Stop fermentation questions,,,please help.

[Squatchy]

So I want to stop a cyser so I can hopefully have by Christmas. I have read that I use 1 Campden tab per gallon. And also .5 tsp of potasium sorbate. It didn't say if the potasium sorbate was .5 per gallon or just plain old .5 for the carboy. I have 3 gallons I want to stop. Does it matter if I add my backsweaten before or after the stop? I was planning on fining it with Sparkoloid as per Hightest's web site recomendations.

Do I wait to use the Sparkoloid until it has cleared from stoping the agents? Should I cold crash, then stop agents, then rack, then add back sweaten and then add the Sparkoloid? I'm not sure as to what order this all needs to happen.

Thanks for the help and please, if you can, answer all the questions if you would. I have read tons in the past 3 weeks and I'm just unsure of all of the correct pieces and I like to know why we do things in the order we do. I always want to understand the reasoning for doing things as much, or even more, than just knowingwhat to do.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Squatchy, It may not be possible to stop your fermentation simply by adding K-meta and K-sorbate. What was the starting gravity? What is the gravity today? How long has the cyser been fermenting? What yeast did you pitch? If the colony of yeast is still very active and very large then trying to stabilize your mead chemically may make as much sense as trying to prevent a boat from sinking by scooping out the water a cupful at a time as it pours into a gaping tear in the hull. K-meta and K-sorbate are typically added after fermentation has ended, your gravity has not shifted in at least 3 days (or 3 weeks) and the wine is bright and clear.

Brewers "cold crash" to remove yeast vintners cold crash to remove tartaric acids. My sense is - and I am sure that folk on this forum will correct me if they disagree - that most wine makers remove yeast by racking - every couple of months (or three). That racking helps clarify the wine (or mead) and removes portions of the yeast colony. Can you "cold crash" mead to remove yeast? I honestly do not know how well active yeasts flocculate when they are chilled.
But that said, the bottle of K-sorbate I have says to add 1/2 teaspoon for every gallon.
You ask if you should stabilize your mead before or after sweetening... if you add sugar and the colony of yeast is still active all you will do is provide the yeast with more food and they will thank you by providing you with more alcohol and CO2. Net result is that your mead won't be a hair sweeter.

 

[Squatchy]

Hi Bernard.

Thanks fior chiming in. I might have not made it clear enough in my post. I made this batch without having purchased a hydrometer yet. So I don't have any "G" numbers to add to my question. I have had a three gallon batch fermenting for over 3 weeks and it has slowed to where I only get 2 bubbles at the most per minute. So I thought it must be very close to being finished . It's not clear at all buy the lees in the bottom are pretty large and it's just net really doing much at this point as far as the eye can see. In the recipie it says to back sweaten a bit with added apple juice concentrate. I realize if I do that without stopping the yeastr activity all I will do is give the yeast more to eat and just restart the fermentation process. I thought I could turn off the fermentation and then back sweeten and clear it up for christmas.
I don't no what else to say. That is my thoughts and hopes. would an exact recipie help? would a HYdro meter reading tell us anything? When Imade this I hadn't yet realized there was so much science involved and thought all you had to do was toss in some ingrdients in the carboy and wait. I have learned a lot since then but still net a mentor to wade through some questions for asure. Thanks for your help.

Ryan

 

[Stasis]

An exact recipe can help as different ingredients and yeasts take a different amount of time to age, so aging for just a month may not be the most sensible thing to do. Also, it would be good to estimate the starting gravity so that if you take a final Gravity reading we can estimate the potential alcohol in your cyser. If you have a lot of residual sugars but a potential alc level of 13%, our response might be different than if it were a potential 9%, for example. We estimate the alcohol level through an exact recipe, although this will be difficult as we don't have an initial hydrometer reading. We know residual sugars through a hydrometer reading you can take now. A hydrometer reading now would also be important to make sure that your cyser is really almost finished, and therefore not try to stop fermentation from happening when there is another factor (residual sugars) which will overwhelmingly want fermentation to continue. This is what was meant by the boat analogy.
So in short: yes the more info you give us the more educated our replies could be and we won't be providing just guesses.

 

[Squatchy]

Hi

3 Gallons Organic Apple Cider
2 lbs Ambrosia honey
2lbs dark brown sugar
1cup apple cidermix ( whole foods) spices
3 cinnamon sticks
1 5gram packet of Lalvin 71b-1122
3tsp DAP
2 cups pure orange juice

it's been at 68 degres for the duration

 

[Squatchy]

I found the web site I got the recipie from. I followed the recipie to the letter

http://www.russwhaley.com/home-cooking-apple-pie-cyser/

 

[GntlKnigt1]

You're correct Squatchy. When fermentation is done, cold crash for 3 or more days, then rack onto stabilizer (metabisulfite and sorbate), wait 3 days, then back sweeten, then add clarifier. Bottle when it is clear.

 

[skunkboy]

+1 to GntlKnigh1's reply...