Sorbate question

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DodginBUIs

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So ive got 5 Gal of store bought cider, to which ive added 1lb of brown sugar, that has pretty much finished up fermenting with a chardonnay yeast. I took a taste and its quite dry, as planned, so im going to backsweeten. I have some potassium sorbate which I planned to add after the weekend. I do NOT have campden tabs though. Will I be OK without the campden?

My plan is to rack on top of some dissolved sorbate in a new carboy for several weeks of conditioning. I figured if I waited until fermentation was done, then racked with sorbate, I'd be ok. Oh, and I want still cider and I dont think I'm going to keg it. I want to backsweeten with store bought concentrate. Thanks in advance.
 
DodginBUIs said:
So ive got 5 Gal of store bought cider, to which ive added 1lb of brown sugar, that has pretty much finished up fermenting with a chardonnay yeast. I took a taste and its quite dry, as planned, so im going to backsweeten. I have some potassium sorbate which I planned to add after the weekend. I do NOT have campden tabs though. Will I be OK without the campden?

My plan is to rack on top of some dissolved sorbate in a new carboy for several weeks of conditioning. I figured if I waited until fermentation was done, then racked with sorbate, I'd be ok. Oh, and I want still cider and I dont think I'm going to keg it. I want to backsweeten with store bought concentrate. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Sorbate works better in the presence of campden (sulfite) but it's not absolutely required. The only thing I'd worry about is that apple cider will go through MLF (malolactic fermenation) spontaneously sometimes and campden prevents that. The reason I mentioned that is if you add sorbate and the cider does go through MLF, you'll have a nasty geranium smelling cider. I probably would risk it, if I didn't have any campden, but it's not ideal.
 
what if i add the sorbate, wait a day or two, then backsweeten with concentrate and put the carboy right in my kegerator, would this help prevent that? Im under the impression that my kegerator would be too cold for fermentation to kick back up (and hopefully MLF to start). thx
 
DodginBUIs said:
what if i add the sorbate, wait a day or two, then backsweeten with concentrate and put the carboy right in my kegerator, would this help prevent that? Im under the impression that my kegerator would be too cold for fermentation to kick back up (and hopefully MLF to start). thx
Click to expand...

Well, if it's too cold for MLF, it should be cold enough to halt/stall the yeast also, so you may want to consider skipping the sorbate altogether. I have a hard lemonade at 1.040 in my kegerator right now. Fermentation has stopped, because it's at 40 degrees!
 
Well im thinking about not kegging it and just bottling it. I'm worried that without sorbate, fermentation could start up again if i need space in the beer fridge or kegerator. Im hoping to be ok because im going to try to keep it cold at all times until consumption.
 
I'm going to use potassium sorbate myself on a mead then back sweeten myself soon. I was under the impression that you should just use that and not campden. I have both. From what you are saying I should use both? (first mead batch)
 
theonetrueruss said:
I'm going to use potassium sorbate myself on a mead then back sweeten myself soon. I was under the impression that you should just use that and not campden. I have both. From what you are saying I should use both? (first mead batch)
Click to expand...

Sorbate works better in the presence of sulfites, so they are normally added together. Sulfites also prevent MLF which isn't usually a problem in meads.
 

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