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pectic enzymes and juice

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abejita

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I just started a blueberry melomel using straight juice instead of the whole fruit, and didn't think to add pectic enzymes. Are they necessary in the case of using fruit juice? Is it too late to add, 4 days into fermentation?
 

Miriam

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Abejita,

I would add those pectic enzymes. If you cared to cook the juice, it would set and make a nice jam. I've added enzymes later on, having forgotten to add them in the first day, and my wine cleared with no haze. Actually I had a blackberry wine get a layer of gel on the surface; removed it, added enzymes, and it was fine.

Miriamcita :D
 

Dmntd

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Good morning abejita,

If memory serves, pectin shouldn't be a problem unless the fruit or juice has been boiled or heated extensively. I've added pectin enzym to a pyment that still had a haze 3 months in the carboy after fermentation ended, and it worked fine.

Anthony
 

lostnbronx

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Enzymes are often added to fresh fruit at the time of pressing, as they can also aid in juice extraction. Using only the juice, or a juice concentrate, as opposed to the fresh fruit, it's not important from that standpoint, but occasionally these things have been pasteurized before you buy them, and then the enzymes will help. And, as others have said, if you're going to be heating your must, you'll want to add them to prevent the haze (or even a jelly situation like Miriam's).

-David
 

Dmntd

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Hmmmm,

If you added pectin rather then pectin enzym could you get Blueberry Melomel jam 15% abv?

Anthony
 

byathread

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David Baldwin said:
Now THAT's a PBJ sandwich to put in your lunch!

Mmm-mmm!!

On a serious note, isn't it only boiling that sets the pectins? If that's the case, pasteurized juice should not cause any problems. I've used many pasteurized juices without adding enzymes and things have always cleared nicely.

Kirk
 

Oskaar

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Nah,

You can get pectin haze by heating/pasteurizing as well. If you really want to set the pectin, boil away! LOL

cheers,

Oskaar
 

byathread

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Oskaar said:
You can get pectin haze by heating/pasteurizing as well.

I'll count myself lucky then! Thanks for correcting me. Honestly, being a bit of a minimalist, I probably won't start adding enzymes to mels with pasteurized juices until I encounter a problem. If it ain't broke, don't fix, eh?

Cheers,
Kirk
 

SteveT

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daveyp77 said:
How do you add pectic enzyme and keep evrything steril? :-\

Minor point of correction here... the only way you can make something sterile is an autoclave... heat and pressure (think pressure cooker). Sanitization is what most mead, wine and beer makers practice. As long as you keep everything sanitized that touches your mead, you'll be fine! Pectic Enzyme can be added directly to the carboy then stirred. I usually like to remove a little must, into a sanitized measuring cup, stir in the pectic enzyme (with a sanitized spoon), then pour this back into the carboy and stir. You can use this same techinque for adding nutrients and you don't want to heat those first either.

Steve
 

SteveT

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daveyp77 said:
So don't boil any additives? ??? What happens if you do?

If you were to boil your nutrients you would likely make them completely useless.

Steve
 

Oskaar

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By boiling you're altering the basic chemical structure of the compound (including nutrients) in the mix. So don't boil your nutrients, there's no need.

cheers,

Oskaar
 

daveyp77

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ok. But how do i know that the manufacturer of the nutrients keeps thier product steril. The enzymes and nutrients come in a plastic package or bottle. Should i be concerened about that or just keep my measuring spoon clean? What do you think?

Thank you,

David
 

Oskaar

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Keep your instruments, fermentation vessel and everything else you are going to touch your must with clean and sanitized. There is no such thing as sterile meadmaking that I know of. It's kind of hard to fit everything into a giant autoclave, not to mention that it's pretty much a moot point since your yeast are designed to multiply so rapidly that they swarm and overrun any spoilage microorganisms present in the must. The best defense against infections in your mead is to follow proper aseptic technique, and make sure you practice your methods consistantly. I use four sets of egg timers when I'm making mead to ensure proper contact time with sanitizer, proper rehydration time for the yeast, proper atemperation time when I have to step down my yeast to must temperature.

As soon as you expose your nutrient to air, water, honey etc you are exposing it to airborne contaminants. Manufacturers do a pretty good job of making sure that they are not selling you infected ingredients because they wouldn't be in business long if they were sloppy, and they do have certain standards that they have to follow in order to sell their products. What those are, I don't know, but they're there nonetheless.

Cheers,

Oskaar
 

WRATHWILDE

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If the fruit juice you bought was reconstituted (from concentrate), chances are it was depectinized at the time of original pressing/concentrating... which is why a lot of people have had good luck with store bought juices. Usually it's only the highly acidic fruits that are not depectinized... grapefruit, orange, etc.

I've done a fair amount of research on how concentrates are made but didn't save the links, sorry.

Wrathwilde
 
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