Cider Safety Question

[carter840]

So I just finished fermenting my first batch of cider. The juice came from a local farm and is unpasteurized. I added no yeast and instead allowed the wild yeast to do the work. It's in secondary now, but and I did check it after primary the OG was 1.061 and at transfer to secondary it was 1.002. So fermentation definitely happened and it's likely somewhat lower at this point.

My question is, assuming that I transfer this cider to a keg and it is kept around 40F, am I safe to not pasteurize it? My biggest concern is nasty bacteria or something. I have winemaking equipment and I think if I wanted to kill the yeast I have some chemical to do that, but I forget what it's called. That said keeping the yeast isn't my real concern and just assume not add any more chemicals. Am I safe to not pasteurize this stuff and just keep it cool in the keg, or is this unpasteurized stuff basically poison at this point?

 

[blackbeer]

probably not poison, but maybe vinegar. wild yeast is unpredictable. we used to have a commercial cider business in the family and i have drank lots of wild cider and never found it to my liking.

you could toss in some camden tablets to kill it off.

how does it taste at this point?

 

[carter840]

probably not poison, but maybe vinegar. wild yeast is unpredictable. we used to have a commercial cider business in the family and i have drank lots of wild cider and never found it to my liking.

you could toss in some camden tablets to kill it off.

how does it taste at this point?

Not sur how it tastes right now, but it was pretty good when I transferred to secondary. A lot of brewers in my area use this cider with the natural wild yeast and say its great. It's just my first time trying and wanted to make sure I wasn't putting any tasters at risk.

 

[Zepth]

I have no experience with making a cider. To be more exact I made one from a canned concentrate kit, once. No experience with actually doing the hard part.

I would be more concerned about a wild bacteria or spores that got into the juice before fermenting. The yeast that actually fermented it would be of little concern, but if you got something of an "aceto" or "gusher" infection it would be worrisome. I'd be tempted to add something to at least protect it from if there is something undesirable in the juice / cider. I believe sulphites are the answer.

 

[carter840]

Is it safe to say that if it tastes alright it will be safe to drink?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I don't know of any bad microbes that live in 7.75% alcohol in a likely low PH environment on top of it. Drink it, if you don't die in a week, serve it. RDWHAHB

P.S.
Anything that's in there now was in there when you bought it, and the orchard doesn't make money by killing it's patrons with poison cider.

 

[ericbw]

It's most likely safe, but very dry. Very dry.

 

[carter840]

I don't know of any bad microbes that live in 7.75% alcohol in a likely low PH environment on top of it. Drink it, if you don't die in a week, serve it. RDWHAHB

P.S.
Anything that's in there now was in there when you bought it, and the orchard doesn't make money by killing it's patrons with poison cider.

Fair about the orchard, but they don't usually sell it this way. Just to a few local home brewers, from what they have said they just use the natural yeast too, but no one mentioned if they do any post fermentation sterilization or anything.

Going to plan on putting it in the keg tonight. We'll see what happens!

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

It's most likely safe, but very dry. Very dry.

I'd bet that the acid from any acetic acitivity/ wild yeast balances that pretty well. My sour funky cider (while using commercial dregs) is also 1.002 and doesn't taste dry at all form all the acid.

Fair about the orchard, but they don't usually sell it this way. Just to a few local home brewers, from what they have said they just use the natural yeast too, but no one mentioned if they do any post fermentation sterilization or anything.

Going to plan on putting it in the keg tonight. We'll see what happens!

An orchard up in Ipswich MA sells unpasteurized cider, it has a warning sticker on it about it being so, I drank it cold and unboiled all the time.

But yeah, I say go for it, you're 99.99% probably fine.

 

[Calder]

It is fine. No need to pasteurize. Just keg, cool, and serve.

 

[madscientist451]

Keep it cold and drink it or bottle and save for later. With your OG/Fg numbers, you have an ABV of about 7.74% some bacteria/wild yeast can survive that, but not in enough numbers to bother you. If you are really worried about it, keeping it cold will help suppress any bacteria that may be present.
You can also bottle and pasteurize using a hot water bath. You need to get the cider up to 164 for that. Google flash pasteurize for more information on that.