A few questions regarding my first cider

[nettekdl]

I have been brewing beer for quite awhile, but my wife just recently talked me into making her a batch of cider for the summer. This is a whole new world to me so I have a couple questions; first is on back sweetening. The best hydro sample I had of this cider was at around 1.010 and I would like to get it back to there because SWMBO does not like anything dry. I am currently at 1.003 with 5 gallons and unsure how much sugar to add to bring it back there. Also, can I just cold crash the keg it is currently in then add sorbate and sweeten from there? It will be stored in my kegerator at 39*f and I used wy1056 so I'm not too worried about it starting back up. Thanks to anyone who can help!

Also can I wash this yeast like I do all my 1056 for beer or is it not the best idea with the high abv and all the simple sugats?

 

[Yooper]

I have been brewing beer for quite awhile, but my wife just recently talked me into making her a batch of cider for the summer. This is a whole new world to me so I have a couple questions; first is on back sweetening. The best hydro sample I had of this cider was at around 1.010 and I would like to get it back to there because SWMBO does not like anything dry. I am currently at 1.003 with 5 gallons and unsure how much sugar to add to bring it back there. Also, can I just cold crash the keg it is currently in then add sorbate and sweeten from there? It will be stored in my kegerator at 39*f and I used wy1056 so I'm not too worried about it starting back up. Thanks to anyone who can help!

Also can I wash this yeast like I do all my 1056 for beer or is it not the best idea with the high abv and all the simple sugats?

If you're going to keep the keg cold, always, you can probably skip sulfites and sorbate. Generally, depending on the yeast strain, at 39 degrees most ale or wine yeast strains will be dormant.

If you want to stabilize, the cider needs to be completely clear and racked off the lees (so that there are few yeast still in suspension and no lees at all) and into a mixture of campden (sulfite) and sorbate. The usual dose of campden is 1 crushed and dissolved tablet per gallon, and for sorbate it's 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. It can be mixed in a little water, and then the cider racked into it. That will ensure no fermentation will occur.

Sorbate doesn't kill yeast, but it inhibits yeast reproduction. That's why it doesn't "work" if you add it to a fermenter that has billions and billions of yeast, as the yeast doesn't need to reproduce then. Campden doesn't kill yeast either, but sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites so it is added along with the sorbate.

As to the amount of sugar you want to add, a pound of table sugar adds 9 points to the SG in five gallons.

 

[nettekdl]

As always, thanks for the help yooper that is everything I needed.