Sodium Benzoate
 

I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm interested in
fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong starter be
hindered by it presense?

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm interested
> in
> fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong starter
> be
> hindered by it presense?

I've never tried it myself, but I'd bet that you'd have trouble getting a
fermentation to go smoothly - if at all - in its presence. Buy some flash
pasteurized or fresh juice instead.

Tom S

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm interested
> in
> fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong starter
> be
> hindered by it presense?

I've never tried it myself, but I'd bet that you'd have trouble getting a
fermentation to go smoothly - if at all - in its presence. Buy some flash
pasteurized or fresh juice instead.

Tom S

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm interested
> in
> fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong starter
> be
> hindered by it presense?

I've never tried it myself, but I'd bet that you'd have trouble getting a
fermentation to go smoothly - if at all - in its presence. Buy some flash
pasteurized or fresh juice instead.

Tom S

J F wrote:
> I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm
interested in
> fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong
starter be
> hindered by it presense?

I'm guessing it won't ferment at all, and here's how I figure it. In
my college days, you could buy unpasturized, preservative free apple
cider. The stuff would ferment in the fridge after only a couple of
days. The store-bought stuff that contains a trace of preservatives
doesn't do that.

Now, maybe grape juice is different from fresh squeezed apple cider.
And maybe modern wine yeast strains are more immune to benzoate than
wild apple skin yeasts. But I'm betting the main reason the
preservative is there in the first place is to prevent fruit juice from
becoming wine before you serve it to the kids. Probably carefully
dosed to insure fermentation doesn't happen.

After all, an acid juice, stored in the fridge, should be safe from
bacterial spoilage for a short period of time before you finish the
container. Even an infant would reject spoiled juice at the first sip,
but a 1-2% alcohol juice wouldn't be noticeable -- until they started
demanding more, tipping over more often, getting into fights, and tried
to pick up loose women arond the sandbox.

If they are going to the trouble and expense of adding a preservative to a
juice, they are going to pick one that inhibits yeast which would be one of
the prime things that would make a juice go bad (good?).

Ray

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> I've noticed this being used as preservative in few juices I'm interested
> in
> fermenting. How strong a yeast inhibitor is it and would a strong starter
> be
> hindered by it presense?
>
>