un- let it sit another 2 weeks and you will be good. otherwise, as long as fermentation didnt start up again, rack it to a keg and carb her up.

I spent the time to read the whole thread, and then caught the part about yeast nutrient affecting nitrogen levels which allows you to kill fermentation by just racking.

Guess who added 4 tsp on yeast nutrient before fermentation

<----

yep me!

So, with that being said, should i just crash cool it, rack it to a keg, and drop it in in the kegerator to be carbed and served?

Hopefully the yeast nutrient will also drop to the bottom when you cold crash, in which case cold crashing will still work.

It depends on the type of nutrients you used, in particular how soluble the nitrogen in it is. If the nutrient is mostly ground yeast, it might just drop with everything else. Also if enough of the yeast drops, it might be OK if you dont get all the nutrient.

Either way crash it, watch it for a few days and let us know how it did and what kind of nutrient you used. Either way, the results will be helpful to know. You might see a stray bubble or two from MLF but if the sg drops after crashing you can always crash it again, or like you say, just put it in the kegerator.

A lot of times you can drop an unpasteurized batch right into the keg if you are really thirsty and dont want to wait. It depends on the cider, some of them have a nice balance right out of the gate. I did that on several at the beginning of the season. I like to give them at least a couple weeks in the secondary when possible tho.

sounds great. that is what i will do then. I will try to age it a few more weeks before keeping it on the kegerator, but will watch my gravity like a hawk

Thanks for all of your help CvilleKevin.

My first batch of cider was absolutely TERRIBLE. i think that the flash pastuerized cider had some wild yeast that took over and man was it bad. I let it sit for like 3 months before bottling and the ones that were not stored in the fridge resulted in bottle bombs. the ones in the fridge were gushers like crazy. I have to redeem myself now

I'm a biochem masters student new to brewing. Just finished my first attempt at a cider using some fresh unpasteurized cider I had pressed and it turned out terribly dry and nearly undrinkable. My question is if I can cold crash after primary (possibly in my northern Indiana garage?) for a day or so to keep some sugars and then prime to bottle carb and after a week or so of bottle carbing throw them in the fridge (or garage that's currently cold as eff) to kill off the yeast? Is this a recipe for a carbed cider with some sweetness left or a recipe for bottle bombs?