mulled cider

I'm making mulled cider this week. First time so i'm using a recipe and shop bought juice. It calls for 4.5 ltrs of juice. 6 cinamon sticks, 3 star anise and a few cloves. The whole lot goes into a fermenter with ale yeast and gets racked to a secondary after a week or so. Two to three weeks in secondary and then bottled. Any advice/help would be appreciated. I'm conscious of the cider carbing up in the growler type bottles i have as i want all fermentation to stop in the fermenters

Just a bump here. No ideas?

Your plans sound good.
I would *not* pressurize a growler ... they are not meant for it ... I absolutely would not use them in the relatively “uncontrolled” situation of pressurization using fermentation. Instead I would use plastic 2 liter bottles for larger quantities. 2-liters are, as far as I know, all made from PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) and not only safe and inert chemically but also have good resistance to pressure, and as well will allow you to feel the pressurization by feeling them.
When I carbonate larger volumes than beer bottles I use champagne bottles usually topped with crown caps. That would be my safe recommendation. (admittedly, I use 23oz Guinness bottles too but I always use them simultaneously with 20oz plastic bottles - to feel the pressure on - and 11 or 12 oz bottles, to be opened along the way.)

As far as the spices you’re adding ... I’d go care easy on the cloves ... experiment and figure out what works. Those little devils carry a lot of flavor! (I’d start with 2 ... 3 max ... in 4.5 liters)

Sound advice. Cheers. My problem is that i dont want to prime. I want flat cider so i need the yeast to be dead before i bottle.

Are you after a sweet cider or dry?
Consider some allspice too, its a great winter spice flavour.

Dry cider with no fizz.

No need to kill it then - just wait until its dry and there's nothing left to ferment

Yup, the yeasties will be finished once they run out of sugar ... little nutrients left too. Sounds like your cider will be around 5.4% or so ... with that low alcohol unless you're going to drink it fairly soon, or bottle & pasteurize etc, I'd keep it in the refrigerator.

Okay. Wel roughly how long before the yeast is done at say 22degreesC.

Thats with any permintation of primary and secondary.

Rather than judging by just “time”, the important thing is how far along the fermentation actually is.
22 degrees (71* F) is a temp that would move the fermentation along fairly promptly.

If you do not have a hydrometer, I would judge the progress by the amount of fermentation bubbles.

If I understand you correctly, you are using growlers as your primaries (?) ... that being the case, you can leave your cider in the primaries for longer than if your primary were a bucket. (Though the last half of that period in the primaries/growlers should be under airlock). Your estimation of “a week or so” in your original post sounds ok ... though if fermentation still seems strong you should wait until it slows and gets a layer of sediment on the bottom of the jug(s). You are racking to “get off of” the layer of sediment.

I would then rack again from the secondary to a further jug when the bubbling is down to just very tiny bubbles and the airlock has almost no activity (likely another week, or so)... this additional racking helps to speed the process making the cider still and of settling and clearing as the presence of a layer of sediment on the bottom of the jug could continue very minor bubbling activity for some time.
This additional racking also helps to avoid any nutrient accumulation from autolysis which could lead to unintended MLF (malolactic fermentation ... which can be good if you are planning for MLF ... but can be a bit of a problem if you aren’t.)

After that final racking your cider should become still within a week or so. Then you can bottle ... OR you can let it sit still for an extended period and then bottle. Either way ... at this point, whether in bottles or growlers, I would be storing it in the refrigerator to prevent spoilage.

Note that racking (jug to jug, or jug to bottles) should always be done by siphoning with a length of tubing so as not to disturb the sediment on the bottom of the secondary; and *importantly* to minimize oxygen contact that would occur if you were trying to otherwise just pour it.