Potassium Sorbate & Fermentation

[mdweil]

If there is sorbate in the apple cider will it not ferment or is it slow to ferment?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

If there is sorbate in the apple cider will it not ferment or is it slow to ferment?

Thanks!

It probably won't ferment- but I've read that it can be overcome by massive amounts of yeast, since sorbate won't allow yeast reproduction. I've also heard that it's often unsuccessful, though. I'd give it less than a 25% chance of working.

 

[mdweil]

It probably won't ferment- but I've read that it can be overcome by massive amounts of yeast, since sorbate won't allow yeast reproduction. I've also heard that it's often unsuccessful, though. I'd give it less than a 25% chance of working.

When you say a massive amount of yeast, what would that be for a 5 gallon batch? Thanks for th help!

 

[Apple_Jacker]

Is there no other cider available in your area or something?

I've noticed at the grocery stores in my area (Chattanooga, TN), most if not all of the cheap ciders have potassium sorbate in them. So I'm either forced to drive all the way up signal mountain to get some good local cider, use apple juice or concentrate, or go to the expensive grocery stores for good cider... along with those handy 1 gallon glass jugs.

 

[mdweil]

I can get different cider, I just really want to try and save this batch. It's five gallons of a really great tasting cider I didn't know had sorbate in it. I'm just going to see what I can do, if anything.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

From what Ive read somewhere on the forums that you can overpower the sorbate by way of a yeast starter. They did say however, that the sorbate's presence changes the taste of the final product. ( I believe the exact words were "Will taste like ass")
That said, If you've already got it in a carboy then all you stand to loose at this point is yeast and time. Who knows? You might still like it.

 

[mdweil]

I finally got this to ferment. The 5 gallons of cider has sorbate, but it eventually fermented to 8% ABV. It already had 1# of honey so I added: 1# honey, 1# maltodextrin, 1# Belgian Candi Syrup, 2# brown sugar, 1 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 Wyeast smack pack. I know it's a ton of sugar, but it went from 1.08 to 1.018 and doesn't taste too bad... but not great. So I guess with enough sugar and nutrient, you can ferment almost anything.

 

[butch1979]

Thanks for this information... I wish I would have thought about this before I attempted to ferment some cider with sorbate in it. I should have known (used sorbate on first batch to stop fermentation during back sweetening). I just didn't pay attention to the full ingredients.

I'm 50/50 on cider so far LOL. Thanks again for the info. Now I can start a new batch.

Butch