Stopping fermentation so I can sweeten...what exactly do I need

[Chaos_Being]

I'm on my 2nd week of my caramel cider 2.0, and I'm thinking that this time, I'm not going to bother trying to forcibly make a sweet/flavorful cider that is also naturally carbonated...I'm just going to kill off the yeast, sweeten to my liking with concentrate/real sugar (I don't like the taste of splenda in cider, and my wife is lactose intolerant,) and just make a still cider.

However, I've never done this before. I know of campden, and sulfites. I'm pretty sure some sort of sulfite is what I need to do this, but i'm not sure if I need campden as well. I'm also unsure of how much I need to use for 5 gallons, and how long I should let the cider ferment before stopping the yeast (I took a measurement at 1 week in, and it was at 1.010 and fairly sour/tart...but tasted good with a little sweetener.)

The recipe was 5 gallons of Mott's apple juice, 1.5lb of Crystal 60 steeped in 1 gallon of juice, and 1lb of amber dme that had been boiled for over an hour down into a carmelized syrup. I'm using S-04 yeast.

Thanks!

 

[Tusch]

Stopping an active fermentation is pretty hard. I would recommend that you let it ferment out completely and then add campden and sorbates to prevent renewed fermentation. Once the fermentation is complete and you've added your chem.s add your backsweetening sugar to taste.

Also, is it to dry at 1.010? You shouldn't have to backsweeten too much if it stops soon.

 

[Chaos_Being]

Sorbate! That is what I was missing. I know a fair amount about beer, but still feel a bit noobish when it comes to cider, wine, etc.

I looked at the descriptions of the campden and sorbate sold at my lhbs, and it is recommended to use 1 campden tab per gallon, and 1/2 tsp of sorbate per gallon. Is that correct?

I'll have to check the gravity of my cider again, since I'm using S-04 and I should have a fair amount of unfermentables, I'm expecting to have a decently high FG (for cider, anyways.) I primarily want to sweeten it a bit to mask the harsh tartness I tasted, to make it more of a pleasant sweet/sour taste.

 

[killian]

I have heard that campden (sodium metabisulfite) can give you some sulfur aroma so you might want to use a little less than recommended. I'm no expert so don't take my word for it.

 

[1234]

Since you are not naturally carbing this cider, I will assume you are kegging this cider. Why not kill the yeast and back sweeten with a can of apple juice concentrate, or go for more of a strongbow taste and add a apple-peach can of concentrate?