Cider Digest #0386

Published in

· 9 Apr 2024

Subject: sweet ciders (Can you believe it, this post isn't about lead!?) 
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1993 17:20:25 -0800 (PST) 
From: _Ralph Reed <reedr@BCC.ORST.EDU> 

[Disclaimer: I am not suggesting the use of any chemical, including cider; 
I don't know what I'm doing; you should only take the advice of a 
professional pharmacist; and I hope that covers my rear legally.] 

        I read on this group a few weeks back that some people have tried 
to make sweet ciders by either using certain yeasts or by adding sodium 
benzoate.  I have explored the latter a bit.  I was able to purchase a 
pound of sodium benzoate for about $9.75 by special ordering it through a 
pharmacist.  Apparently there are a number of chemicals that are available 
if you ask the pharmacist and if it is not a controlled chemical.  I then 
called for advice from a friend who used to work for a major American soft 
drink manufacturer as a chemist.  He told me that almost all of the soft 
drinks contain 500ppm sodium benzoate, which comes out to one-half of one 
tenth of a percent, which is 0.05 percent.  He told me that only a few 
brands with very old recipes, such as Classic Coke, original Pepsi, and 
original 7-Up do not contain this additive, and that essentially all the 
rest do have it.  It is present to prevent yeast growth in these products, 
which contain around 10 to 11 percent sugar.  Soft drink labels often say 
that they contain "less than one-tenth of one percent."  This was the 
same instruction given on the chemical that I purchased. 
        Being the novice at cider making that I am (although I have made 
sparkling wine [methode champenoise] for several years), I used champagne 
yeast, which will ferment my first cider attempt to dryness.  So, I will 
try to add some sugar to some of the batch, make some it sparkling, and 
keep some it "as is." 
        I would appreciate any help from readers of this group as to: 
1)  their experience in using sodium benzoate and sugar in cider 
2)  their preferences as to the percent residual sugar in finished sweet 
cider, whether using the chemical or not 
3)  any other tasting experience with commercial cider batches of known 
sugar concentration. 
        I will try to post later about some tasting experiences in Spain 
and France.  If anyone would like to post on cider tasting around the US 
or around the world, I for one, would like to hear about it. 
                              
Thanks in advance for your input. 

                             ralph reed 
                             Corvallis, Oregon 

 

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