Sodium Metabisulphate Question

I posted this in the cider forum....I just want to see what the people in this forum think

I went to my LHBS today to buy some campden tablets as a recomendation from people on this site. The idea was to add 1 tab per gallon of unpastuerized cider for making hard cider (added when juice goes into carboy). The theory I was given was to kill any foreign bacteria and natural yeast based on the fact it is unpastuerized. Well my local HBS guy didnt recomend this however he did sell me 50g of powder Sodium Metabisulphate to make a 4L cleaning solution. He said just disolve it in 4L of water to sanitize my equipment and then I can actually save the solution and re-use it for up to 6 months. What is your take on this?

-If I should be using this as a sanitizer (instead of bleach as I normally do) what is the proper directions on how to use it? I am thinking to dump the 4L solution into my carboy, shake around a little and dump back into another vessel that I can sanitize my airlock, funnel etc, then back into my storage container?? After this should it be rinsed with hot water?

-Or should I ignore his advice and use this to put in the actual cider during fermentation? He told me not to as it would likely stunt to wine yeast I bought from doing its job?

I'm just a little paraniod with the unpastuerized cider?

THanks

Dave

You don't HAVE to add campden tablets if you pitch enough yeast. The idea being that your healthy and abundant yeast choke out anything else that could be in there. That being said, I have always used campden tablets in my ciders and perry. The end product tastes great to me, so I think of them as insurance.

My understanding that wild fermentation can make an excellent cider, but there is also a good chance that it will make a nasty cider. When Im fermenting 35 gallons at a time I am not about to gamble with a $100 investment.

Sodium Bisulfites have many uses in beer/wine making aparently:
linky