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Non- fermenting cider???
Started with 6 gal of pasteurized apple cider
1/2 carton of aspen mulling spices.
yeast 1968 London ESB Ale Wyeast Activator
6 gal cider was placed in the fermenter along with Potassium Metabisulfite and allowed the cider to sit 24 hrs.
Next day 2 qts of cider was boiled with the mulling spices and introduced to the carboy. The yeast packet was popped and introduced. Several days have gone by and now no fermentation has been observed???
The cider was fresh pressed 100% apple juice... it did contain potassium sorbate sodium benzoate and malic acid... thoughts were that one of these could be inhibiting the growth. Soooo... we heated the batch to 160 degrees for 1 hr hoping to drive off the preservatives.... it now sits in the carboy in my lagering fridge, waiting for more yeast.
Is there anything we missed/ did wrong? Can this be fixed? Trying a test batch with generic dried brewer's yeast.
Please any help from a cider expert would be great.
The potassium sorbate is a yeast killer. Its used to stop yeast growth, fermentation, etc. I can't really say if heating the cider will have done anything. If using a juice from a store you need to make sure that it is labeled "no preservatives". A juice with preservatives will usually rot before it will ferment. My best results have been from going to a farmers market, natural foods store, or buying from big grocery stores in the organic section.
Now just to be sure, I am no cider expert and am very weak of fermentation science....but I don't think there is much you can do here to save the batch.....
heating the must is not going to remove the potassium sorbate, you will need to re-do it. check the ingredients and make sure there is no potassium sorbate.
As krausenator said, it won't go away with boiling.
To give you an idea, sodium sorbate, another common preservative, has a melting point of 300C (572F). Potassium sorbate is a similar compound and as such would have a similar melting point.
So even if you could heat your must to 300C, the potassium sorbate would be liquid, then you would have to seperate it, etc.
As c0rky2643 said, the best is to go to a local farm, etc. and get it straight from them.
Well it is nice to know that your batch is certainly screwed!!!
Do you think I could put it into an incenerator and then reconstitute the ash. Another idea.... maybe I can find a chemical that will bind to the potassium sorbate and allow it to percipitate out of solution. I think I read that cianide does this well... LOL
Well, at least you know its screwed. I have had a couple of batches that I messed up, and I tried everything under the sun to save them....the only problem (and what I learned the hard way) is that a batch is messed up its gone and only under very few circumstances is it going to be salvageable.
Good luck on the next batch!
KyNGmedic wrote:
Well it is nice to know that your batch is certainly screwed!!!
Do you think I could put it into an incenerator and then reconstitute the ash. Another idea.... maybe I can find a chemical that will bind to the potassium sorbate and allow it to percipitate out of solution. I think I read that cianide does this well... LOL
Even if you incenerate it and reconstitute it'll still be there. How about just drink if as cider (not hard cider). Now that you've infused it with yeast it should be realy healthy for you.
I am soooooooo 
!!!
Apparently the local apple crop got frost bitten in the spring & 90% of the crop was lost. My hopes of sparkling cider, down the drain.
So today I'm in a grocery store, low and behold, there's cider for under $4/gal from a local cider mill. WOW. So, real fast, I grab 6 gal. Get home and find, in very small freaking type, "1/10 of 1% Potassium Sorbate added to preserve freshness".
Then and only then, do I check this thread. 
So, we'll be pushing cider. Should be good with breakfast, right?
Brewski wrote:
I am soooooooo
Apparently the local apple crop got frost bitten in the spring & 90% of the crop was lost. My hopes of sparkling cider, down the drain.
So today I'm in a grocery store, low and behold, there's cider for under $4/gal from a local cider mill. WOW. So, real fast, I grab 6 gal. Get home and find, in very small freaking type, "1/10 of 1% Potassium Sorbate added to preserve freshness".
Then and only then, do I check this thread.
So, we'll be pushing cider. Should be good with breakfast, right?
LOL.... Sorry man but it's nice to see someone that fell under the same demise! WHY!!!!! All you can do is laugh, cause the crying is just too sad.
In some of the reading I have done, it indicates that potassium sorbate does not kill the yeast, but prevents it from further fermentation, like going into stasis or something. Somebody had this problem, but was able to get his batch going by making a starter with a second pack of yeast, then adding that to his sorbated batch.
Yeah, 3 years later. Maybe it will help somebody in the future, though.
No Sh*t,
I always thought Pot Sorb. was the end all to all yeast.
Could you come back with more detail.
I thought that pot sorb just stopped yeast from dividing. and that if you kept adding yeast to the mix that you would eventually overwhelm it. That is why you add it to a ferm that is almost over. Putting ,condoms if you will, on all the yeast, When there are only a few dividing cells left. If there are not enough condoms to go around then more and more babies will be born continuing the fermentation. If there is someone out there that has a more in-depth look at pot-sorb then I am more than willing to hear it but that is how it was explained to me.
ID
Aha! Found the article!
http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing … -is-wrong/
That article has a link in it that leads to ANOTHER article that tells you how much K-sorbate to add based on alcohol content, somewhat useful.
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