Fermentation after stabilizing?

[Bent-Brewer]

I'm a little stuck. Unfortunately, my fermentation is not. I probably should have waited to backsweeten right before kegging, but I thought that stabilizing would knock out and inhibit the yeast. Somehow the little buggers started back up. Should I hit it with another tab or two of k-meta? I don't want to risk overdoing it.

Day 1

• Pitch Nottingham into 3 gal Kirkland Apple Juice
• SG = 1.050

Day 8

• Target Gravity = 1.006
• Rack to 3 tabs k-meta, 1.5 tsp sorbate
• Backsweeten with honey and tart cherry juice
• Immediately cold crash

Day 12

• Transferred from fridge to bench. Needed the space and figured a couple days after moving the carboy would help settle anything I kicked up.

Day 14

• Fermentation visibly restarted: ring of bubbles formed at the surface and I could see plenty of bubbles rising from the cake I thought would be inactive.
• Transferred carboy back to fridge. The food can wait its turn.

After typing that... I think I know my problem. Should I have added the k-meta, let the yeast settle, THEN racked it? Because k-meta only knocks it out ~48 hours and sorbate prevents more growth. Which means my backsweetened cider was sitting on a dormant cake until I pulled it from the fridge.

Suggested solutions would be greatly appreciated. Just leave it cold crash and keg it from there? Add more k-meta? I know the sorbate is doing its job. So as long as I take it off the cake, it should be good either way, right?

 

[Maylar]

K-Meta and Sorbate will not stop an active fermentation. You're gonna have to keep it cold.

Or wait till it stops fermenting, rack to secondary and get it off the lees, and if after another week there's no more lees you can do the meta-sorbate treatment.

Or... just keep it cold.