Steam Juicing

[Jerry1]

Gonna try this tomorrow for 1st time. I have pears. Fresh picked today. About 19 gallons. Do not have enough room in the freezer so I'm going to forgo that step.. Thought process is to scrub them good, quarter and cut out the core. Don't plan on peeling. Also have plums, cheeriesand blackberries in the freezer. If I understand this process correctly all I have to do isput the fruit in the steamer,put the juice in aglass jar and put this through a hot bath for 10 minutes. Am I missing anything?

 

[Bert]

Be sure to keep water in the lower pot....do not boil dry..having an extra pot of boiling water on hand helps a lot...lower pot usually last about 1 1/2 hrs.....I usually steam each batch from 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. [will depend on the fruit] ...if you have hard water, it will leave a film in your boiling pot...to clean I add two packs of lemon-lime unsweetened kool-aid to a near full pot of water...bring to a boil and let it set a bit, drain and boiling pot comes out very clean...hope this helps..GOOD LUCK

 

[Waldo]

I add about a cup of sugar to each batch I am juicing which aids in the extraction. I also pour aboutthe first quart of juice back over the fruit in the steamer which helps in the extraction.
Bert is "right on" about not letting your pot run out of water. I did on my first steamerand ruined my boiling pot and had to replace it. I also modified my next one to aid in the addition of water when needed without having to lift off the rest of the steamer. I think the picture following will explain it well enough

 

[Brewgrrrl]

Waldo! That is awesome.

 

[gaudet]

100% agreed with Waldo and Bert. If you haven't done your juicing run already I would suggest getting rid of the freezer stuff first to freeze some of those pears, as it will maximize your juice yield.

For hard water stains in the boiling pot, I use Barkeepers friend, works great and you can use it on your other stainless steel pots and pans and and surfaces to make your SS sparkle brightly....

 

[Cracked Cork]

I forget who had mentioned the idea at first but one clever member puts marbles in her steamer bottom, they jiggle around while it has water in it, if they stop jiggling you are in trouble and need to add water NOW. CC

 

[Tom]

I like that idea. Do you do that?

 

[Jerry1]

I've taken gaudets advice and I have steamed the plums. From 15 lbs I got6 3/4quarts of juice. I'll set out the cherries tonight and do them in the AM. Would have thought 15 lbs of plums would have given more juice. Fifteen pounds is suppose to make 3 gallons, right?


Got to get the pears ready for the freezer.


Jerry

 

[gaudet]

So you got almost 7 quarts of juice out of 15 pounds of plums. I'd say that's a pretty good yield, but I have never juiced plumbs before. I would use 6 quarts of juice for 3 gallons of wine. Thats 50% of your wine as pure juice. You will have to add some sugar to it to get your starting gravity up to about 1.080

I would take your juice and add water to 3 gallons to get the gravity of your solution. Then you would just need to figure out how much sugar to add. To add your sugar, I would take 2-3 quarts of your must and add it to your boiling pot along with the sugar and heat it up to dissolve the sugar, no need to boil it, but it wouldn't hurt. Then add it back to your fermenter, with pectic enzyme and your prescribed K-meta (1/8 tsp or 3 campden tablets) and cover for 24 hours. Then pitch away with your yeast.

Save that last 3/4 quart for if you need a F-pack.

 

[Tom]

So you got almost 7 quarts of juice out of 15 pounds of plums. I'd say that's a pretty good yield, but I have never juiced plumbs before. I would use 6 quarts of juice for 3 gallons of wine. Thats 50% of your wine as pure juice. You will have to add some sugar to it to get your starting gravity up to about 1.080

I would take your juice and add water to 3 gallons to get the gravity of your solution. Then you would just need to figure out how much sugar to add. To add your sugar, I would take 2-3 quarts of your must and add it to your boiling pot along with the sugar and heat it up to dissolve the sugar, no need to boil it, but it wouldn't hurt. Then add it back to your fermenter, with pectic enzyme and your prescribed K-meta (1/8 tsp or 3 campden tablets) and cover for 24 hours. Then pitch away with your yeast.

Save that last 3/4 quart for if you need a F-pack.

DITTO !

 

[Jerry1]

Well, the wife has seen how this works and has decided she wants to make plum jelly. As this is one of my favorites I now need to get another couple pounds of plums and juice them.


Going to do the cherries today.


Have part of the pears in the freezer now. They do take up some room.

 

[gaudet]

Stock up on mason jars. They will come in handy. I'm going to bet you guys already know how to can and preserve.

 

[Jerry1]

Cherries are completed and we got 8 qts from 15 lbs. I'm very pleased with that. Wife now wants a guart and a half for jelly. Think that will leave me enough to make 3 gallons of wine and that's what I was after. I'm either going to have to go dumpster diving or start buying some bottles from Geo. The folks that were giving me bottles have either quit drinking or figure they aren't going to get any back. Guess I'll have to give them some and tell'em not to drink before a certain date. I approached a few of the restaurants about saving them for me, but couldn't get any cooperation. Don't know of a winery close enough to visit their tasting room and beg for empties. I've got15 gallons about ready for bottling. Got to find more bottles before I can make much more wine.

 

[gaudet]

Cherries are completed and we got 8 qts from 15 lbs. I'm very pleased with that. Wife now wants a guart and a half for jelly. Think that will leave me enough to make 3 gallons of wine and that's what I was after. I'm either going to have to go dumpster diving or start buying some bottles from Geo. The folks that were giving me bottles have either quit drinking or figure they aren't going to get any back. Guess I'll have to give them some and tell'em not to drink before a certain date. I approached a few of the restaurants about saving them for me, but couldn't get any cooperation. Don't know of a winery close enough to visit their tasting room and beg for empties. I've got15 gallons about ready for bottling. Got to find more bottles before I can make much more wine.

For more color and juice extraction you could save and freeze the pulp of your victims (juiced fruit) and put it in a sanitized stocking or mesh bag and add it to the fermenter. If you do this you will get a little more juice out of it and and deeper color extraction from the skins. Just punch down the bag at least once a day to make sure it stays wet. When you go to transfer to secondary carboy and airlock you will just need to sanitize your hands and squeeze the wine out of the pulp back into the must

For bottles check out craigslist, your local recycler, and any place that might host wedding receptions. That is some of the best sources, unless you happen to live near a wino.

 

[Jerry1]

Well, the little town I'm in doesn't recycle and I don't know of one close that does. Craigslist comes from Dallas and surrounding area but I've only seen bottles on there once. I haven't made contact with a wedding planner as yet and I'm turning into the wino. I'm not even sure of where there is a recycling place in north east Texas. I'll check that out.


When I purchased the steamer there were skimpy directions and no suggestions as to what all could be with this thing.. Anybody have any suggestions for reading material? Would seem it should be good atsaving fresh vegetables from the garden, but how long would you steam something?

 

[Waldo]

Jerry
Here is a link to the free recipe book Meu-Liisa sends with their steamers. It has lots of good recipes and info


http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/steam-juicers/Mehu-Liisa-Recipes.pdf

 

[Jerry1]

Waldo, thanks for the listing.


gaudet, I read your input on the pulp too late. I had already trashed it. I'll remember that for the future though.


All of the juice has been put away for a few weeks. We're at that time of year when the temp will break and stay down, and I want to work on my little shop. Need to put some lights in and find some place for the wifes stuff. Of course it's mainly her stuff in there and there's a lot of it.

 

[gaudet]

Jerry,

It's a lot easier to store the canned juice then it is the frozen fruit. I think I still have 20 quarts of blackberry juice in my wine closet. I need to do something with them soon so I can steam juice my blueberries from last year. I also got a gallon of honey I need to mead.

It's a sickness I tell ya. But love it

 

[Tom]

Yep thats what I do. I have maybe 20+ gallons of different steamed (fruit) juice in canning jars.


Today I got 17# (net)of Raspberries for just a few bucks ($5.00). All I had to do was pick thru them and freeze till I have time to juice.

 

[Cracked Cork]

16 quarts of blackberry juice, 1 gallon of honey, a handfull of oak chips and you got a great mead

crackedcork