Over the weekend I drove out to an apple orchard to pick up some fresh cider. It ended up being about an hour and a half drive due to traffic and when I got there I found out that the cider is unpasteurized but does contain a bit of Sodium Benzoate, less than the typical commercial dose of .1% but it's still there. I spoke to the guy at the store who also homebrews, and he said that it'll still ferment but just take a bit more time than usual. Not wanting to turn around and drive back, I bought a few gallons of it (and 1 to drink straight) and headed back.
I read a few of the other threads here that had some luck with diluting cider that had preservatives so I went ahead with my plan to see if I could get lucky. I know the preservatives don't actually kill the yeast but instead make it harder for them to reproduce, so to give them the best start they could I made a starter for my Nottingham yeast and cold crashed the cider. Yesterday I boiled a gallon of the cider in order to kill any wild yeasties left in it and mixed it with 2 gallons of water and 2 lbs of brown sugar. Once that cooled off I pitched the starter and plan on adding in the rest of the cider today or tomorrow, depending on how the yeast take off. As of this morning there was a thin layer of krausen at the top and the air lock was bubbling every 10 seconds or so. Do you guys think the extra work was worth it or did I just waste time doing it?
I know adding that much water will take out a good amount of flavor, but as long as I get something drinkable then I can chalk it up as a learning experience. Now I know that if I call to find out when they're pressing the cider I can grab some without any preservatives or anything.
I read a few of the other threads here that had some luck with diluting cider that had preservatives so I went ahead with my plan to see if I could get lucky. I know the preservatives don't actually kill the yeast but instead make it harder for them to reproduce, so to give them the best start they could I made a starter for my Nottingham yeast and cold crashed the cider. Yesterday I boiled a gallon of the cider in order to kill any wild yeasties left in it and mixed it with 2 gallons of water and 2 lbs of brown sugar. Once that cooled off I pitched the starter and plan on adding in the rest of the cider today or tomorrow, depending on how the yeast take off. As of this morning there was a thin layer of krausen at the top and the air lock was bubbling every 10 seconds or so. Do you guys think the extra work was worth it or did I just waste time doing it?
I know adding that much water will take out a good amount of flavor, but as long as I get something drinkable then I can chalk it up as a learning experience. Now I know that if I call to find out when they're pressing the cider I can grab some without any preservatives or anything.
