Sulphite tolerance

Related terms

Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.

• Fermentation

  Sulphiting

  Adding sulphur dioxide, usually as potassium or sodium metabisulphite, to juice or cider to suppress spoilage organisms, inhibit oxidation and enzymatic browning, and give a selected yeast a clear field.

• Microbiology

  Zygosaccharomyces

  A genus of osmotolerant, highly sulphite-resistant yeasts, chiefly *Zygosaccharomyces bailii*, which can referment sweetened cider and concentrate despite preservative doses that stop other yeasts.

• Microbiology

  Saccharomycodes ludwigii

  A large, sulphite-tolerant spoilage yeast that ferments slowly, throws a coarse sediment and produces high acetaldehyde. It is a recurrent nuisance in sweetened and lightly treated ciders.

• Chemistry

  Molecular sulphur dioxide

  The undissociated fraction of free sulphur dioxide, and the only form that is antimicrobial. Its share of the free sulphite is governed by pH and falls sharply as pH rises.

• Microbiology

  Brettanomyces

  A genus of slow-growing yeasts, *Dekkera* in its sexual form, that survive in wood and in finished cider and produce volatile phenols smelling of farmyard, leather, spice and sticking plaster.

Where to go next

• Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
• Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
• Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.

Sources

What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.

• Peer-reviewed literature on cider fermentation microbiology

  Various journals · peer-reviewed literature · registered as competent for this subject

  Covers the microbial succession of spontaneous cider fermentation, the role of non-Saccharomyces yeasts in the early stages, malolactic conversion by Oenococcus and Lactobacillus species, and the organisms behind the principal spoilage faults.

• The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing

  Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24

  Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.