I am new at the cider thing. I have made 2 batches the first I moved to the fridge and that stopped fermentation at at 1.008 and it was delicious. I was unable to get it to clear using a number of finings. The second batch I let ferment all the way dry, it was kinda watery and flavorless, so I added sorbate and sulfite and sweetened. I had 13 gallons of juice left and I just started fermenting it yesterday with some pectin enzyme and yeast nutrient. I need to get it out of the way before the warm weather gets here, it will be too warm to ferment in my house soon. My goal is to rack it into kegs and let it sit for conditioning at room temp, I simply do not have fridge space to cold condition it. I am hoping it will clear over time and I can back sweeten at a later date. Do I sorbate & sulfite it when I move from the fermentor into the conditioning kegs or do it later on down the road when I decide to sweeten? Also at room temp, how much pressure should I let it sit on? I know it will not absorb CO2 as readily at room temp.
Keg conditioning cider question
- Thread starter jetfixr
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I typically add the potassium metabisulfate when racking and the sorbate at sweetening. 25 psi at room temp is a good starting point. Like beer, 12-13 psi at fridge temps works for serving.
Great, thanks. I am fermenting my current batches under pressure and plan to do a pressurize transfer to the conditioning kegs. Have you had any issues with your cider clearing under pressure? I am planning on racking off the top after fermentation is through directly into conditioning kegs. After conditioning in kegs, hopefully I can pour couple of cloudy ciders and the rest will be clear, (standard cornies with diptube at bottom). It's all hypothetical, have yet to try it. I know most folks cold crash it while it is still.
