Will calcium lactate in my apple juice kill the yeast for my Apfelwein?

I am ready to pour in the apple juice but will the calcium lactate in the apple juice harm my yeast? It is pasturized apple juice

Nope, it's just a vitamin, it will work just fine. Preservatives you need to watch out for are ones like sodium metabisulfite or potassium metabisulfite.

EvilTOJ said:

Nope, it's just a vitamin, it will work just fine. Preservatives you need to watch out for are ones like sodium metabisulfite or potassium metabisulfite.

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Where did you get that idea? calcium lactate is not a vitamin, it is there to balance the acidity of the apple juice and to buffer the apple juice.

Lactate ions are the conjugate base of lactic acid and are as such slightly alkaline. The addition of calcium lactate is usually only done when the acidity of the apple juice is to high. Sticking to one pH will propbably make for a more consistent flavour.

I pitched the yeast and it is working fine. I have the thin layer of bubbles and the airlock is bubbling away.I can smell the sugar being fermented out if that makes sense.

Nerro said:

Where did you get that idea? calcium lactate is not a vitamin, it is there to balance the acidity of the apple juice and to buffer the apple juice.

Lactate ions are the conjugate base of lactic acid and are as such slightly alkaline. The addition of calcium lactate is usually only done when the acidity of the apple juice is to high. Sticking to one pH will propbably make for a more consistent flavour.

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Ya..What He said.


Neener Neener Neener!

have you drank any of your batch fat nub? does it taste sour at all? it seems to me that the presence of calcium lactate may provide the potential for a reaction to occur forming lactic acid, and thus causing a sour taste... just a thought though.

i too just made up a batch not 5 minutes ago and only noticed just as i was mixing the corn sugar w/ the juice that about 3 of my 64 oz bottles contained calcium lactate.. so i am hoping that you didn't get a sour batch, which would then bode well for myself.

i was actually reading a guy's post in the giant apfelwein thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/man-i-love-apfelwein-14860/index248.html#post489699 ... its the last post on that page) and he complained of sour taste when using apple juice w/ calcium lactate.. so it had me wondering what the deal was.