aging / sweetening applewine

[erykmynn]

So my first cider experiment has gone a little off track. I had limited equipment and skills when I started (and have since pieced out quite a setup). Regardless, I was just following a recipe and not using a hydrometer, and now realize I was really making an apple wine. (5 gals juice plus 4 lbs brown sugar). *estimated ABV in the 10-11 range.

To top that off, I think my wine yeast was less-than-ideal. Primary took about 2 weeks, and samples at racking tasted AWFUL. Now it's been in secondary for going on 3 weeks and has mellowed considerably but still tastes a bit "young".

I think the smart thing would be to move it now from it's better bottle, to some glass jugs for aging (though I may fill a few bottles now for, umm, science).

So my questions are
1) can I hit it with Camden tablets and then jug it sealed to age it for a few months? or do I need live yeast (and the pressure bleed that comes with them)?

2) If I do Campden it, and want to back sweeten a portion it, do I do that now, or after the aging?

3) Does anyone here have experience priming a cider or applewine after a long aging? IE repitching instructions?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I made an apple wine that bulk aged 6 months before bottling. I bottled like champagne & had some worries about no yeast in suspension as it was crystal clear. I primed the wine in the bottling bucket & added a couple (4 or 5) of unrehydrated dry yeast granules to each bottle before filling & corking. Honestly, I don't know for certain if there was enough yeast in suspension to carb up or not, but I wasn't going to risk it. I figured there was going to be sediment anyway, a couple of granules would hardly be noticed. I used Primiere Cuvee yeast to ferment & for the granules. I had a few bottles that didn't carb up, but I'm thinking those might've been a corking issue since the rest carbed up just fine. BTW, don't prime apple wine for 4 volumes, 2.5 is plenty. I learned that the hard way. Regards, GF.