I have several trial batches of different apple blends which I have left to fully ferment. The plan is to prime them with juice to perhaps enhance the "appleness" (too many surplus apples this year so I thought I would prime with juice rather than sugar).
Generally they had an OG of around 1.055. The plan is to add about a litre of fresh pressed juice to 5 litres of FG 1.000 cider to aim for a bottling SG of 1.010, fit a test bottle with a pressure gauge then hot water bath pasteurise when the bottle pressure reaches 2 volumes of CO2 (30psi). This should result in a mildly sweetened carbonated cider at around SG 1.006.
The question is, should the priming juice be sanitised for a couple of days with SO2 (Campden), or even just heat it up, or will the acidity take care of any nasties? The pH is 3.6 -3.8 and TA is in the order of 0.7% (7g/L).
Generally they had an OG of around 1.055. The plan is to add about a litre of fresh pressed juice to 5 litres of FG 1.000 cider to aim for a bottling SG of 1.010, fit a test bottle with a pressure gauge then hot water bath pasteurise when the bottle pressure reaches 2 volumes of CO2 (30psi). This should result in a mildly sweetened carbonated cider at around SG 1.006.
The question is, should the priming juice be sanitised for a couple of days with SO2 (Campden), or even just heat it up, or will the acidity take care of any nasties? The pH is 3.6 -3.8 and TA is in the order of 0.7% (7g/L).
