Caught in a Catch 22

[BigSky]

I made the mistake of not starting with enough cider. I was about 3 quarts shy when I racked to a second carboy. After doing some reading, it sounded like it was okay to just add some more cider. But now, with the expected further fermentation, I'm getting more sediment, which means I should eventually rack again, which means I'll be short of cider to completely fill the carboy again.
I understand that I can use potassium sorbate to stop the fermentation. If I do that, do I use it again when I back sweeten or is once enough?
Thanks in advance for your help


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[Mark_tries_brewing]

I think you are just going to have to accept that most of your sediment is likely yeast. If you want to make fermented cider you are going to have to deal with that by either accepting it and including it or racking off of it to increase clarity. Also I am not speaking from experience but I believe from browsing on these forums that potassium sorbate/ other methods such as cold crashing will not stop cider fermentation. You can either back sweeten or stop it a certain point by pasteurizing.

 

[phug]

you can try sanitizing marbles, and placing those in the carboy to top up the volume

 

[therainmaker]

What size carboys are you using? You may be able to mix and match sizes to get each topped without the sediment

 

[BigSky]

Thanks for the imput! I wouldn't mind just leaving the sediment, but it's my understanding that it can give the cider an off taste. I don't have any flexibility with my carboys since I only have large buckets and a 5 gal carboy ( which the cider is currently fermenting in). The marbles may be my only option, but even then I read where someone was concerned about lead in them. I guess I was hoping that there was some way to top off the batch with cider without kicking off fermentation again.


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[Pataka]

One creative solution I've read about involves brewing two batches. The first in your typical fermentation vessel, the second in a much smaller vessel. When you rack, you will lose some volume, but you can top it up from the smaller vessel. That way, they will both be at the same stage of fermentation and you won't be adding in more yet-to-be-fermented sugar to your primary vessel, resulting in more sediment.