Secondary fermentation and bottling

[Awawaw]

Hi there,

I've got my first brew (28 litres) bubbling away nicely . My aim is to create a slightly off dry cider. My methodology so far was as follows:

• Juice a **** load of apples.
• Pasteurize by bringing the juice to approximately 85 degrees (Celsius) for around 20 minutes.
  Add pectin enzyme to the pasteurized juice
  Add liquid wine yeast plus nutrient

I'm hopeful all is going according to plan now, but what next? I have two questions:

1) After about two weeks (when it's stopped bubbling) I plan to siphon it into another barrel for secondary fermentation where it will sit for a couple of months, (I think this is right). If I want to add some additional flavour (e.g. passionfruit) do I add that now? Or will this just start the fermentation again?

2) Leading on from the first question, should I add some sweetener or flavour when bottling or will that cause problems?

Basically I want to know how I can add another flavour dimension (and a little sweetness ... not too much) after primary fermentation ...

I'm a complete novice so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[ilxfauno]

If you want a nice dry cider I use red star champagne yeast.

 

[CanFarmer]

Lalvin EC1118 is cheap, readily available, foolproof, and will ferment out very dry.