# Campden tablets and apples.



## Dave70 (26/3/14)

Would anyone recommend the addition of a campden tablets to freshly juiced apples to kill off the wild yeasts? 
Reason being I'll be using the S04 from a current batch of ale but that wont be ready for another week, so the raw juice will be sitting in the cube until then.
The other option being I can make room in the keezer and sit it in there at around 3 deg until ready for pitching. 

The other, other option would be to simply buy some fresh yeast, but I'd like the let the juice settle for a few days the n rack off the clean stuff. 

I'd just hate to go through the process of juicing 40+kilos of apples in the old Breville only to have bastard wild yeast ambush the S04 turn it to vinegar.


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## NewtownClown (26/3/14)

Other, other, other option is to boil after juicing?


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## aaronpetersen (26/3/14)

I have added campden tablets to home made apple juice in the past. I only added half the recommended dose though as I still wanted some viable yeast for a spontaneous fermentation, I just wanted to kill some of the nasty stuff. It worked very well. Keeping it cold should also help.
I think boiling the juice would change the taste, although I have never done it.


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## gap (26/3/14)

Boiling apple juice is not a good idea when making cider. It destroys the natural
apple flavour and turns the juice into something like stewed apples.

You would be best to wait and not juice the apples until the yeast is ready.
You could use Camden tablets to inhibit the wild yeast but I would not like to
then leave the juice for a week before fermenting. The juice may oxidise to much.


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## Airgead (26/3/14)

Boiling would be a bad idea. Apple sauce.

Using campden to inhibit the wild yeast will certainly buy you time until your yeast is ready. More importantly it will also protect the juice against oxidisation which will turn it brown and nasty.

Keeping it in the fridge will also help with both as well.

Or you could just lash out an buy an new packet of S04...


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## manticle (26/3/14)

I'd chuck it covered in the fridge but I hate sulphites.
Don't boil.


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## TimT (26/3/14)

Instructions in my cider book say use metabiusulphite to knock out the bacteria first - give the juice a day or two to settle - and then add the yeast. Their reason being it would be too heartbreaking to lose a day's worth of juicing because of a rogue bacteria, which I'm sympathetic with.

But I also kind of agree with Manticle, sulphite is annoying stuff and adding a bit too much could cause the cider to have off flavours too. As Fat Tony would say, "Listen to your heart". (This year I'll probably do a cider without sulphites too).

Anyway, not sure what you mean about using the S-04 yeast - best time to harvest it would be at peak krausen, and just scoop it off the top? And shouldn't you be able to use a portion of your current fermentation as a starter any time you'd like?

I kind of reckon a wine yeast would be better for it anyway.


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## Airgead (26/3/14)

I never use sulphite in mine. The missus is allergic.

But then again I don't leave the juice sitting round for a week waiting for yeast either...

That length of time is probably going to need some sort of preservative.


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## TimT (26/3/14)

You could let wild yeast do its thing too.


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## TimT (26/3/14)

It depends a bit on how much juice you got and if you've got enough to play around with. Top work on the Breville blender, by the way!


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## NewtownClown (26/3/14)

so boiling is a no no. interesting when you consider most commercial juices are flash pasteurised. perhaps that is why I am not a fan of bottled apple juice.


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## manticle (26/3/14)

Pasteurisation and boiling are different things.

You should try preshafruit - pasteurised by pressure rather than heat I believe. Unsure how that works.


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## manticle (26/3/14)

> You could let wild yeast do its thing too.


While I'm a fan of the results of some natural fermentations in cider and wine, I think it takes a good deal of skill and knowledge to get right.


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## TimT (26/3/14)

Yeah, it would be a fun thing to do but maybe not risk a large batch of fresh apple juice with it at first - start off with small quantities perhaps.


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## manticle (26/3/14)

I've tried 'reharvesting' dregs from normandy and breton cidres. Most have turned out pretty badly. Got 2 in my fridge left to try but I've had more success with fermenting with a known cider strain like 4766, then adding dregs from a bottle of cidre to age for a bit.


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## Dave70 (26/3/14)

TimT said:


> Instructions in my cider book say use metabiusulphite to knock out the bacteria first - give the juice a day or two to settle - and then add the yeast. Their reason being it would be too heartbreaking to lose a day's worth of juicing because of a rogue bacteria, which I'm sympathetic with.
> 
> But I also kind of agree with Manticle, sulphite is annoying stuff and adding a bit too much could cause the cider to have off flavours too. As Fat Tony would say, "Listen to your heart". (This year I'll probably do a cider without sulphites too).
> 
> ...


I could count on one hand how many full batches of cider I've knocked out - so yeah, about six - cos it ain't really my thang. But the wife enjoys a few, as does a good mate, so I'll give it a whirl.

I suppose siphoning some sludge out of the ale fermenter wont hurt anything and would get the ball rolling around mid week. I'm also not a fan of grinding pills into hard won juice if I don't have to. So that's that. 
As for the S04, with past batches I've found, to my taste anyway, it leaves a little more of the 'fruity' taste, in other words, sugar behind, which is kind of what I'm chasing. Probably add about 10% pear juice to help that along also. 

The wine yeasts I used previously, it think it was EC-118 or something, were simply to mouth puckeringly dry for my liking. Would not use again.

Indecently, the batch I made around this time last year practically had the viscosity of 90 weight gearbox oil due to my inattentiveness ( see - half pissed) at removing the pulp and buildup from the juicer.
I diluted it out with some ALDI juice until it sloshed freely, added the yeast hoped for the best. 
Turned out great all the same. 
So there you go.


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