Bottle Aging Correctly (spoilage)

[Geog33]

Hey All, learned a lot from lurking, but hoping to get some specific insight here for my first batch bottling.

I have 5 gal of unpasteurized, fresh pressed juice that's aging in bulk secondary (gravity when I racked from primary was 0.999, it was drinkable, but pretty harsh). I'm going to do all 4 variations when I bottle, Still/Carb and Dry/Sweeter, just because I can and am interested in the experiment The logistics of that aren't the problem, have some xylitol for sweetening and found the good carbing calculators to determine my priming sugar weights to avoid bombs.

My question relates to how well the cider (dry/still, dry/carb, sweet/still and sweet/carb) will last once bottled. I had no intention to add sorbate to any of the combos (obv not the carbed), or cold crash / pasteurize since I'll have added carefully measured priming sugars to carb to desired levels. I haven't found a good source to confirm if cider ages well without pasturization / sorbate...would love any advice!

 

[Yooper]

It ages pretty well, especially if you use a little bit of sulfite as you would would wine. Prevent oxidation through careful racking and bottling, and keep about 50 ppm of sulfite in it (which dissipates with time in fermenters) and it should last a good long while.

 

[Geog33]

Thanks! Is there a good rule of thumb on how to keep that 50 ppm sulfite level? Is that the typical 1/4tsp / 5gal? Or is that a more heavy-handed concentration just to start things on a sterile note?

Sidenote (which I'm pretty sure I've read elsewhere, but would like to confirm): That 50ppm level of sulfite won't kill off my 'good' yeast colony, right? Will still be able to bottle carb?

 

[Yooper]

To get 50 ppm without a meter, a guestimate would be 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, or about 1/4 tsp for 6 gallons of the powdered k-meta. It's pH dependent, but that's a decent guestimate.

Yes, you would be able to bottle carb but if you want to be extra sure, add your sulfites and then bottle a few days or a couple of weeks later.