Beautiful freshly pressed cider but no campden tablets available

[spitfire44]

Hi all, I am traveling for a few weeks and found an orchard that will press while you wait. I do happen to have a few packets of Lalvin and Wyeast nutrient with me but no campden to kill off the natural yeast.

Can someone offer me some insight into what will happen if I mix my Lalvin in with the natural yeast?

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Phishfinder]

I know it might not be the answer you're looking for but you could always pasteurize with heat. 70 Celsius for 5 minutes as per our good friends at the FDA.

 

[kgressler]

I've never needed to use campden on my fresh cider. I know the source that I get it from and trust them. I would think the only reason to use campden would be if you either dont know the source of the cider or if the source isnt trustworthy to be clean and sanitized. And in that case why would you use that source?
From reading on here many people say that it leaves a bad taste. Dont know how true it is since Ive never used it. But it is something to think about.

 

[armedcor]

I've never needed to use campden on my fresh cider. I know the source that I get it from and trust them. I would think the only reason to use campden would be if you either dont know the source of the cider or if the source isnt trustworthy to be clean and sanitized. And in that case why would you use that source?
From reading on here many people say that it leaves a bad taste. Dont know how true it is since Ive never used it. But it is something to think about.

Kgressler, apples are covered in wild yeast and a lot of unpasteurized cider will begin to ferment quite fast. I don't think it's a sanitary issue. Some people just don't want to risk their cider on wild yeast and would prefer a known commercial strain.

 

[Robit]

I'm new to cider and brewing so take this for what it is worth.. I looked into this as well and found that most suggested that 1 out of 7 batches would probably taste off.

I tried a one gallon unpasteurized/untreated batch. I doubled the yeast ( Lalvin EC-1118) necessary just so it would have a strong foothold and it started fermenting within an hour. Primary will be done today or tomorrow. I'll happily have a taste and report back if you like.

 

[Mr_fleabite]

Hi all, I am traveling for a few weeks and found an orchard that will press while you wait. I do happen to have a few packets of Lalvin and Wyeast nutrient with me but no campden to kill off the natural yeast.

Can someone offer me some insight into what will happen if I mix my Lalvin in with the natural yeast?

Thanks,

Eric

In the long run your Lavin will out compete the natural yeast; many wild yeast can't ferment much beyond 4-5% alcohol. The "problem" is wild yeast can be awful, neutral, or great, it's a roll of the dice. Also some may produce compounds that make life hard for MLF, a.k.a. secondary fermentation.

Commercial yeast are much more tolerant of SO2 (and play nice with MLF unless otherwise stated) so it's generally added upfront to hinder the wild yeast and give your yeast, pitched at a much higher rate, a massive advantage.

Ideally you could hold the majority of your juice cold (40ish) and take a portion of it and make a healthy starter (at normal fermentation temp). Then a day before you want to pitch the starter, warm up the bulk portion, then pitch the starter in.
Realistically you just make a starter as quickly as possible and pitch it into the juice, which hopefully hasn't started on it's own...unless you wanted it to.
Don't add any nutrient and keep the main body of your juice cool as much as possible, until you are about to pitch the starter. You could also pitch your yeast right off the bat at a higher than normal rate to give them a leg up.