How much FG/Alcohol is enough to keep Cider on long-term shelf life

[cidraft]

I have been making cider for a few seasons now and always added sugar to raise the OG in fear of the cider going bad (and more alcohol). This time I wanted to go as light and simple as possible and added no sugar. My OG is 1040 and used S-04 with nutrients. I expect it to ferment out to about 1005 (?), leaving me with 5% alcohol.

Will that be enough to keep the cider in secondary for a few months and then bottle it up??

I might add some malic acid just to help out with this, plus my pressed apples weren't too acidic anyways and I would prefer a bit of tartness...
Thanks

 

[Zymomancer]

I've never experienced an infection, but I've always finished at 6% or above. I think 5% is probably fine. Like you said, the acid addition is probably a good idea for flavour anyways.

If you are curious about just what pH you want to avoid infection, I found this, which gives loose guidelines... you can probably have a higher pH because of the alcohol: http://www.azaquar.com/en/doc/food-preservation-by-reducing-the-ph

 

[DaMonkey]

I read that at least 6% is ideal. I cannot remember where I read it though.

 

[theDREWery]

Higher levels of alcohol, acid, and tannin all contribute to shelf life. However, nothing will make a bigger difference than your cleanliness and sanitation practices. If you are diligent about cleaning everything during fermentation through bottling, I don't see any reason that a 5% cider couldn't stay around for a couple years.

I think it was in Vintage Beers that I read that crown caps will start to allow oxygen in at around the two year mark, bottle conditioned beers showing greater resistance initially.

I think I still have a few bottles of cyser, at about 12% ABV, that will be turning 3 years old soon. Don't worry too much about leaving a few bottles sitting around for a long time, worst case scenario is that you learn something.

 

[dmtaylor]

Great question. Based on some experience here over the years, I have vowed last year to never have a cider start below 1.045 again, and for better insurance, 1.047 might be even better. So if my juice ever starts at 1.042 again like it did once a couple of years ago, I'll add just a small amount of sugar to bring it up just a tad. It does seem to stale after just 6 to 9 months if not strong enough. Similar batches with a little higher gravity, same yeast and everything, lasted for years. So I assume it had to do with the lower ABV and gravity. So that's what I do now.

 

[ultra_cas]

I have a 13 year old cider that just last spring placed second place in a homebrew competition. Comments were slight oxidation, might want to try a greater variety of mix of apples. No comments regarding bad/off flavors due to age (age was not given in the competition), and one of the judges runs a very well known cider operation here in town. (Citizen Cider) I have no idea what the SG or FG are/were, it just sort of sat around and got forgotten. As noted above: cleanliness, sanitation, stable temp storage are just as important as your alcohol levels, I think.

 

[dmtaylor]

I have a 13 year old cider that just last spring placed second place in a homebrew competition. Comments were slight oxidation, might want to try a greater variety of mix of apples. No comments regarding bad/off flavors due to age (age was not given in the competition), and one of the judges runs a very well known cider operation here in town. (Citizen Cider) I have no idea what the SG or FG are/were, it just sort of sat around and got forgotten. As noted above: cleanliness, sanitation, stable temp storage are just as important as your alcohol levels, I think.

Interesting data, but..... what was your ABV or OG?? Do you know???