best way to preserve cider for a year or more

[area123]

I usually don't get a chance to age my ciders more than a month because they taste so good to me even before aging, I just drink them up and share them..

But I do want to try storing and aging some long term. I started out bottle conditioning but I think for long term storage it would be better to force carb and that way you don't have as much sediment??

My usual process is like this:
-primary for 1 week in 6.5 carboy
-secondary for 1-2 week in 6.5 carboy
-keg the clear cider and store cold to force carb for about 1 week
-then either bottle or drink on tap or both..

What I am thinking for long term storage is that I need to try to get more of the yeast out or kill it, because i usually drink it semi-sweet and don't want all the sugar to ferment out and don't want sediment. But even for dry cider it might be a good idea to filter or kill the yeast first.

so I guess my specific questions are.
1. how to get rid of or kill the yeast (I have added 1/2 tsp/gallon potassium sorbate to some sweet fruity ciders and it seems to have lasted pretty good for a month or two anyway). I don't want to bottle pasteurize, i've done that and it is a pain to do it for 6 gallons of cider.
2. Should I filter before I keg to get most of the yeast out? I have the hardware necessary to filter it if needed.
3. Is cold storage better and at what temps? I dont' have a basement but have a big spare fridge in the shop. My pantry will stay around 69 F in the winter and 75 F in summer.

Any other ideas and experience on longer term storage are appreciated.

 

[dmtaylor]

Gelatin will knock about 99% of the yeast right out of there. I always add gelatin after about a couple of weeks when it tastes great, wait about 24-48 hours for the gelatin to work, then rack, wait a few more days, then rack again to keep all the gelatin crud out. After racking off the gelatin, you could also slam with sorbate and sulfite to kill off your yeast, and keep it cold too. But even after adding the sorbate & sulfite, some yeast might stay active, so it might be best to give that a few days to a week, then hit it with even more, to prevent refermentation. After giving it all time to clear and racking a couple of times, and killing off your yeast, you should be good to keg or bottle it with force carb.

Personally I don't use any sorbate or sulfite anymore (but I used to), as I have a lot of patience and just wait for the yeast to get tired on their own instead of killing them. So I leave the cider to sit for a good 3 or 4 months usually, then I'm able to carbonate naturally in the bottles. But if you're in a hurry, the sorbate & sulfite can kill them quicker and it really should work. If bottling long term, you just need to be really sure that your yeast is dead. So for me in the past, I always added not just one dose but at least two doses over the course of a few weeks, just to really make sure they won't come back and explode your bottles.

Consider also the possibility that cider does not need to be carbonated! Traditionally, it really was not, at least not to today's high carbed standards. Maybe it had just very slight carbonation ("petillant") but not like today. I love to drink mine flat as much as I like it carbonated, so then I'm never disappointed if it's not carbed. Consider whether you really care enough to carbonate it -- it's really not necessary or traditional! Then there would be even fewer worries about possible explosions due to refermentation.

Filtration is fine but really should not be necessary if you just use gelatin. Gelatin is just awesome, I swear by it.

Cold storage is certainly the best idea if you can do it, but as long as you take extra measures to kill the yeast, it really should not be necessary either.

 

[area123]

Cool! The gelatin is a good idea. I guess the commercial guys probably hit it with preservatives and cold crash and filter.

I am usually not very patient so I have it drank up in a few weeks after making it. But I'd like to start saving some back and giving more away and don't want bottle bombs or off dead yeast flavors.

I also enjoy it flat. But prefer it carbed. The problem with semi sweet is that even if I wanted it flat it would carb itself at room temp with the residual sugar.

 

[theDREWery]

Bottle conditioned beers actually age better because the yeast pull O2 out of the headspace, assuming your yeast ages well, such as champagne yeasts. Also, increased alcohol, acid, and tannin will add to the lifespan. If you're capping, consider waxing bottles as well. There's no reason a cider, stored well, couldn't reach 3 years. I've got a two year old graff I'm still drinkin on.