Cinnamon and nasties?

[domilsean]

When I rack my cider to secondary, I was thinking of adding in a few cinnamon sticks. Can the cinnamon infect the cider with nasties? Should I treat the cinnamon somehow?

I read elsewhere some folks posting to soak the sticks in vodka for a week then add that all in, but that seems a bit much.

I know Paps added cinnamon to secondary in one of his Pappy's Pub Cider goes, but that cider is pretty high abv. I'm making just a 5% ish cider. I'm also thinking of stopping fermentation before it dries out and adding potassium metabisulfite to help arrest it. Maybe the addition of the potassium metabisulfite will kill any possible nasties off?

Any thoughts or advice on this?

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

I personally don't think the vodka option is too much. There's no telling how the cinnamon is cured or how it was handled after. I meticulously sanitize all of my equipment prior to having my beverages come in contact with it so it seems like a natural step to try and sanitize the extra ingredients also.

 

[schwiz]

Anything not sterilized has the potential to cause an infection. I've seen a few suggestions on this. One is to boil your spices before adding the other is to steam them. In culinary school I learned to toast whole spices before using them, I think that should work too...

 

[Jkalotai]

I've used the microwave to sterilize cinnamon sticks. 45 seconds seems to kill bugs without giving a weird tastes.


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