Question about Campden tablets

[T-rags]

I have seen some cider instructions call for adding campden tablets each time you rack the cider even if fermentation is not fully complete. Do campden tablets kill commercial yeasts, or do they just kill the wild yeasts and bacteria?

 

[RugenBrau]

Ignore those instructions. Use the campden to kill the wild yeast when you start. It wll kill commercial/wild yeast

 

[Yooper]

In my experience, wine yeast strains are not particularly susceptible to campden. Still, I like to add the campden and then 24 hours later add the yeast. I add campden at every other racking because I don't have an so2 meter. The goal is to try to keep the so2 at 50 ppm, and adding one campden per gallon at every other racking approximates that.

Some people don't use sulfites, and some use far more than I do. I would recommend erring on the side of less sulfites, but still adding enough to protect your wine/mead/cider.

 

[T-rags]

Yooper, do your yeasts survive the campden tablets sufficient for carbonation?

 

[RugenBrau]

Yoop,
Would you add one very other racking with an Ale yeast? This is something new to me.

 

[Yooper]

Yooper, do your yeasts survive the campden tablets sufficient for carbonation?

I don't carbonate ciders, meads or wines, so I wouldn't think they would. I mean, I think the yeast is actually still alive, but I don't bottle for ages so I wouldn't bet on it. I don't bottle until everything is crystal clear, no new lees form, and it's been aged for quite a while.

Yoop,
Would you add one very other racking with an Ale yeast? This is something new to me.

I would add it. But at "every other racking", that really isn't very often. I'd add it at mixing the must, not at racking to secondary, and only add it if I racked it again or at bottling.

But since I like my drinks crystal clear and well aged, I bottle after quite a bit of time. Like maybe a year or two, usually. In my opinion, longer term aging really requires some campden.

For a low ABV cider that I would drink within 3-6 months, I probably wouldn't bother with sulfiting beyond the initial addition. For anything longer, I would definitely add at bottling.