Using a liquidiser... or blender

[fatbloke]

I use a blender to make a fruit mush. I put the pectolase in with the fruit prior to blending, give it a whizz, then into the primary.
Using a jelly bag (straining bag), I dont have problems with straining. I dont squeeze every last drop out, just what runs freely through the bag pluss a quick, light squeeze. Any more and the gloop starts coming through.

The reason I do it like this is becuase it exposes much more of the fruit to the enzyme and water for a greater amount of flavour extraction. I can thus afford to be a little wasteful when it comes to the straining.

The peach wine you mentioned in your opening post works very well put through a blender. IIRC, I've strained this with a seive and it works just fine.

I rack as soon as a gross lees (a first heavy sediment) settles, this is probably heavier than perhaps it would be if I just mushed with a potato masher or by hand. Then another racking when fermentation is complete as usuall.

Having said that, the peach blush I make often drops clear so fast there's no point in racking of the gross lees then again at end of fermentation.

some of that is good practice, but you'll also find that some fruit mush down so fine in a blender/liquidiser/food proc' that they take forever to clear and can be very stubborn when getting "fined".

I don't tend to blend the fruit with a machine, but I've put the fruit into a straining bag, then all the other ingredients into a bucket, and then put the straining bag in the bucket, that way, after a couple of days you can give it a gentle squidge and it seems to achieve the same effect, plus just about all of the pulp stays in the straining bag when it comes to rack/syphon time.....

Ergo, easily removed.......

regards

JtFB

[lockwood1956]

Hum?
does your "cottager" go cottaging ? Bob, if so, we must be told

Or perhaps he's a "Fulham" supporter (if so, we should still be told )

he doesn't support Fulham no.......



cottaging?

well the jury is out!

[Her Lushness]

he doesn't support Fulham no.......



cottaging?

well the jury is out!

let me guess, the Jury's out on a toilet break?

[james]

some of that is good practice, but you'll also find that some fruit mush down so fine in a blender/liquidiser/food proc' that they take forever to clear and can be very stubborn when getting "fined".

might bentonite in the secondary fermenter (demijohn) help pull the fine particles out of suspension?

I don't tend to blend the fruit with a machine, but I've put the fruit into a straining bag, then all the other ingredients into a bucket, and then put the straining bag in the bucket, that way, after a couple of days you can give it a gentle squidge and it seems to achieve the same effect, plus just about all of the pulp stays in the straining bag when it comes to rack/syphon time.....

yes, this is what I've done previously, and it works well. I'm just playing with ways of getting a bit more flavour out of the same volume of fruit...

[plonky]

might bentonite in the secondary fermenter (demijohn) help pull the fine particles out of suspension?



yes, this is what I've done previously, and it works well. I'm just playing with ways of getting a bit more flavour out of the same volume of fruit...

I discovered that maybe using a good yeast and pectolase strips the fruit of almost everything but perhaps because I can see this happening in a small 1gallon demijohn over time and not in an opaque bucket the yeast seems to feed on/degrade the fruit till there is very little left,but seeds pulp etc.

After watching blackberries and sultanas levitate and defy gravity for a few days I came to conclusion that the yeast does the real work?.

Just reading a book on wine production wineries dont blitz or pulverise their fruit (grapes) they simply crush them in fact they spend a lot of money finding out how to "crush" them correctly (think feet!).