First Cider is in Secondary - What next?

[lhommedieu]

I just made my first cider. I dropped from a OG of 1.060 to a FG of 1.002 in three weeks and I've put it in a secondary fermenter to take it off the yeast cake. Next weekend, I plan to cold crash it and transfer to a keg to age it out.

Question: Is this the time to back-sweeten and carbonate? Will there be enough yeast in suspension in the cider to naturally carbonate, and do I need to worry about the yeast chewing up all the sugar? In other words, should I back sweeten now or later?

 

[Maylar]

Typically we age in secondary as-is. Sweeten and carbonate at bottling time. How do you intend to sweeten it, and why would you not force carbonate in the keg?

 

[bucketnative]

From your post in another thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7328162

I plan to transfer to a secondary carboy after two weeks and let it ferment out. After that, I'll back-sweeten with apple juice concentrate and carbonate in the keg.

If you try to back sweeten with concentrate in this way, without pasteurizing, your remaining yeast will eat through the concentrate and produce more alcohol. This will dry out the cider and not add sweetness. You would need to inactivate the yeast (pasteurize or chemicals) prior to sweetening.

 

[dmtaylor]

I'll bet you it's still fermenting and the yeast is still extremely active. Leave it alone for another month or two, and then you can safely think about backsweetening and packaging.

 

[lhommedieu]

Thanks for your replies. I'll leave it in the secondary (carboy) for a month and check for a change in FG. If it drops down to 1.001 or lower I'll know that it was still fermenting. After that I'll transfer to a keg, and age it out until I'm ready to backsweeten in another keg just prior to serving. I was thinking of apple juice concentrate for the sweetener. Is there a formula for determining sweetness by considering volume and SG? Also: how to add tartness if needed?