Bought the wrong Cider

So I bough the wrong Cider at Aldis. It has Potassium Sorbate in it. I am wondering if there is anyway to cook out or get rid of the Potassium Sorbate? It kills me to return all of this cider.

Nope sorry....

I think I read of using bread yeast first, then using whatever yeast you were planning on using after the bread yeast has done its thing.

Well, if you go buy the right cider you can use the wrong cider to backsweeten as it has potassium sorbate which would prohibit any new fermentation.
Just an idea

Technically speaking, the potassium sorbate in each bottle is for a specific mg/ml ratio. Short version: if you mix 1 part of sorbate cider with 1 part of non-sorbate cider the concentration should be low enough for fermentation to start. You may not need to dilute it even 1 to 1 to get the desired result, but I don't have the exact figures in front of me to do the math. Good luck.

Crash21 said:

Well, if you go buy the right cider you can use the wrong cider to backsweeten as it has potassium sorbate which would prohibit any new fermentation.
Just an idea

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Is... is it really that easy?

BTW - wrong usage of 'backsweeten', technically. Yooper spoiled me.

So my plan is to get a really good yeast starter going and I'm going to mix the wrong cider with the right cider or half and half. I am going for a 10 gallon batch.

Crash21 said:

Well, if you go buy the right cider you can use the wrong cider to backsweeten as it has potassium sorbate which would prohibit any new fermentation.
Just an idea

Click to expand...

Good idea I will try this too.

Crash21 said:

Well, if you go buy the right cider you can use the wrong cider to backsweeten as it has potassium sorbate which would prohibit any new fermentation.
Just an idea

Click to expand...

Good idea I will try this too.

I've read on a few British brewing forums that you can indeed simmer away sorbate from juice and then ferment with little issue.

I tried the "huge starter and hope for the best" technique with no simmer and although it fermented a bit (maybe half way), it didn't taste the greatest...

acemannw said:

So my plan is to get a really good yeast starter going and I'm going to mix the wrong cider with the right cider or half and half. I am going for a 10 gallon batch.

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Personally, if it were me, and i was gonna try again, I'd get the non sorbate cider going and feed it small amounts of the sorbate cider over the course of fermentation...

Here's a link to a thread about my sorbated batch from last year(hopefully I linked correctly):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=495153
I did successfully defeat the evil sorbate, but it took some doing.
Good Luck!

Well I mixed the Sorbate Cider with some organic stuff 50/50 I am adding a yeast starter that I ran for 24 hours on the stir plate. I had two 5 gallon Carboyz of cider.

acemannw said:

Well I mixed the Sorbate Cider with some organic stuff 50/50 I am adding a yeast starter that I ran for 24 hours on the stir plate. I had two 5 gallon Carboyz of cider.

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I hope this works for you. I've heard the started can overcome the Sorbate since it only stops new colonies, but doesn't kill live ones.

Let us know the results.

Everything is brewing along nicely. The wife is even complaining of the smell when she walks by the closet so that is a good sign.

I bought more of the Aldis Sorbate Cider again because you can't beat the price. My trick this time was to pitch the yeast for 2 days on the stir plate, up the temperature in the pantry to 85F and also add some extra yeast nutrient. Fermented along really nice for about 10 days.