No preservatives...

[VitruvianMan]

Im reading about a "Hard Apple Cider" that a user on here named "Monica" makes, she says no preservatives in the cider, but as I have been looking around the town I can only find 1% preserved and another I believe to say 1/10 of a % preserved. I need to know if it has to bee 100% nonpreserved or if those percantages are minimal enough to not affect the process?!?! I want to get a btach going jut dont want to buy the cider if its not what I need at the price it is. Thanks!

 

[kryptonitewine]

I'm assuming the preservative in them is kmeta so if you mix your ingredients and wait 12-24 hours it should off gas and be fine. A lot of us make dragons blood and welch's wine and have to do the same thing due to the preservatives in the juices.

 

[kryptonitewine]

I just made apple pie moonshine and didn't worry about the preserves although this doesn't technically ferment.

 

[VitruvianMan]

Ok cool, yeah I make the dragon blood as well and I guess I didnt even think about how it sets there and dies off or whatever. thanks!

 

[BernardSmith]

Not sure I understand this thread. Who is adding the preservatives? If the preservatives are in the apple juice or sweet cider pulped by commercial manufacturers then they are likely to be using sorbates and not SO2. My understanding is that the only effective way to overcome sorbate preservation is to make sure that you are pitching a very large and viral colony of yeast so you may need to rehydrate the yeast and feed them for several days before pitching. The use of slurry in Skeeter Pee presumably presumably is what inoculates the lemon juice with enough active yeast to start the fermentation. But as I say I don't really understand the question so I may be totally misunderstanding the issue...

 

[VitruvianMan]

Im asking if a cider that comes from a local orchard that has either a preservative ratio of 1% or 1/10 of a percent of preservatives is that too much to make a hard apple cider as I dont know whats a significant amount. It comes pre preserved? Im not asking about adding any lol. I just cant find any non preserved cider around here, so I needed to know if that percentage would be too much to make the Hard apple cider listed in the recipes from user, "Monica"

 

[LoveTheWine]

Some apple juices have Vitamin C added as a preservative. This would be fine and would not prohibit fermentation...
However others add potassium benzoate or potassium sorbate. Either of these would prevent fermentation and one should stay away from them probably altogether.

Could you ask the local orchard what they use as a preservative or is this cider sold at a store?

 

[VitruvianMan]

Sold at a store, the one that is 1% I may have to call and ask them to see what they use exactly, they just told me it has 1% preservatives. Thanks for all the help

 

[BernardSmith]

Some apple juices have Vitamin C added as a preservative. This would be fine and would not prohibit fermentation...
However others add potassium benzoate or potassium sorbate. Either of these would prevent fermentation and one should stay away from them probably altogether.

Could you ask the local orchard what they use as a preservative or is this cider sold at a store?

I tend to agree with you BUT many people on this forum make skeeter pee and the base is made from Real Lemon (or equivalents) and that juice has preservatives up the whazoo!**** The technique used to overcome that problem is to use a slurry from a previous batch of wine. This slurry (I think) is the equivalent of a really strong yeast starter and very few folk who try to make the skeeter pee or its derivatives complain that the preservatives inhibit fermentation. I cannot really see why there SHOULD be a problem if VitruvianMan uses either a good yeast starter or a slurry from a previous batch of wine.

****Mind you the lemon juice is greatly diluted, so diluting the amount of preservative in the must...

 

[jpsmithny]

Sold at a store, the one that is 1% I may have to call and ask them to see what they use exactly, they just told me it has 1% preservatives. Thanks for all the help

I don't know about your state, but here in NY ALL ingredients must be listed in the label. I could be mistaken but I think this is a FDA requirement, meaning
the US Government dictates that.

If it has potassium benzoate,potassium sorbate or whatever, it has to listed.

The percentages should also be labelled.

 

[LoveTheWine]

No argument here Bernard. In fact I haven't tried to ferment anything with Pot Sorbate either, only read a lot about those who've tried. Maybe a huge yeast starter would work if the concentration is low enough but from everything I've read online, there are warnings not to use these ciders/juices.
I have made hard cider with mixtures of pasteurized ciders and juices that contain absorbic acid (vitamin C) without any problem. I always make a yeast starter for everything from beer to cider though.


FYI 'Real lemon': Water, Concentrated lemon juice, sulfite, lemon oil.
I believe that the acid itself is the biggest preservative here and when you make Pee it must be diluted to a fermentable state. Sulfite is a preservative to a point, but it doesn't prevent fermentation so much as it stalls/kills bacteria and stuns wild yeasts.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I have fermented several wines from concentrate and juice that contained potassium sorbate and other preservatives.
1..the amount that mfg use is the smallest they can get away with.
2. the sorbate can only handle so much yeast, then it dies basically.
3..I use two packets of yeast, (pitched)...i add one and stir it in a few hours later, i will just pitch and not stir till the next day.
Has not failed yet.

 

[AnneBonney]

We get our cider at the local farmers market in NY where it is just pressed and pasteurized. It makes amazing cider. The apple guy said that if we wanted true RAW cider, we would have to deliver our carbon to him and he would bring it back the next week full. It's a way to get around the NY laws against selling raw anything. My concern is that the raw would have a multitude of wild yeasts attached that could affect the final results.


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