when to keg?

[gregclimbs]

Ok, I have done 15ish batches of beer, but back in Nov, I did my first cider.

5 gallons of local pressed raw, unpasturized cider on WL775 yeast.

OG: 1.054

Current SG: 0.995

Tastes good, very dry/champagne like, but that is good.

It has been 3 months coming up tomorrow.

How much longer should I let it go? I know from reading this forum that cider+time=goodness.

The secondary has really cleared it. The top gallon is highly transparent. Even the bottom of the carboy is pretty clear (able to see through it enough to see the cake).

I was thinking I would give it another month or so, then back sweeten with another .5-1gal of fresh cider and keg/force carb to serve mid-april.

I am fine leaving it even longer if consensus is that 5-6+ months would make a better end product.

But I kinda wanted the carboy open for more beer :O

Maybe just bad timing on my part since I have a saison and bock both going + the cider leaves a lot in long term fermentation...

Anyone have thoughts?

TIA,

g

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I would keg as soon as that bottom bit clears up (I think the standard is being able to read a piece of newspaper through it), probably a week or two tops. As long as you don't chill the keg it will still age just fine.

 

[gregclimbs]

so the question becomes (as I keg tonight) how much to back-sweeten with?

I am going to use some more raw cider from the same orchard as the 5gals I fermented.

It is 1.054, and I have a gallon of it.

My fermented cider is well under 1.0 now and I would like to make it somewhat sweet.

I am going to cold crash and keg it, so I am not too worried about it taking off again and making bottle bombs.

Any suggestions on how much additional cider to add to a 5gal batch?

Thanks,

g

 

[CandleWineProject]

Rule of thumb is 1.025 is very sweet, 1.020 is sweet, 1.1012ish is semi-dry, 1.008ish is semi-dry, and 1.002 and lower is dry. So you need to figure out how sweet you want it. Add a little at a time, test taste it, and add a little more. If you just dump some in and you are instantly 1.025 and you hate it, then you are going to have to start fermenting it again to get it back to 1.000. If you add a little so you are at 1.005, taste it and think it still needs more sugar, then add a little more juice and taste it again.