Cider backsweetening and campden tablets

[Handyhusband]

Lots of brewers are suggesting back sweetening on a per glass basis, I get that so it can be "customized", but I'm not about to explain to every guest how I messed up my recipe.
It seems like most brewers are suggesting this so I don't get fermentation startup in the keg after my FG it figured, so why can't I kill the yeast with campden tablets and 34*f cold crash for 48 hrs in the secondary after I've reached my desired FG and keg with backsweetening?
Thanks.
If your wondering, 5 gallon 50/50 apple pear cider from crushed fruit, campden tabs to kill wild yeast, wait 24hrs, OG 1.042, pitched k1-v1116 for 8 days at 62*f controlled temp in glass primary with an airlock bubbler. FG of zero, yes 0. Cider tastes clean, but like liquid air...

Thank you!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

campden tablets do not kill yeast for one, it only stuns it and will resume fermenting after the cider warms up

 

[Handyhusband]

campden tablets do not kill yeast for one, it only stuns it and will resume fermenting after the cider warms up

Thanks. I thought it killed it. Sooo what about heat? 185 for 45 min or so?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

if its an alcohol cider it will kill the alcohol and change the taste, but I'm not a cider guy let me check with Yopper

 

[Handyhusband]

I new that... dumb question. Sorry. And thanks

 

[jeffpn]

Kmbs, right? That’ll kill the yeast. Potassium methyl bisulfate, or something like that.

 

[Aksarben]

KMBS (Potassium Metabisulfite) will not kill all yeasts. It will kill some wild yeasts and stun others. Only with enough total SO2 can you really stabilize a cider or wine. We use liquid SO2 as well as KMBS. Filtering to remove yeast is one way to decrease population and after fermentation is stopped around 250 ppm of K-Sorbate prevents yeast budding again. It is about the only method that works reasonably well for home winemakers. At our winery we "can" and keg up cider after we have added apple concentrate and sugar to a very clean filtered cider, THEN we run it though a membrane filter of 0.45 micron to the brite tank. At bottling we use Velcorin to kill everything.. Period. At 200 ppm it will kill practically anything in the "stream" from the Velcorin doser to the bottling.

K1 is a bad yeast, at least to our owner/winemaker, to have in the winery. His rule, bring it in, your out. It is known as a killer yeast. Meaning it becomes so dominant it can be the dominant yeast in ferments even though you never inoculated with it. Yeat we pretty much use 100% of the time for apple, cherry and blueberry ciders is DV-10 from Scott Labs. Nice yeast!

Since your cider went dry, and at that is good, K-Sorbate can be added to clean cider and will be a big help to control post fermentation of additional sugars. Your S.G. is about 10.5 Brix, which for making cider is a bit on the low side. Most of the time we and people we make cider for like it to be in the 12-13 Brix range for around 5.5- 6.0 % ABV. Your alcohol might be around 4% range with such a low Brix. And, yes, getting 0 on the hydrometer should be normal for a dry cider. We use Brix hydrometers and many times our dry wines are a -1.5 or more when the wine is finished (dry)

Hope this helps, and if you need more help just ask.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

If you're kegging and keeping it cold, I would back sweeten in the keg and add nothing. If kept cold enough, it won't ferment and even if it did a little, it won't hurt it in the keg