13 replies to this topic

[Genesee Ted]

I picked up some pectinase the other day because I have an apricot mead in secondary that is still extremely cloudy after 6 or 7 months. It tastes really good, if not a bit hot right now. Time will surely fix that, but it seems to not be doing the same for the haze. The instructions on the container indicate usage in musts before fermentation. Is there any reason that it would not work now? Or for that matter any good reason not to?

[Hightest]

My food references note that apricots are low in pectin. As such your haze may be the result of something else. Perhaps it's time to try Sparkolloid...

[Genesee Ted]

I tried sparkelloid already... Twice...

[Hightest]

I tried sparkelloid already... Twice...

Ouch! Are you certain you used the hot-mix type and not cold-mix...?

[Genesee Ted]

The sparkolloid I boil before adding it in, as per instructions. I suppose I could give it another go. I just can't figure out why it is so hazy. Usually, I use Sparkolloid to clear all my meads in order to free up fermenter space and bottle age from 6 months on. I have never had a mead be so stubborn.

[Hightest]

The sparkolloid I boil before adding it in, as per instructions. I suppose I could give it another go. I just can't figure out why it is so hazy. Usually, I use Sparkolloid to clear all my meads in order to free up fermenter space and bottle age from 6 months on. I have never had a mead be so stubborn.

It sounds like you are using the hot-mix type. Yet, I would agree it is puzzling why it failed to clear-up the mead.

[Genesee Ted]

Well, cloudy apricot mel aside, I still have this pectinase and wonder about my original question as far as its usage.

[Wayne B]

Well, cloudy apricot mel aside, I still have this pectinase and wonder about my original question as far as its usage.

Pectinase will work after fermentation is complete, but its rate of activity is slowed significantly in the presence of ethanol. So you can add it and if your haze is caused by pectins, then the mead will eventually clear. Pectinase is best added before fermentation has begun, for optimal speed.However, hot mix sparkolloid will usually bind with pectins and clear most meads that are cloudy due to pectin haze. So, I don't know if the pectic enzymes will help you in this case.

[BeesNBrews]

Fresh apricots or packaged? Processing could have contributed to what is actually in the apricots.From my experience: Over the last three years, I have noted that meads I make with cappings honey is consistently and stubbornly cloudy--could be the honey. Three batches of honey over three years--mead from cappings honey is cloudy and mead from extracted honey [same year, same crop] clears easily.Definition: Cappings are the wax cover that the bees put on a cell of honey for storage. When extracting, the cappings are cut from the comb, thereby opening the cell so the honey can be extracted. Honey is drained form the cappings and tends to have a lot of "stuff" in it which is mostly removed by straining but pollen, wax, propolis and other natural contaminants are still present.I don't know why this happens, but after three batches of cloudy mead I sell the cappings honey and use the other for mead. Even the cloudy batch clears with a year or more in bulk aging. Clarifying agents were only marginally effective. The point: Don't blame the fruit, it could be the honey.

[Wayne B]

Guest, pectic enzyme activity is in general slowed in the presence of ethanol. I say in general because pectolytic activity is actually a complex multi-step organic chemical process and "pectic enzyme" is a term used to describe several pectolytic enzymes that are blended together and act in unison to break down pectins into simpler polysaccharides and saccharides (including glucose). Some of the pectic enzymes's active agents are suppressed in the presence of high ethanol concentrations; others are not. Likewise solutions too high in sugar can slow pectolytic activity. Pectic enzymes also effect the chemicals that bond anthocyanins, so if you use the correct blend of enzymes on red fruit, you'll get more color extraction. However, the wrong blend of enzymes used in red-fruit musts that may cause some of the color to fade. It is true that pectins can be extracted from solutions of fruit juices by the addition of alcohol, but that is unrelated to the hydrolytic activity of pectinases. In fact there is a classic test of the amount of pectin in a solution; if you use methanol instead of ethanol, you can get the pectins present in any solution to form heavy enough molecular chains that they will almost completely precipitate out of the solution, as a cloudy gel at the bottom of the container. But obviously you don't want to go adding methyl alcohol to your wines or meads, unless it is on a small amount used for testing only!

[ScottS]

From my experience: Over the last three years, I have noted that meads I make with cappings honey is consistently and stubbornly cloudy--could be the honey. Three batches of honey over three years--mead from cappings honey is cloudy and mead from extracted honey [same year, same crop] clears easily.

Interesting. I've always mixed the two and have never had an issue.I'm extracting tomorrow.

[BeesNBrews]

Interesting. I've always mixed the two and have never had an issue.I'm extracting tomorrow.

I used to use a hot knife for uncapping so I always drained that into a different container; the carmelization from the knife made it a bit darker. I don't use the hot knife anymore, but still process separately. Anyway, I don't know if it is higher amount of pollen or wax in the cappings, but the mead is much slower to clear--bentonite and sparkeloid gave very little relief. My ultimate test would be to go back to an all cappings mead again and see if I can reproduce the cloudiness. I haven't used it for mead in a couple years.How was your season? Hives here are light and people are feeding on a regular basis.

[dondewey]

In a fully fermented ~5% cider, pectinase takes an entire 48 hours to completely clear. Magical stuff. Dunno how the clearing time changes with alcohol content, but unless it's extremely sub-parabolic I think you should be able to wait it out...

[ScottS]

How was your season? Hives here are light and people are feeding on a regular basis.

All of my splits died off, so a crappy year from that perspective. Very average otherwise. 2 medium supers chock full, per hive. I'm surprised it was that good, since it was a very cool summer.I had one hive put up honey so thick that I could hardly get it out of the frames. Very strange, I'd never seen that before.