Bad apricot wine (was "...Pectinase...")

Sep 02, 2004 1 Replies

So I added pectinase to the "gluelike" apricot wine I made and described in an earlier post. Waited a week, didn't help. I filtered about 1/2 gallon through some cheescloth and save it for interest, and dumped the rest. It still has the consistency of thin glue. I'll let it sit in the back of a closet for awhile and see what happens.



Theories?



I have 2:


  1. Pediococcus infection. It tasted off, kind of bitter and nasty. I know pedio this can make beer ropey, but I've never seen it in any fruit wine I've made, and I've been at it for may years. For what's it's worth I never use sulphites (tho' I wash the fruit well), so maybe my technique (or lack of it) finally caught up with me.


  1. I used a small hand blender to pulverize the fruit. I didn't go at it until it was totally liquified, but I hit it pretty good. Previously I've always crushed using utensils like potato mashers, etc. Could I have somehow developed the pectin in the fruit by overly agitating it?


--arne


Yes and yes You don't need to go that far. Simply dicing up the fruit will give the yeast plenty of access. I would have at least tried fining the wine with some gelatin or something before dumping it....

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