Pectic enzyme

[Vlabruz]

Any benefit to adding this?

 

[ChuckD]

Any benefit to adding this?

Pectic enzyme is added to almost every wine made with real fruit at the beginning of the ferment. It helps break down cell walls in the fruit, releasing the sugar and other components into the must. From what I read there are actually several different types/brands that work better with certain fruits or lead to different flavors in the wine. I have only used the standard pectic enzyme from LD Carlson.

 

[Vlabruz]

Pectic enzyme is added to almost every wine made with real fruit at the beginning of the ferment. It helps break down cell walls in the fruit, releasing the sugar and other components into the must. From what I read there are actually several different types/brands that work better with certain fruits or lead to different flavors in the wine. I have only used the standard pectic enzyme from LD Carlson.

Thanks, so being skeeter doesn't use whole fruit, its not necessary?

 

[Rice_Guy]

Pectin enzyme is a protein molecule which accomplishes the cutting of pectin molecules/ reducing pectin solubility. This aids in juice extraction and with high pectin fruits like apple and peach, ,, and helps with clearing suspended matter. Pectase has reduced activity in alcohol so it is best to add it early.

an argument for adding always; with a high pectin food (one which can make jelly without adding Surgel) it aids in clarifying the finished wine, relatively low cost, it is protein and can give a little YAN to yeast.
an argument to limit usage: if the fruit can’t make jelly by boiling the fruit it really isn’t needed, extra cost, added late in the process it is less effective, the issue it is fixing is cosmetic, this is a material extracted from Aspergillus a fungus.

All in all it doesn’t really hurt, ,,, but a lot of posts suggest using it on a fruit where there isn’t a lot of pectin so it is wasted effort, your lemon juice being an example.

 

[winemaker81]

I generally add pectic enzyme to fruit wines as it's a low cost solution, and I've had enough wines that didn't come out crystal clear without help, so it saves a step. Plus it helps break down the fruit for better extraction. Cosmetic appeal is important to me, so it's worth doing.

Skeeter Pee? I wouldn't think it's necessary, but depending on how the lemon juice is processed, it might.

An interesting experiment would be 2 batches of SP, one with and one without.