Priming old brew

[RedDave]

I have a cider that has been sitting untouched in a keg for a good two years. I would however like to decant into bottles for easier consumption and storage. Would the procedure for priming differ from bottling a fresh batch? Thanks!

 

[Buzzing]

I've only made a couple of ciders, so don't know much.

But I would have thought that you have no viable yeast left in there anymore.

If I had to achieve what you want to achieve, I'd make a "yeast starter" with some fresh apple juice, using an adequate qty of yeast, not too much though, let it get going for about 4-5hrs, and then use that as a priming solution.

 

[graysalchemy]

You don't need much yeast. What I would do mix up the tip of a teaspoon of dried yeast (wine will do) with your batch priming sugar solution. Now I am assuming you will be batch priming. This easy enough to do just work out how many litres of cider you have and multiply that by 7 ( I use 7g/l for priming it will be fairly fizzy at that rate). So for every 10L you will need 70g of cider. Now mix this with a little boiling water. Now you need to make a little starter out of a teaspoon of sugar some boiled water which has cooled and the tip of a teaspoon of dried yeast. Do this in a sterilised cup or small bottle then cover with a little bit of tin foil. Once the starter has got going usually an hour or so, all you need to do is rack the cider into a clean sterilized bucket or fv and add the priming sugar solution and the yeast starter. Once they are all mixed together ( a gentle stir) you can bottle.

Usually if I am bottling cider I allow a little of the sediment to get mixed in when I am transfering it but I think in you case the yeast would be too doemant after 2 years sleep.

Hope that helps

:thumb:

 

[RedDave]

Thanks guys :thumb:

I wasn't sure how long the yeast would be active for