First time cider questions

[thedevanzoshift]

Hey All - I have some questions about my first cider. 4 weeks ago I made my first cider - simple recipe of 5 gallons of store bought apple juice and some Belle saison yeast. It's ready to keg, but i want to back sweeten half of it to see what I like better .

Kegging the current dry cider is simple enough, but to back sweeten what should I add to make the yeast stop? Do I need to re rack to secondary prior to doing this or can I do it in primary (with yeast cake)?

If I move to secondary can I just add 5 more gallons of apple juice on the yeast cake, shake it up and throw an airlock on it for another batch?

 

[ebbelwoi]

Look into stopping the yeast with a combination of cold crashing, potassium sorbate, and potassium metabisulfite (campden tablets) when you rack. I'm still learning how to do it myself, but there's lots of info in this and other forums.

You should be able to reuse the yeast, but be careful. Make sure you have enough headroom. The first time I tried it, I didn't take into account how much the yeast had multiplied, and I had gobs and gobs of yeast shoot through the airlock!

 

[TwistedGray]

Yeah, dig through the sub forum here... Go back a few pages.

 

[Silver79]

Well, others may disagree but I simply leave my cider on cote des blancs for 2-5 weeks, carefully rack into keg on top of my preferred back sweetener and put it in the kegerator. I have had no issues with refermentation and stopped using both Camden and sorbate 2 years ago. We tend to go through it quickly though. In my shop kegerator a 5 gal keg last max 6 weeks for the 6 abv stuff.if it's going to last a while ymmv.

 

[thedevanzoshift]

Well, others may disagree but I simply leave my cider on cote des blancs for 2-5 weeks, carefully rack into keg on top of my preferred back sweetener and put it in the kegerator. I have had no issues with refermentation and stopped using both Camden and sorbate 2 years ago. We tend to go through it quickly though. In my shop kegerator a 5 gal keg last max 6 weeks for the 6 abv stuff.if it's going to last a while ymmv.

Thanks for the reply. I was honestly thinking of doing that. If fermentation were to "restart" what would the potential hazards be?

 

[Silver79]

Thanks for the reply. I was honestly thinking of doing that. If fermentation were to "restart" what would the potential hazards be?

In a keg, no real threat of danger from overcarbing, but it could possibly dry out and heighten the abv if the yeast become active. Extra foamy pours would be the worst case scenario.

 

[Ricky Carpenter]

In a keg, no real threat of danger from overcarbing, but it could possibly dry out and heighten the abv if the yeast become active. Extra foamy pours would be the worst case scenario.

Did you ever get the AO cider down?

 

[Redpappy]

Hope the OP don’t mind, but what kind of time frame will cider last in a keg?

 

[TwistedGray]

Hope the OP don’t mind, but what kind of time frame will cider last in a keg?

Considering you can age cider for years, probably last longer than you will let it sit.