Pectinase in fruit liqueur, help!! :D

[hannah141]

I went to a brew shop who advised me that the clouding in my damson liqueur was most likely pectin haze and they prescribed me Pectinase

I was told to add the stated dosage and then leave well alone to see any effect after 24 hours and to then add more if no effect.

I have a couple of questions though:

I realise that Pectinase works best when added at an earlier stage. Has anyone had success with it when adding after straining as and emergency measure?!

If the Pectinase doesn't work, it looks like I will have to rack off, leaving the pectin & other very fine sediment in the bottom of my giant carboy. My question is, will this affect the flavour? i.e. will the good key flavour stuff have sunk to the bottom, leaving an inferior product at the top? Or is the flavour evenly distributed throughout?

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Pikey]

Plums - pectin - yes !

Cudos to the guy at the brew shop for twigging this. We have another thread here about clearing liqueur

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =4&t=24305

Pectinase is probably the answer to your problem. As to taste, keep a little aside and treat the rest - then perhaps you could give us your assessment on the other thread where Mikey Moo suggests this line of treatment.

[NZChris]

If you distill, you leave any pectin, pH and haze problems in the boiler.

[hannah141]

I've not been distilling, just compounding. I've currently got a small bottle sitting with a bit of pectinase in it to see what effect it would have.

My other option as previously mentioned, pectinase failing, is to siphon off the top lot which is looking quite likely at the moment! Then I can treat the pectin heavy 'sludge' at the bottom...

All an experimental game at the moment! Is there a maximum dosage of pectinase? I'm not talking heaps obviously, but I don't know how cautious I should be with it...

[still_stirrin]

...Is there a maximum dosage of pectinase? I'm not talking heaps obviously, but I don't know how cautious I should be with it...

Here, read this thread: http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... 38&t=27379" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
And another: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4864

But don't freak out. Have a read of this dialog: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p7295822

The HDGoogle search tool will find a lot of answers for you. There is a "how to" link in my signature.
ss

[Pikey]

That Paulinka whose post Stillstirrin links to in his second link is a seriously knowledgeable distiller of fruit washes and his opinion should be taken seriously

You say you're Not distilling it. Any conversion of pectin to methanol (tiny though it might be) can only happen during fermentation. so soaking fruit in spirit can leach out pectin, but that will NOT be converted to methanol in any way shape or form. Don't worry about that in your case.

[Ss - your second link takes us straight to the post you intended and the link "looks different" - How do you do that please? ]

[Mikey-moo]

[Ss - your second link takes us straight to the post you intended and the link "looks different" - How do you do that please? ]

It's the "#p7295822" on the end of the link that takes you to the actual post, rather than just the start of the thread.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Each post has its own bold title. Click that, and it gives you the page position link instead of the beginning of the page. Then copy the link.

[NZChris]

I've not been distilling, just compounding.

What is that?

[hannah141]

Thank you so much for your help everyone, it's been some interesting reading!
For the moment, I'm under a bit of pressure so I'm going to rack off to start with then deal with the pectin haze at a later date!

@NZChris Compounding is just the blending of a spirit, usually with fruit. It considerably alters the taste of the alcohol without increasing the alcohol content - no fermentation. All the sloe gins and liqueurs and similar are compounded spirits

[NZChris]

I'd never heard it called that. I eat the fruit with icecream, decant off the clear, then give the dregs a swirl and filter them through my liver.

[Kareltje]

Nice to get some instructions on citing posts and threads. Did not know that!

About methanol and pectinase: methanol is formed by the breakdown of pectin by pectinase. I read an article in a papermagazine in a real world library, that compared different strains of pectase. The best working kind resulted in the most methanol. Sorry: I can not link to it.
I think that is the same in fermentation of fruit juices or in clearing of fruit macerations.

[NZChris]

I was thinking about this today and occurred to me that you hadn't told us how you got yourself into this situation. I've done a lot of fruit steeps and never had a problem with haze.

When asking questions here, the usefulness of the replies depends to a very large degree on the relevance of the info supplied and you didn't tell us anything about your process. If we knew what you did do, we might be able help you this season and we might be able to help you not make the same mistakes next season.