Sorbate alternative?

I've got some hard lemonade I mixed up a couple of days ago and was wondering if there was an alternative to using potassium sorbate? I don't have any and I don't really want to place an order for just that. I've got campden tablets. I was wanting to possibly sweeten it and didn't know if campden would be enough to stabilize it. Any suggestions?

Well campden tabs are sodium metabisulphite. They are used to kill wild yeast and bacteria PRIOR to pitching. They are capable of killing your pitched yeast if you pitch too soon after using them so I suppose it's possible that it could work. I believe I have read other people on here have used them for this purpose.

Make sure that your fermentation is completely done. It will be harder for the campden tabs to kill the yeast if they are active. Add the crushed campden tabs and gently mix them in your lemonade. Give them 24 to 48 hours to do their job. Add your backsweetener. Keep a close eye on it. If it starts fermentation again pop your vessel into the fridge. I hope you are kegging cause if the tabs kill the yeast you won't be able to bottle prime your drink.

I'm betting that campden will not be enough- once that yeast finally gets going in that high acid environment, it'll be pretty tough to stop it. I don't think there's a substitute for sorbate.

Yeah I don't think it will be enough either...

Your options include chilling the cider to below 40F before adding the sugar and keeping it there until its finished. This is basically what homemade soda recipes do.

Or you could us non fermentable sugar like Splenda or Lactose.

Or you could filter the cider to remove the yeast. This requires a very fine filter that removes submicron particles. This is what many commercial brewers do.

Pasteurization is also another posibility.

The sulfite, sorbate combination affects the flavor the least which is why it is the preferred method.

Campden tablets are used in conjunction with sorbate to prevent renewed fermentations. Most yeast used in brewing are quite sulfite tolerant so Campden alone will not stop them at concentrations you want in your cider.

Craig