Potassium Sorbate in Purchased Apple Cider

[WILLIAM D PLONTY]

Yesterday, I started a new gallon of mead with apple cider. 3 lbs honey, balance purchased apple cider. The cider has potassium sorbate in it. How will this affect my results? I don't have any activity yet. No bubbles. New to this and have no idea.

 

[Seamonkey84]

You’ll prob have to make a good sized starter to over pitch and overcome the Sorbate.

 

[WILLIAM D PLONTY]

You’ll prob have to make a good sized starter to over pitch and overcome the Sorbate.

So, A lot more yeast? Possibly in some honey & frozen apple juice? Without the potassium Sorbate.

 

[bernardsmith]

It may cost you as much in yeast as the apple juice cost. You really have to sacrifice many billions of yeast cells (they bind to the sorbate) to have enough "free" yeast to ferment the neutralized juice. In other words, perhaps five or six or even more packs of yeast. You are playing poker with a terrible hand and with opponents who are masters. If this were me I would use your mixture of juice and honey to flavor vodka... Best place to get apple juice is at a farmers' market where the juice comes freshly pressed from a local orchard and which has been UV pasteurized.

 

[Seamonkey84]

If it doesn’t start in 24hrs then Pitche more. hydrate a whole pack of yeast and then put it in roughly a quart of in preservatives free juice. Let it grow in just that for 6-12 hours before pitching or step feeding in some of your must.

 

[madscientist451]

Not what you want to hear, but beranardsmith got it right, put it aside and start over.
You can use some of the mixture to add flavor when you complete the next batch.

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

It may cost you as much in yeast as the apple juice cost. You really have to sacrifice many billions of yeast cells (they bind to the sorbate) to have enough "free" yeast to ferment the neutralized juice. In other words, perhaps five or six or even more packs of yeast. You are playing poker with a terrible hand and with opponents who are masters. If this were me I would use your mixture of juice and honey to flavor vodka... Best place to get apple juice is at a farmers' market where the juice comes freshly pressed from a local orchard and which has been UV pasteurized.

Really, it's not as bad as that: I started a 2.5 gallon batch of cyser, without noticing that the cider I'd bought at the apple orchard had potasium sorbate in it. First packet didn't do squat, second did the trick, just with a couple days delay. Then it fermented out just fine.

Two packs of yeast in 2.5 gallons wasn't an insane amount of yeast. But I think it was important that I gave the second pack plenty of time to get really going in a cup with some water, nutrient, and honey, before pitching it.

 

[bernardsmith]

You make a good point - it really does depend on how much sorbate was added. Your orchard may have used only a little. My sense is that commercial brands use a great deal.. but I could be mistaken though I have yet to successfully start a fermentation sacrificing only one pack (not that I make a habit of buying sorbated juice to ferment)

 

[Brett_Bellmore]

I don't generally do it either; It simply hadn't occurred to me that cider sold right at the orchard would have that stuff in it. Quite a disappointment, actually. I'm going to have to write off that orchard in the future.

 

[WILLIAM D PLONTY]

I got it going along fine now. I got another gallon jug, a container of frozen apple juice and 2 packets of yeast. I mixed all the liquid together with another 2 lbs of honey. Made a starter with the yeast and sugar water. Put it all together and its working fine. No idea what the final ABV will be, but if I can drink it after a while it will be worth it.

 

[JimRausch]

Pretty much all the cider I can buy around home has sorbate in it, so over the years I've devised a strategy to overcome it. If I'm making a Cyser or Graf that's easy- I start the fermentation going using the nonsorbated ingredients a day or two before adding the cider. That way the yeast has time to build up numbers sufficient for fermentation. With a straight sorbated cider it's a little more difficult, but the principle is the same- you have to either build up a huge starter, or start fermentation with nonsorbated cider ahead of time.
I'm happy to see that your batch has started William. Once it starts, fermentation usually progresses normally.