I have a conundrum that I'd love some advice on.
I decided to try using Potassium Sorbate in my cider brewing for the first time, in order to suspend fermentation early and preserve apple flavor and some sweetness. I used 3 gallons of pasteurized cider and added some maple syrup and brown sugar to get the OG up to 1062. At around 1030 I liked the taste and pitched 1/2t/gal of Potassium Sorbate (so 1.5t total). Fermentation slowed over the next day or two but it was still bubbling a bit after 5 days so I threw in one more 1/2t just to be sure. After another week or two I took the gravity and it had fully converted (1000).
Questions:
1. Did I do something wrong? Should I have dissolved the potassium sorbate? It seemed likely to dissolve quickly in its solid form. Should I have added it well before it tasted to my liking?
2. Now what? I want to bottle and have carbonation, but I don't know if there's yeast left. My plan was to bottle with a small amount of new yeast to carbonate and now I'm not sure if I need to. Should I add priming sugar to the bottles and just see what happens?
My best guess is that I should just bottle 5 or 6 using some different methods and see what happens after a few weeks in the bottle.
Thoughts?
I decided to try using Potassium Sorbate in my cider brewing for the first time, in order to suspend fermentation early and preserve apple flavor and some sweetness. I used 3 gallons of pasteurized cider and added some maple syrup and brown sugar to get the OG up to 1062. At around 1030 I liked the taste and pitched 1/2t/gal of Potassium Sorbate (so 1.5t total). Fermentation slowed over the next day or two but it was still bubbling a bit after 5 days so I threw in one more 1/2t just to be sure. After another week or two I took the gravity and it had fully converted (1000).
Questions:
1. Did I do something wrong? Should I have dissolved the potassium sorbate? It seemed likely to dissolve quickly in its solid form. Should I have added it well before it tasted to my liking?
2. Now what? I want to bottle and have carbonation, but I don't know if there's yeast left. My plan was to bottle with a small amount of new yeast to carbonate and now I'm not sure if I need to. Should I add priming sugar to the bottles and just see what happens?
My best guess is that I should just bottle 5 or 6 using some different methods and see what happens after a few weeks in the bottle.
Thoughts?