Question About Steam Juicer

[mrzazz]

So I'm in the process of steaming strawberries. I have a few questions.
How do you know your done steaming a batch? It looks like the berries are still wet in the top pot, but nothing has come out of the hose in 10 minutes or so. I probably got 2 gallons of juice out of the full pot. No clogs I mixed around with a spoon, the strainer holes are clear. Also any use for the left over steamed berries? Thanks for helping.

 

[mrzazz]

And should I stir/move the berries around in the top or just leave them alone?

 

[dralarms]

Pour some of the juice back through. Also, once it stops dropping juice, take them out and drop them in the juice, it will boost the color and flavor.

 

[mrzazz]

I did pour some juice on top of the batch in the steamer. i just thought the berries would be more condensed. Maybe I'm over thinking this

 

[dralarms]

Probably not. When it stops running it's time to dump the berries in your juice and either start your next batch or get the juice ready for fermentation.

 

[mrzazz]

I got about 10 gallons of juice out of 95 lbs of strawberries. The steamer worked great but thought it would yield a little more juice. Of course with hardly any sediment to rack off of I'm sure in the end it will yield more wine. I mixed 1 gallon of water with 3 gallons of pure juice. Started at about 1.75 have to do a TA test yet. To see how much acid blend I'll need. Not much flavor left in the left over strawberries I guess it did it's job. CHEERS

 

[dralarms]

That's pretty close to what I expected. I just suggested placing the pulp into to juice to bring out a little more color. If you got that much I doubt flavor will be a problem but I like my strawberry to look like strawberry so I always leave the pulp until I transfer to secondary.

 

[SBWs]

To me it sounds like you may be going a little long. At some point you will be getting mostly water. I normally get around a pint of juice for each pound of berries. The riper the berries the more juice you will get so it could be a little more. Also when done I turn the heat off and let it sit for a few hours. Any remaining juice will drain down.

I've never put the leftover strawberries in the must because of the many many small seeds in strawberries.

Short story; I did try making a elderberry pie from the leftovers from steaming elderberries. What I ended up with was a elderberry seed pie. Wasn't as much left of the berries as I thought in the end.

Also, if you stir the top of the steamer, the seeds will make it into the juice.

After seeing your final numbers you look close, I figure 11.75 gallons for 95 lbs. That would be for real ripe berries.