Should I pasteurize the juice before pitching yeast?

[BitterSweetBrews]

My beer club went to an orchard yesterday picked 40 bushels of apples and had them crushed by the orchard into cider. We got around 130 gallons. It was a great time sampling last years ciders and everyone's new beers. I have a question.

Some of the people are going to just let their ciders go with the wild yeast present. Others are going to add yeast like champagne, S-04 or S-05. I will probably use S-05, although I do have some dry Champagne yeast. Most are also adding some sort of sugar. I think I will add a couple pounds turbanado. The SG is at 1.044.

Anyway, my question is should I pasteurize the apple juice to kill the wild stuff before I pitch the yeast?

If I put in campden tablets instead, how many for 5 gallons and how long should I wait before pitching my yeast? I have read 24 hours in other posts.

Should I make a starter? I have S-05 & champagne dry yeast but also a bunch of other strains of harvested yeasts for Belgians, reds, etc.. Should I use one if them instead?

 

[bernardsmith]

If you prefer the taste of jam or cooked apples to fresh pressed apple juice I would pasteurize the juice. If you prefer the pectins not to set then I would add K-meta (AKA Campden tabs) - usually 5 tabs for 5 gallons BUT I would check to see whether the orchard uses UV pasteurization to kill e-coli before they sell you the pressed juice. Not sure if this is a NYS regulation or a federal requirement that ALL apple juice is pasteurized before sale, but orchards here tend to use UV light precisely to avoid cooking the juice...

 

[Maylar]

5 crushed Campden tablets for 5 gallons, or 1/4 TSP Potassium Metabisulfite for 5 gallons, and yes wait 24 hrs before pitching. One pack of yeast for 5 gallons is enough. I always rehydrate per package instructions. Never needed a starter.

Don't boil your cider.

 

[MarkKF]

5 crushed Campden tablets for 5 gallons, or 1/4 TSP Potassium Metabisulfite for 5 gallons, and yes wait 24 hrs before pitching. One pack of yeast for 5 gallons is enough. I always rehydrate per package instructions. Never needed a starter.

Don't boil your cider.

I always use the starter. Not because I need it but because I know I have a good healthy yeast before adding it to my juice. It also gives me the 24 hrs for the Camden to do its thing and the starter and juice temp. to settle.

 

[dmtaylor]

Great questions.

I always pasteurize my juice and never have a problem with pectin set. I go just to 160 F for 15 minutes, do not boil. It does have a slightly cooked flavor though.

Alternatively you can use Campden, 1 tablet crushed per gallon. Personally I would wait 36-48 hours before pitching yeast, but this is just gut-feel and I know others are successful after just 24 hours.

1 pack of dry yeast is plenty for 5 or even 6 gallons. Just sprinkle it in. No further treatment required.

Cheers.

 

[MarkKF]

Camden will slow down but not kill (pasteurize) the wild yeast. I wait 24 hours but I think a good commercial could power through Camden.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

In the end I decided to pasteurize. I did not boil it. I raised the temp to 165F and let it sit there for about 25-30 minutes. I then chilled it with my immersion chiller, which I had sanitized in boiling water, then Starsan.

I pitched the S-05 and it was fermenting within 8 hours. It has been in the primary for over two weeks. It appears that it is finished, though I haven't checked the SG.

From here going forward what is the best course of action? Should I let it sit for a few more weeks? Should I put it in a secondary? Should I go ahead and bottle it?

I am tempted to brew up a batch of something and ferment some of it on the cider's yeast cake. Any suggestions?

 

[ten80]

No need for secondary with S-04. Just cold-crash to get a good yeast cake, then keg or bottle. S-04 usually takes juice down to about 1.000 in a month or so for me (no nutrients), so don't bottle too early! I've let juice sit on S-04 yeast cake for up to 6 months with no discernible off-flavors.

Sodium (or potassium) metabisulfite dosing is highly pH-dependent, so full sterilization of the juice may not be attained with the standard "1 tablet per gallon" dosing. I refer to this this table at Cider.org.uk to determine dosing for partial or full kill metabisulfite dosing.

To clarify, sterilizing the juice with chemicals is not Pasteurization which is the process of killing microbes using heat.

 

[madscientist451]

You have a couple of options:
-don't do anything, let it sit give it a taste, if you don't like it wait a while.
-you can do the above except rack the cider to another container for aging. When it gets cold set the cider outside to chill it down, the cold will clear out more of the yeast in a few days. I like to use plastic carboys for this just in case it gets really cold and freezes.
-if it tastes ok start drinking it now.
-don't bottle it if you don't like the taste, its way easier to make adjustments before bottling.

 

[dmtaylor]

The right option:

Rack it, check gravity, wait another week, check gravity again, if gravity stays the same after a whole week, bottle and enjoy.

If it's hazy at the end, also consider adding gelatin, let it sit for a few days to clear, then bottle and enjoy.

If it's too dry at the end, add 2.5 oz xylitol (unfermentable) per gallon to sweeten, then bottle and enjoy.

 

[ten80]

Agreed, careful racking and gravity checks are in order. Cider fermentations often stall near 1.005 or so when the yeast run out of nutrients, but can pick up again and keep fermenting to 1.000 or below of warmed or agitated. My theory is that warmth and agitation release nutrients (amino acids, minerals, vitamins) from dead yeast, allowing active yeast to continue fermenting.