sanitizing additives

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yeastluvr

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I'm new to brewing and this site. I have cider/wine fermenting made from apple juice, sugar, pectic enzyme and a little grape tannin. I had to add almost 9 cups white sugar to a little over 3 gallons juice to get the potential alcohol to 11% which seemed like a lot of sugar to me, but hey, I'm completely new at it and trusted the hydrometer. I'm planning on racking into another carboy in 2-3 weeks, then letting cider sit, "and hopefully clear." I'm concerned about bacteria. I sterilized everything before fermenting. I have read about and like the idea of adding apple juice concentrate for a little sweetness and flavor, especially with this higher alcohol recipe. Of course I'll kill the yeast before adding.

Should I be concerned at all about adding frozen concentrate then bottling. Should I boil the concentrate first, or is it fine to mix right in and bottle. I'm very curious since I don't want to mess it up at the end. For that matter is there anything that you should boil before you put it in?
 
The concentrate is already sterile as far as we are concerned. Its clean enough to eat. It is fine to add just the way it is. Just make sure all your utensils and containers are sanitized.
 
Yeah, just let it thaw in the container, and then open and add the now liquid concentrate to the sanitized carboy and you are good to go.
 
Great....I wont worry about it then....If there is anything that should be boiled or something killed before adding let me know. I added some powdered spices to my 2nd batch and wondered about boiling or not...I just added them from the spice jar and it seems to be fine so far, although its only been a week in the bottle. Sounds like I dont need to worry about it. Thanks.
 
Great....I wont worry about it then....If there is anything that should be boiled or something killed before adding let me know. I added some powdered spices to my 2nd batch and wondered about boiling or not...I just added them from the spice jar and it seems to be fine so far, although its only been a week in the bottle. Sounds like I dont need to worry about it. Thanks.


#1 only fresh UNPASTURIZED juice requires Campden Tabs to kill of the wild yeasties that live on the apple skins.

#2 I reccomend Never boil your fruit products - the pectins will set and you'll end up with a cloudy beverage. if you wish to use heat to kill microorganisims - you can pasturize things yourself -pasurization is NOT boiling.
#3 most spices (especialy the dried ones) are quite inhospitible to microorganisims -which is why early man discovered that heavy use of spices in food help keep them edible - and why the spice trade was so lucrative way back in the day)
I must warn you, boiling your spices will take out much of the essential and volatile oils (which is where the flavor is) if you must - heat them to 162* and hold for 20-30 seconds - in a small amount of water. cool to room temp and add the spices AND the water to your must to preserve the essential oils suspended in the water. even then many spices have volatile oils which will vaporize and be lost to the atmosphere even with that minimal heating.

also, FYI - when using powdered spices - don't be too concerned if you see a brownish Mucilaginous scum rise to the top of your brew during the primary fermentation, it isn't an infection -several powdered spices (especialy cinnamon- have a habit of becoming goopy and gel like... it'll look like loose stool :eek:...but will drop out and end up with the rest of the lees on the bottom of the fermenter eventually)
 
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