Early cold crashing

To start off I'm a noob

So I am making something close to ed's Apfelwine cept in 3 different 1/2 gallons with 1118 1116 and 1122 yeast and brown sugar... anyways I like my drinks sweet and I was wondering if it would be fine to cold crash them when they start to slow down fermenting and just go for it. I dont know how bad it is for you to imbibe much yeast and I dont nessicarally need 16% apfelwine, 6-7 % will do just fine.

basicly
cold crashing extremely early
Will it work?
Will it have gained apv% significantly?

fyi started at ~1.11 OG (based on a table I dont have a hydrometer)

So your wanting to cold crash early to prevent making rocket fuel. And theres nothing wrong with that other than your selection of yeast will easilyl produce 16% and your OG is high to begin with meaning if you cold crash too early it might not even completely hault fermentation. However if in fact it did and you stopped near 6-7% I think with the remaining sugar it would be overwhelmingly sweet. Making something around 6% should start with an OG around 1.065and end around 1.012 on the sweet side . My opinion is to let it ferment dry which will be a higher ABV than you said you want, then maybe dilute with some water and backsweeten with some AJ....Hope this helps, cheers

stargate_to_Earth said:

To start off I'm a noob

So I am making something close to ed's Apfelwine cept in 3 different 1/2 gallons with 1118 1116 and 1122 yeast and brown sugar... anyways I like my drinks sweet and I was wondering if it would be fine to cold crash them when they start to slow down fermenting and just go for it. I dont know how bad it is for you to imbibe much yeast and I dont nessicarally need 16% apfelwine, 6-7 % will do just fine.

basicly
cold crashing extremely early
Will it work?
Will it have gained apv% significantly?

fyi started at ~1.11 OG (based on a table I dont have a hydrometer)

Click to expand...

Well, cold crashed cider will kick back into fermentation mode if you warm it up. I would try pasteurizing it on your stovetop in bottles.

Alot depends on if you are bottling the beer and if you want it carbonated or not.

is thier any way of knowing apv without a hydrometer?

Not accurately

didn't say it had to be accurate?... anything would help

Well then the only thing I could tell u is to search this forum<I don't remember where> but there is a thread that shows how many points the different kinds of sugars and honey adds along with SG of most AJs. I believe for every # of sugar is .045 points and most AJs are around 1.045, though Ive had them as high as 1.060. Add all of that together and that will be your OG. Then let it ferment dry which should be around .998 which is your FG then do the math...(OG-FG) divided by 7.36....but I realize letting it ferment dry is exactly what u don't want...If the way I wrote it sounds too confusing then just post your recipe and maybe I could help you determine its possibility...sorry its the only thing I know to tell u...maybe someone else has a better idea.

yeah, i've seen the hydrometer tables that tell you possible max abv, thats it then?

What kind of juice, how much brown sugar and how big was the total batch size?

I have three half gallons that I put approx 1 lb of brown sugar in each (the label said they had 30 g of sugar per serving and 8 serving per bottle as well)

Well I think your best bet is to taste test every or every other day till it tastes right. Then immediately rack and cold crash or pastuerize depending on if u want still or sparkling...If u successfully stop fermentation on the sweet side it will probably be around 9% if not and it goes till dry more like 12%...hope this helps, good luck

sweetness wise or alcohol?

Alcohol

When u get a chance read www.makinghardcider.com it has a lot of good info on it