Campden Tablets for Cider Making? (First Timer)

[superslomo]

Hi All, the season is upon us, and I'm thinking of putting up a batch or two of cider to ferment. Do you all suggest campden tabs, or are they not required? I'd rather not turn to sulfites, and will be using non-raw cider, from a local cider mill.

I was planning on pitching the Wyeast Sweet Mead blend, and then putting into bottles to carb, without back-sweetening, just adding some dextrose for fizziness.

Any suggestions, simple tips here? How much do I need to fear the wild yeasts in this case?

 

[ACbrewer]

campden tabs are meta bi sulfite - so by using them, you are using a sulfite. If you are worried, you can boil - but that has other problems like pectin haze or driving off aromas/flavors during the boil. There might be more.

Generally when doing something like this, you'd hit it with I think 1 campden tab per gallon and let it sit about 24 hours (at least 12) then pitch your yeast and yeast nutrient.

one suggestion has been to do a steped nutrient additions adding some of the total nutrient at the beginning, some after like a day, and the rest after 1/3rd of the sugar has been consumed. Gving a bit of a stir to both aerate just a little and drive off CO2. Although milage may very with all that staggered additions. Be sure to add some yeast nutrients as plain juice lacks nitrogen.

 

[superslomo]

Do you need to use the sulfites if you are using pasteurized cider?

Any recommendations for or against the sweet mead yeast? Figured it would leave behind some extra sugar.

Not gung-ho for it to be appallingly high ABV%, and I'd like to bottle condition this, it would also be great if it didn't have to age for forever.

 

[sashurlow]

Careful with pasteurized cider. It may already contain stuff to prevent ANY fermentation at all.
I used sweet mead last year and had no issues with it and would use it again is given the choice. I believe I got better results with English cider and Nottingham Ale, though.
Unless you stop fermentation early, all the sugar will be digested/fermented, regardless of what yeast you use. If you don't want high ABV than don't add sugar. My ciders which ferment dry without adding sugar come out to about 5% ABV. Not high in my book.

 

[ACbrewer]

Generally if somethign is pasteurized, it has been heat treated to kill most (all? ) bacteria and prevent/slow growth. If it has 'preservative' then it either has sulfites - see real lemon brand lemon juice - or sodium benzoite or potasium sorbate (see a lot of things).

Most preservatives prevent micros from reproducing and as such can be over come with a 'super pitch' of yeast.

Alll of this is a long way to say that 1. Ask about the pasturization so you know exactly what they did, and 2. either way you can pitch enough yeast eventually to over come and start fermentation.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

Hi All, the season is upon us, and I'm thinking of putting up a batch or two of cider to ferment. Do you all suggest campden tabs, or are they not required? I'd rather not turn to sulfites, and will be using non-raw cider, from a local cider mill.

I was planning on pitching the Wyeast Sweet Mead blend, and then putting into bottles to carb, without back-sweetening, just adding some dextrose for fizziness.

Any suggestions, simple tips here? How much do I need to fear the wild yeasts in this case?

Need metabisulfite? No ... if your cider is pasteurized and you adhere to strict sanitation you should be fine.
It is worth spending a fair amount of extra time doing your homework on brewing and vinting sanitation ... especially with low alcohol products like beer and cider which usually do not use sulfites and tend to have a higher pH.

If you are going to use a sulfite product, I'd recommend Potassium Metabisulfite powder. (and not sodium metabisulfite).
I find the tabs a pain in the neck to crush and dissolve.

Not likely to have anything to fear from wild yeasts in a pasteurized juice. If you have any suspicions about a batch of juice, you could go with a "killer" strain of yeast such as Lalvin K1-V1116 ... this is a good choice in general as it dominates other yeast strains it comes across, preserves fruity and floral esters - especially when fermenting at lower temperatures ... and is good for difficult fermentation conditions such as extremes of temperature, high alcohol and so forth.

 

[jfsp]

I used way more then 1 campden tab per gallon on my current batches. I followed this guide and put 2 tabs per gallon since my pH was at 3.5 . Local brewing store told me afterwards that 2 tabs per 5 gallons would be enough. I hope it won't taste too much.

 

[oldmate]

You don't need to fear wild yeast, you will be innoculating your batch with millions upon millions of sweet mead yeast cells which far outnumber any wild yeast colonies. I wouldn't bother with pasteurising or sulphiting, just pitch your yeast and go for it. Fermentation is a pretty hostile environment in terms of pH and competition with the yeast. The only other comment I can make is be careful with the sweet mead yeast, it is notorious for being dodgy and you might struggle to get it going, maybe try a different yeast purely for simplicity.

 

[wardenwheat]

I agree with Oldmate. Just pitch healthy yeast to the fresh cider. I do press my own though and I sanitize everything before and after, so I guess it depends on the mill you bought it.