I have transferred my pretty much crystal clear cider out of the primary into a brite/secondary vessel, and have cold crashed it down to 32*. Can I/should I add all three of these things to it?
I was planning on kegging, force carbing, bottling (backsweetening a few of the bottles). Not sure if all this stuff is overkill or not, as its pretty darn clear as is.
My other concern is that I don’t want to drop ALL of the tannins out of the cider with the gelatin or too many chemical additions.
Yep, go for it. You can always add a touch more tannin after the gelatin if you want/need to. In my experience it hasn’t been necessary.
Ok I added both potassiums, but skipped the gelatin. The cider tastes extremely thin and way less ‘structured’ than before. Either:
1.) The sulfites dropped out all of the tannins (hopefully not)
2.) I am tasting the cider at 32*, or slightly warmer after being in the glass, and that is creating the perception of a thin body. My prior tastes were probably between 45 degrees and 60 degrees.
I would really not want to mess with adding stuff back (like tannins or malic acid), as I usually overdo stuff like that and ruin it.
Thoughts/feelings?
Very likely a temperature thing. Also the sorbate and sulfite have flavors of their own, but they also tend to cancel each other out, especially over time. You might just need to age the cider for a couple weeks before they mellow out a bit.
I wouldn’t worry too much about tannins, but heck, if you think the cider might need some more, go ahead and add a teeny tiny bit. Use less than you think you need, and you’ll be fine.
