I have 5 gallons in secondary for two months and want to rack into another 5 gallon carboy to clear a little more.Do I just rack it or do I add anything like 5 more crushed campden tabs?I know I will lose some headspace.I have raw cider that I froze at pressing time should I just top off with that?If I wanted to make it a little stronger could I add some kind of sugar at this point or does that have to be done in the beginning?I did’nt use a hydrometer and used cotes des blanc.
If you want it to “clear” you could add knox unflavored gelatin to clear it in the primary you have it in now - then rack it to the new secondary. Do a search up to the right of this page for directions/amounts…
You shouldn’t have to add more crushed campden tabs unless you are going to backsweeten. If you leave it as is - then leave it as is.
If you want it stronger then add the unthawed raw cider to what you have now and keep an eye on it to see if the cotes des blanc kicks back up…
+1 on the gelatin. I haven’t needed to use it on my Cote des Blancs cider this year, but if you do want to use it, you’ll get instant results with gelatin. Then you don’t need to rack, chill, wait, repeat, etc. Just dissolve Knox gelatin in a little water, stir it in, wait 48 hours, and it’s done.
Thanks for the info,I’m not to concerned about clarity that much but when I racked from primary to secondary I sucked up a lot of sediment so I racked again but after two months it was’nt that bad.I only had to top off with the raw cider about a cup or two.If I want to backsweeten when is the right time to do it?Do I do it in the bottling bucket when I bottle I also picked up a 5 oz bag of priming sugar to try and carbonate.
