Potassium Sorbate

I believe you should be alright. You'll just have to add fresh yeast. They probabbly used it to give it a little longer shelf life. Ive made cider a few times with "organic" cider I bought at the supermarket. Michael Herrenbruck DragonTail Ale Drunken Bee Mead

John M wrote:

Potassium sorbate is used to prevent wild yeast from fermenting the cider. It doesnt stop them just slow the possibility. Pasturized cider should have no viable live yeast in it. Bacteria is still present in un pasturized cider and can ruin your atempt to make a good hard cider. Although some never have a problem. The key is how long it has been in the jug that you bought.

You can use that cider, but expect it to take awhile, I would recomend making a stater and using campden tablets (10-12) per 5 gal batch and yeast nutriant. Of course a successful ferment can be achieved without these steps, but why chance it.

Heath

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to stop by the brewshop today to get some supplies.

John

: > I want to brew a hard cider. The local farmers market has fresh cider, : > but it contains ~0.1% potassium sorbate. Is this small amount still : > too much preservatives for brewing? If so, has anyone had luck : > convincing a local market to press some cider without adding : > preservatives? Thanks. : > We made that mistake a week ago. I bought a few gallons of cider at the local market that said "0.1% Potassium Sorbate". It had fewer additives than the other market I tried, and an expiration date that was only a few weeks out. I figured it had to be somewhat spoilable, so why not.

After adding some brown sugar and spices, we held it at 160 degrees for about

10 minutes as per some online recipes. Cooled, aerated, and pitched a White Labs cider yeast. I didn't have time to make a starter on this one, and I wasn't planning on saving the Cider yeast, so I just pitched the tube.

Badness. It took over two days to bubble *at all*. Now, it's been a week, and it's going V E R Y s l o w l y . . . It's probably about 4x as slow as a normal beer brew. I guess if it's not infected from the prolonged virgin state, it's still go a chance. I figure it'll take another week in the primary at this rate to really get close to racking/trying.

Anyway, I'd recommend making a KICKIN' starter for it if you're going to try to use it.

-Cory

Actually, I called a local orchard and they press cider twice a week. They had no problem drawing off several gallons before they add the sorbate, at no extra cost :). I'm not going to bother with a boil, as I am going to pitch the yeast the same day. Probably will go with a liquid cider yeast from White Labs. Cory, any idea what your O.G and current gravity are? I'm not sure how long I should leave the cider in the primary. Also, Heath, if I understand correctly the campden tablets should be added after primary fermentation to stabilize, correct? Thanks for everybody's input.

John

John M wrote: : Actually, I called a local orchard and they press cider twice a week. : They had no problem drawing off several gallons before they add the : sorbate, at no extra cost :). I'm not going to bother with a boil, as : I am going to pitch the yeast the same day. Probably will go with a : liquid cider yeast from White Labs. Cory, any idea what your O.G and : current gravity are? I'm not sure how long I should leave the cider in : the primary. Also, Heath, if I understand correctly the campden : tablets should be added after primary fermentation to stabilize, : correct? Thanks for everybody's input.

We're going to brew up a batch of beer tonight and rack off a few other batches... I'll take a gravity reading tonight and get back. I read that the cider yeast fermented fairly dry, so I added some brown sugar as per a number of recipes I found... I seem to recall it was a fairly high OG.

-Cory

i believe, i will make sure later this evening, that my girlfriends roomate purchased some cider with no preservatives yesterday. we are located in pa though?

snipped-for-privacy@juneaudotmedotvt.edu wrote: : We're going to brew up a batch of beer tonight and rack off a few other : batches... I'll take a gravity reading tonight and get back. I read that the cider : yeast fermented fairly dry, so I added some brown sugar as per a number of recipes I : found... I seem to recall it was a fairly high OG.

Well, we racked it to a secondary last night, even though it wasn't completely done fermenting. (We needed the space in that container and wanted to keep an eye on it in something clear).

OG1: 1.043 (the cider by itself before adding sugar) OG2: 1.073 (a total of 4 lbs of brown sugar in 5 gal)

2nd: 1.031 (8 days of fermenting... not done yet)

Tasted the bit I racked off to check the gravity... VERY nice. I was worried about infection since the fermentation was so slow, but it sure doesn't taste like that was a problem. In fact, it tastes just about like the original, just with a little kick and cinnamin/clove flavorings. Makes sense since the gravity is about the same as the original.

Anyway, I racked off the sludge from the bottom of the primary and am trying to culture it into a rip-roaring starter. I figure to get it really rolling, and re-pitch into the secondary to finish it off. Might take a tertiary rack, but so far it seems to be OK.

-Cory

Thanks for the numbers, Cory. Looks like this stuff just takes longer to ferment than a typical brew. Take it easy.

John

A half-ounce campden tablet treats 20 gallons!