Steamer caution(?)

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PPBart

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I've been doing some research on making port-style wines and in browsing thru my a copy of Winemaking by Stanley & Dorothy Anderson I noticed this cautionary note in the introduction to the section on "Berry Wines":

"Do not use a steamer to extract juices because steaming oxidizes juice."

The book is copyrighted 1989, so I wonder if that warning refers to the steam juicers we have available today(?)
 
Dont worry about it.
After steaming I usually "can" the juice. It cant oxidize at thie stage. Enev if you ferment right away its to hot to oxidixe. I say trash that and forget abouta it.
 
I use a steamer myself sometimes and agree with Tom.

Just make sure you double or triple the amount of pectic enzymes as steaming will release a lot of pectine which can make the wine difficult to clear.

Luc
 
I use a steamer myself sometimes and agree with Tom.

Just make sure you double or triple the amount of pectic enzymes as steaming will release a lot of pectine which can make the wine difficult to clear.

Luc

Hmmm... wish I'd known about increasing the PE earlier...

I borrowed a juicer recently from a friend to try it out. Of course, I didn't have any fruit handy. Local Walmart had Bing cherries on sale for a good price, so I bought about 7 lbs; also bought 12 lbs of red delicious apples from a local fruit stand. I got about 3.5 ltrs juice from the apples and a bit over 1 ltr from the cherries. After some testing/tasting I decided to blend the apple and cherry together for a small wine batch. Primary fermentation went well, and it's now in secondary -- airlock still burping every minute or so -- and it seems to be dropping a lot of sediment. I'll probably leave it in secondary for a few weeks, then rack to a clean carboy.

I added 2 tsp of PE to the original (~5.5 ltr) batch. Should I add more now, or perhaps when I next rack?

BTW -- I recently retired after ~24 years working for DSM. I've been to the Netherlands many times, always enjoyed the country and people.
 

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