Storing Fresh Cider

I'm making a run over state lines tomorrow to stock up on fresh press. I've got campden tablets and potassium sorbate. I don't have the resources to freeze it all, and some of it will have to be stored in the "cellar" through the winter, where temps will be around 30's to 50's. The containers are plastic milk jugs.

The campdens are 150ppm potassium metabisulfite per gallon. Should I fortify that with the equivalent amount of sorbate, or is that overdoing it?


Thanks!

It will store a lot better if you ferment it all now.

So, 1 Campden tab per gallon then.

Pasteurising will kill all the microbes/wild yeast and let it store for longer.

The reason I'm crossing state lines is because I want it unpasteurized.

If the juice is fresh pressed and the press looks like they run a clean operation, I would skip the campden. Whatever yeast you pitch will quickly take over the wild yeast. Sometimes its interesting to give the wild yeast a bit of a head start.

Wikipedia says it's (p meta) also a powerful antioxidant, so I'm hoping that aeration through the plastic won't be a big issue?

Cville, yes, I know. I understand you are the resident expert, I've read your experiment topic many many times, it is an excellent resource and I applaud you. My specific question in this thread is if I can successfully store the fresh press cider without freezing or cooking, using only campdens and/or sorbate. And if so, for how long.

Sure, you can extend the life of unpasteurized juice with k-meta and k-sorbate. How much to use depends on what you are going for. If you want to preserve as much original taste as possible, use half a tab per gallon of k-meta and its probably OK for two weeks to a month if you keep it cool enough, YMMV. Stepping up the k-meta will extend the life and sorbate even more, but I wouldn't try to predict how long.

Depending on the apple type, if you keep it from fermenting for 2-3 weeks, it will generally get mostly clear and drop a lot of trub. My guess is you could extend the storage life by racking off the clear part at this point. Using sorbate will cause it to clear very quickly in which case there might again be some advantage in getting the clear juice off the trub for long term storage, depending on what you are going for.

Why do you want to store unpasteurized juice though? UV treated juice tastes a lot better than juice with k-meta/sorbate and will keep longer.

Thanks for the info.

UV treated is certainly a great option, but the grocery stores and even the hippy stores around here sell only flash style, or full pasteurization and/or their own sorbates/sulfites. I'm pretty sure it is a function of my state's ag laws. I've made some decent drink from the flash pasteurized stuff from the hippy store, but the fresh press from SC actually tastes like apples instead of apple juice. You know what I mean. I don't necessarily plan on sitting on this stuff for six months, but I know from experience that it doesn't last more than a week without fermentation or freezing, and 2 weeks max refrigerated. I am looking for 4-6 weeks of time in all realism.

If you give them a full dose of k-meta and the weather stays cool, they might last 4 weeks or more. How much are you trying to store? Do you know anyone who works at cold storage place that would let you stash a few milk crates of cider for a few weeks in exchange for a small share of the fruits?

I wouldn't use sorbate if you're planning on fermenting it, it doesn't have the same kind of half-life that sulfite does.
You can ferment by making a starter and overwhelming it with yeast, but I think it still stresses the yeast out.
The one time I tried fermenting Sorbated cider it came out tasting nasty.

True, if you are planning to eventually ferment the stored stuff dont use sorbate.

A basement in Hot-lanta might be a little risky this time of year. You probably know someone who works at a place where they have a walk in cooler, like a restaurant, grocery store, convenience store, brewery, etc. Or you could get another carboy or two.

The cider lady gave me the same advice as Cville's first response.

Looks like it's getting fast tracked to Project Next.

She said she couldn't find the recipe card for this week's press, but she says her cider is always a blend of red and golden delicious, a sour, and a high acid. But this week she had 6 apples in the blend, but couldn't remember exactly what they were. It tastes very good.

Thanks for yall's advice.