mouse got in stored apples

[Bill Carwile]

Hello everyone,

I am in the US and usually do only one or two small (5 gal.) batches of cider from my back yard black twig tree.

I recently stored my small batch of apples for about two weeks in a shed until I had time to juice them and discovered that mice had gotten in one box and helped themselves to a few apples and left droppings on the shelf next to were they were stored.    I threw out all of the apples that had evidence of mouse damage and washed them more carefully than usual and went ahead and made juice.   I froze the juice until I can set up my plastic fermentation bucket in a couple of days for cider.   Now I am beginning to have reservations about the condition of the apples and whether the alcohol content will take care of any contamination from the mice.

I only make one or two small batches of cider a year and usually do a half dose of sulfite based on the pH and then do a partial wild ferment.     Is the partial dose of sulfite O.K. given the issue with the mice or should I do a full sulfite treatment and then use a commercial yeast?   Or should I simply toss the juice and take better care of the apples the next time?

Thanks,

Bill C.   

[Patrick McCauley]

Hey Bill. This is always a problem when storing apples in barns or garages. I believe e.coli would be your primary concern here, and from what I have read 2% alcohol is enough to take care of that. You just don't want to drink sweet cider made from apples that the mice have been pooping on due to the risk of e.coli contamination. I've made cider from apples in a similar state, and just proceeded with my low sulfite dose and didn't have issues. Others may disagree, but I've always used drops and apples of questionable cleanliness and have never had issues. If I'm making sweet cider, I take a much more careful approach. 

Pat McCauley

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[Andrew Lea]



Just proceed as normal. Here in the UK we routinely use all manner of ground harvested fruit with all manner of critter contamination on it. A good wash as you have done is all you need. The alcoholic fermentation at low juice pH will kill coliforms and Salmonella so the final cider will be quite safe. Extra sulphite will be of no special value. 

Andrew 

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[Bill Carwile]

Patrick,

Thanks.   That is what I thought but I started to have second thoughts about doing my usual 1/2 dose of sulfite and a partial wild ferment.

Bill.  

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cider-workshop/CAEUfQOyHt8hHWPPgaPrZTGsvLoEm41XVOJ%2BF%3DYyoGruTjiWwAA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Bill Carwile]

Andrew,

Thanks.  That is what I thought but I started to have second thoughts about potential mouse pee and poop after having time to think about it.   I'll go ahead with my usual 1/2 dose of sulfite based on the pH and a partial wild ferment.  

Thanks again.

Bill

On Monday, November 15, 2021, 05:38:23 PM EST, Andrew Lea <ci...@cider.org.uk> wrote:



 Just proceed as normal. Here in the UK we routinely use all manner of ground harvested fruit with all manner of critter contamination on it. A good wash as you have done is all you need. The alcoholic fermentation at low juice pH will kill coliforms and Salmonella so the final cider will be quite safe. Extra sulphite will be of no special value. 

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cider-workshop/E162CB79-DE6A-4D9D-8379-3AE766FC954D%40cider.org.uk.