Cider with potassium sorbate?

[vekzero]

All the local ciders in the mom & pop shops have potassium sorbate in them. Can I still use it for hard cider brewing?

 

[selfdestructed]

No

 

[JoeyChopps]

Go get cheap juice from the grocery store

 

[selfdestructed]

Mussleman's from Walmart is what I use for it

 

[smh]

Apparently there's a way to finagle the sorbate out. See: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=913

I have NO idea if this will work, but basically they suggest pitching some bread yeast and letting that go to the end. Then you rack and repitch a proper brewers yeast.

Saves drinking boring unfermented cider...

 

[BoatmanTom]

I have seen ciders that lists "less that 1% potassium sorbate" is that enough to kill the yeast?

 

[jddhammer]

>I have seen ciders that lists "less that 1% potassium sorbate" is that enough to kill the yeast?

The dosage is on the order of 1/2 tsp per gallon, so 1% isn't necessarily a small amount.

I tried an experiment last year with some farmstand-style treated ciders. In one I got some fermentation with a full pack of dry yeast in a gallon. In another, I got nothing even after adding a fresh yeast cake from a 5g beer batch. Theoretically the sorbate inhibits reproduction, so if you add enough yeast it should work, but didn't even with a pint of yeast.

Save time and money and use raw cider or cheap juice.

 

[fearwig]

Apparently there's a way to finagle the sorbate out. See: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=913

I have NO idea if this will work, but basically they suggest pitching some bread yeast and letting that go to the end. Then you rack and repitch a proper brewers yeast.

Saves drinking boring unfermented cider...

Gave this a shot, and I went through a tu-hhooon of bread yeast--first a 2L starter, then just started adding it in dry. Got nowhere, but the cider was super cheap (which is why I was too excited to check the label in the first place). Went sour before the yeast took hold. Live and learn.

Assuming this can work, I expect the amount of potassium sorbate can vary widely, so you're talking about a large difference in the amount of yeast you'd need to suck it up. On the upper end of the scale, I suppose it's just totally impractical. Plus, I can't help but think I was giving the cider odd bread yeasty flavors, even without seeing a krausen.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

I did the same thing, except 5 gallons of cider at $5 / gallon.

I'm hoping to get some advice.

 

[Maylar]

I did the same thing, except 5 gallons of cider at $5 / gallon.

I'm hoping to get some advice.

People have reported success fermenting sorbated cider by massive overpitching of yeast. But in every case I've seen, the resulting cider tasted like crap. Not worth the effort. Sorry.

 

[Frazeart]

Safeway has Honey Crisp Apple Cider on sale now for five bucks a gallon. I used it to make a super tasty tropical hard cider name "Hard Inn Cider South of the Equator."

 

[TwistedGray]

I am sure you can get water from a rock if you squeeze hard enough, too. There are plenty of ciders in stores that do not have p.s. in them.

 

[JimRausch]

I've fermented sorbated cider every year for the past 3-4 years. Except for last year when I got some fresh-pressed cider. Sorbate does inhibit yeast reproduction but not fermentation, so if you have a big enough active yeast pitch, you can overwhelm the inhibition. Here's how I've done it:
1. One method is just use the whole yeast cake from justfinished fermentation.
2. Another method is to do a Graf. Start the beer portion fermenting a day or two before you add the cider.
3. Third method is to start 1 gallon of non-sorbated cider or apple juice fermenting, then add the sorbated cider a couple days in. This is what I did this year- I found the Honeycrisp nonsorbated cider mentioned above. Started 2 G of that fermenting with WY1450, then 2 days later added 3.5G of sorbated Macintosh cider. I started it back on 9/30, and just bottled it 3 days ago. OG was 1.054. FG=1.006. Flavor was pretty good.