Unpasteurized pressed Cider / First Apelwein

Well apple season is here and I decided to try making some hard cider.
I ran across EdWorts thread and liked the recipe for its simplicity. I decided to try a 5 gallon batch.
After talking with some local apple orchard farmers I found someone that pressed apples and his regular cider was recommended. I purchased five 4 liter jugs and followed Ed's recipe except I substituted some Montrachet Wine Yeast for lavlin EC 1118 ( i looked around for the Montrachet couldnt find a supplier locally in Ontario, Canada)

My main inquirey with the unpasteurized apple juice.
I figure if the juice brews out completely ~12 PA there should be little chance of nasties.
The juice is a combination of 6 different types of apples / washed twice / unfiltered / no preservatives. I had a sample of the cider before innoculation... tastey
The ec1118 seemed to start burping my blowback airlock ~ 4 hours later and has been burping at about a burp/sec for the last week. Just wondering if its a big deal brewing with unpasteurized juice?

BeerCanuck

not really... being unpasteurized, you might have wanted to use campden, but if it took off, and is doing well, I think you should be OK... looks like the good yeasties took control before anything bad happened.

Campden kills off the wild yeast and any bacteria that may be in there before you pitch your yeast. But like I said, if it took off, and you're a week in without any problems, I think you're home free...

If the fermentation is going strong, you're set.

What would be the tell tale signs that a unpasteurized cider batch has been infected with nasties?

It steals from the elderly and talks back to it's mother.

dave36640 said:

What would be the tell tale signs that a unpasteurized cider batch has been infected with nasties?

Click to expand...

there are a few, it depends on what kind of infection... white mold is always a tell, as well as a vinegar smell, or an oily, 'stringy' appearance when you pour it... if you're asking about the 'rotten egg'/'rhino farts' smell, you're OK... that's normal...

After 70 gallons the past 2 years, I use campden in everything.
It's personally pressed and very unpastuerized.

Never had a problem. I prefer this over store bought or pastuerized. After 20 carboys I did try the au natural approach with no campden and natural yeast experiment. 10 days later I had what looked like kelp growing near the top. I needed that carboy for beer anyhow.