Possible preservative issue

This will be a rant so continue reading if you would like.
On Saturday i had the day free. I wanted to make a holiday cider. I thought what better way to get fresh apple cider with no preservatives then to make my own apple cider from fresh apples.
This was my first mistake, i read online you can make it using a blender and cheese cloth. Nope not easy at all. had to hand slice up the apples small enough that i could run them through my food processor one at a time. I do not have a juicer. I bought 8 lbs apples and got 3/4 gallon of fresh cider!!! Took hours.

Mistake 2: Buying the first store bought cider i saw after my sodium metabisulphite was mixed in the fresh apples for 24 hrs. Need to go to the store to check to make sure the cider was preservative free.

Added 2 lbs brown sugar and finally hydrated some notty and pitched it.
I checked my date code on my notty to make sure it was not a bad batch, didn't seem to fall into the bad batch date code i got off here.

So my only guess is the cider i bought had potassium sorbate in it.

After doing much searching on here it is able to ferment it out with mega amounts of yeast, prolly wont bottle carb, and most lilkey will taste bad due to the preservatives.

i just needed to explain to some one my frustration of me being dumb and not checking for preservatives!!!

What kind of preservatives are in it? Don't 'guess' it's potassium sorbate, find out for sure! How much of it did you buy and how much of a batch did you get total? 2 lbs of brown sugar should be OK for a 5 gallon batch.

I made a similar mistake. I checked the label of a gallon jug and did not see any perservatives listed. But most of the jugs in this cooler were smooshed probably from being in a bottom box in an overloaded truck. So I saw a cooler opposite from the one I pulled this jug from. They had the same labels so I did not look for preservatives, instead I was looking for non smooshed jugs. I bought 4 gallons total. I made a 5 gallon batch of Brandon O's Graff pitched the yeast. In the morning I got up and there was no airlock activity. So I got parinoid and went to check the recycle bin. On 3 of the jugs I bought there was a small label on the back saying it had k-sorbate and sodium benzoate!!!! They had the same exact label as the jug I originally picked up so I can only assume that it too had preservatives in it.

So I went to work feeling all bummed and was thinking about stopping by the LHBS to get more ale yeast on the way home. I ended up not doing that and just giving it a chance to get going. I figured the 1 gallon of malt might dilute it enough to give it a chance to get going. I got home to find the airlock pushed up and it bubbling every 2 min and 30 seconds. I make mead also so I had some nutrients and energizer handy. I dumped some of that in the jug and by the next day it was bubbling every 40 seconds or so. 1 month later it is still going and I get a bubble every 14 seconds. In the mean time I started and am about ready to bottle another batch of Graff.

Moral of the story. Relax, dump some yeast nutrients/energizer in if you have some, and hope for the best. Next time buy only cider from a mill and call them before hand to see if they use preservatives. Calling ahead of time has saved me 2 car rides so far! Good luck with your batch, I think because you blended it you may have a fighting chance. It may not turn out as good as it could have, but it might not be a total waste either.

I did go back to the store and checked the label. It does contain potassium sorbate. I used 2 lb brown sugar, 1/2 to 3/4 gallon home pressed cider, 1 gallon apple juice, 3 gallon cider (the three gallons have potassium sorbate added). 11g notty re hydrated.

I have a yeast cake i can pitch on to as well as all the yeast nutrient and energizers for mead making.

Do you suggest i use the yeast cake from a 5 gallon batch (American ale yeast) or should i rehydrate a bunch of dry yeast.

How much nutrient and energizer should i add and how often?

I only had enough nutrient/energizer to give it what the instructions on package said. Mine has been a slow ferment, so you might want to try a staggered feeding like you do with a show mead.

The yeast cake would be your best bet to over power the k-sorb. At this point it is kind of an experiment. The goal is to try and get it to finnish out with out tasting bad. Mine still smells sweet. I think I am going to get some more nutrients/energizer to see if I can speed this thing up. I will post back with results.

I've intentionally fermented sorbated cider twice and had good results. Both times with Nottingham yeast cakes from the primary of a 5 gallon ale. I've heard that it can cause flavor problems, but I've had none. You definitely have to pitch a significant population since the sorbate inhibits budding. Not really practical for anything but the smallest batches.

I added a full dose of nutrients/energizer and repitched a packet of US-05 a few hours after that. Now I am getting a bubble every 4-5 seconds. I am going to let it run 2 more weeks and I will take a gravity reading.

had made the same mistake with the first of the year fresh cider here, did many things and got fermentation going but slow, finally after a month and dismal brix readings i pitched it and used the carboy for ol bandons's graff, its great! im on my third now and bottled it saturday. so i guess im saying if your patient enough you will get results but according to my chemistry major brewing aquaintence the fermentation is not going to give the same chemical final product as a normal ferment because of the way chemistry changes at different times during the ferment and how the yeast adapt to those changes. he did say that the difference may turn out for the better who knows, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
the doof

so i added the 5 gallons of cider to a yeast cake on sat morning November 14th. Checked the gravity today and it dropped 0.004. I added nutrient and energizer as well.
I think the cake had been sitting too long that it was not active enough. It had sat for over a month.

I am guessing it is going to go slow. Maybe i should dump it and just start over.

I tried to ferment some cider that contained sorbate in it. After a month and a half it still was no where near where it needed to be. 1050 still for a gravity reading and it was getting all sorts of weird flavours. I finally just gave up and bought some new cider from an orgainc producer that was perservative free.

Mines been bubbling along good since I added nutrients/energizer and repitched. The smell from the airlock is much less sweet than it used to be. I will take a hydro reading when the bubbles slow down.

In the mean time I can enjoy the second batch of Graff I made after I started this one.

I guess it all depends on the amount of K-sorb and Na-Benz they put in it.

Hey SFBEER is that where Wayne Gretzky is from?

Yah "The Great One" was a local boy. Most of his family is still here in town. He comes home quite often to visit his dad. No one really bothers them since they have done so much of the city.

I just moved here a couple of years ago so wasn't here when he was playing. Believe it or not. Most of the rinks in the city (even the one with his name on it) are closed because of repairs. 70% of the hockey is on hold.

to my surprise mine is fermenting... Bubbling ever second!

I took a garvity reading today and it is at 1.012! I am drinking a Graff with no off taste (slightly more hopped than my other batches because I used Cascade hops) but very drinkable!!!! I need to get this bottled and the bucket clean before cider season is all over!

I'm not sure if this will carb or not. Should I attempt it?

I'm liking rule number 1 right now

Congrats on the brew. Just be sure that your hard cider is complete before bottling. If it is then you should be ok to prime. I don't know how the preservatives will affect it but you can always try!

I normally bottle at 1.010 and wait 3 weeks then pop it in the fridge to stop fermentation. I have been priming, but since it is a bit above my target I think I will just bottle it with out priming.

It did smell much sweeter when I opened the lid than my other batches of Graff. Also no Krausen at all. I wonder what the trub will look like in comparison to a normal batch of Graff. I'm happy it came out but it took 4 times as long to complete as a normal batch, which completely negates my reason for making Graff in the first place.