Apologies in advance for the loooong post and thanks for any opinions/advice. Alrighty then...long story short I have 55 gallons of cider fermenting in a conical fermenter in my basement. I squished those stupid apples myself and picked them all myself~washed them~rinsed them in star-san and couldn't stand up straight for a week let alone grab anything from how bad my hands hurt. I added sugar to the mix and it has been going since mid-dec. I have been brewing cider for awhile now...so it's not my first batch and I felt comfortable letting it go...usually right about now I need to either secondary ferment it in carboys (but I broke a couple and now only have 4) or I need to bottle/keg?
Second part of the story is, I bought an out of business bar and have a bunch of corney? kegs plus a few bigger ones. I have some tubing and some I guess they would be taps where the waitress would pour the beer at..and am able to purchase missing parts but not sure where to start or what I am missing.
I do have to be careful with sulfas...not sure how that relates to campden tablets but some bottled ciders I do have some reactions to...not as serious as some wines but also applying that info to keg or not to keg.
Option 1: I can pull 20+ gallons off and secondary ferment in carboys and prime and carbonate the rest in bottles but because of how long I let the cider sit I find I like the taste better if I secondary ferment. I haven't had good luck bottle pasteurizing as they always seem to explode (exciting let me tell you...) so the 5 gallons at a time I have been doing end up very dry but about 9.5%. I'm happy with the results without bottle pasteurizing and minor priming after the cider has fermented out.
Option 2: Carboys and kegging? I don't want to ruin 20+ gallons of cider messing up the kegging. Brief glances through the kegging forum all seem pertinent to beer...and other threads speak of keg conditioning/stopping fermentation-back sweetening and the force carbonating.
That sounds good to me, but my big questions are about cleaning existing used kegs...testing said kegs even though I believe they are all under pressure, and do you have to have a "keggerator"? Is there a starter thread on these questions and is there a non-sulfite based fermentation stopper? Any specific threads you can point me to or advice for the overworked under paid hard cider junkie?
Or I am open to option 3...I know the cider is ready to do something...in the past if I let it sit longer on the yeast it starts to get winey. I broke my hygrometer and need to pick up a new one to know for sure where I am at...but I know I need to get a plan dialed in here shortly. TIA for your advice, opinions and thread shortcuts!
Second part of the story is, I bought an out of business bar and have a bunch of corney? kegs plus a few bigger ones. I have some tubing and some I guess they would be taps where the waitress would pour the beer at..and am able to purchase missing parts but not sure where to start or what I am missing.
I do have to be careful with sulfas...not sure how that relates to campden tablets but some bottled ciders I do have some reactions to...not as serious as some wines but also applying that info to keg or not to keg.
Option 1: I can pull 20+ gallons off and secondary ferment in carboys and prime and carbonate the rest in bottles but because of how long I let the cider sit I find I like the taste better if I secondary ferment. I haven't had good luck bottle pasteurizing as they always seem to explode (exciting let me tell you...) so the 5 gallons at a time I have been doing end up very dry but about 9.5%. I'm happy with the results without bottle pasteurizing and minor priming after the cider has fermented out.
Option 2: Carboys and kegging? I don't want to ruin 20+ gallons of cider messing up the kegging. Brief glances through the kegging forum all seem pertinent to beer...and other threads speak of keg conditioning/stopping fermentation-back sweetening and the force carbonating.
That sounds good to me, but my big questions are about cleaning existing used kegs...testing said kegs even though I believe they are all under pressure, and do you have to have a "keggerator"? Is there a starter thread on these questions and is there a non-sulfite based fermentation stopper? Any specific threads you can point me to or advice for the overworked under paid hard cider junkie?
Or I am open to option 3...I know the cider is ready to do something...in the past if I let it sit longer on the yeast it starts to get winey. I broke my hygrometer and need to pick up a new one to know for sure where I am at...but I know I need to get a plan dialed in here shortly. TIA for your advice, opinions and thread shortcuts!
