Blackberry juice

[alcopop]

Has anyone put Blackberies through a juicer (is it worth it)?, as I will have to start juicing about ten lb of apples that have just been put over my garden fence and thought that I might as well do them not together but while I have the juicer ready.

Terry

[fatbloke]

Has anyone put Blackberies through a juicer (is it worth it)?, as I will have to start juicing about ten lb of apples that have just been put over my garden fence and thought that I might as well do them not together but while I have the juicer ready.

Terry

The problem with the black berries is that you'll be breaking up the seeds as well and normally that's a "no-no" as it can add bitterness to a wine.

Yes, I know that juicer machines normally remove most of the "pith" etc but I'd think that some of the liquid elements would get through in the extracted juice.

Often, heating is one of the better methods of removing "red berry" juices.

I'd suspect that it depends on what you're intending to do with the juice...... jam/jelly or wine. If jam or jelly then it shouldn't matter too much, but if you're gonna make wine with the BB's then I'd be putting some of them in the ferment, and the rest either into secondary or into the finished wine and letting the alcohol extract the juice.

10 lb of apples will take a while to put through the machine (lots of emptying/washing of the machine etc or that would have been the case with the machine I had anyway), but how many blackberries do you have ? (cos any reasonable amount would have been put through my steam extractor)...

regards

jtfb

[alcopop]

Thanks for that John (is that right)
after weighing the apples I started with 16.4 lb they have now gone through the juicer and I have ended up with 1 gall of cloudy juice in the DJ. I did add 1 Campden to the DJ.
I am going to leave this now as it has started to seperate, I will then syphen off the clear juice it looks like I will get about 3/4 of a gall.
I have got out of the freezer 7 lb of Blackberries this I am now thinking is to many for the A/Juice.
Any thoughts

Terry

[fatbloke]

Thanks for that John (is that right)
after weighing the apples I started with 16.4 lb they have now gone through the juicer and I have ended up with 1 gall of cloudy juice in the DJ. I did add 1 Campden to the DJ.
I am going to leave this now as it has started to seperate, I will then syphen off the clear juice it looks like I will get about 3/4 of a gall.
I have got out of the freezer 7 lb of Blackberries this I am now thinking is to many for the A/Juice.
Any thoughts

Terry

Why bother with clearing the juice, unless it's not being made into wine ?

The cloudiness will have some of the elements for flavouring wines etc.

Presuming it's gonna be wine, then you can either extract the juice with heating (the blackberries that is), then you can add some of that to the wine, reserve the rest to add when it's finished the ferment.

Maybe with an identical amount of apple juice. It flavours it up just nicely that way, or you can equally, add it to the secondary ferment as well, it doesn't retain quite the same amount of fruit flavour that way, but it still works better than sticking it all into the primary, well in flavour retention anyway....

regards

jtfb

[alcopop]

Thanks for that, it just that I saw on a UTUBE vid presented by Richard on juice extraction he used the juicer and then let it settle out before using.
It looks like I will have to get a steam juicer for the berries.

Terry

[alcopop]

Juiced the 16lb of apples yesterday ended up with ¾ of a gall good tasting juice, I think that I will just do 1 gall of Apple unless anyone says that it is not to good and to put something with it.
SHMBO suggested adding Cinnamon to one gall as I have just been given another 19lb, so out with the juicer again.
Attached two photos of juice before and after clearing.
Terry

[fatbloke]

Well done, looking good.....

When it comes to apple wines, do a bit of reading about cider making.....

Not because that's what you're making, but knowing a bit about mixing the juice of different apples i.e. sweet/sharp, or if you can get some, bitter sweet/bitter sharp (cider apples) to give it some "complexity", isn't a bad idea..... i.e. if you know anyone with "crab" apples in their garden, they make a good flavouring addition etc.

As for berries, well you can always just use a bit of water and heat them to extract the juice, as long as you strain the pulp and don't forget the pectolase as well - you'd probably find it mentioned in any recipe you follow anyway, but if you've heated the berries (irrespective of whether it's in a saucepan or purpose built steam juice extractor) you will have started to release the pectin so you'd be having to do something about that.

I understand that it's easier to manage if the juice is hit with the pectolase before fermentation i.e. you use less pectolase, than after the ferment. Or that's how I understood it anyway, I'm sure that one of the "forum Yoda's" will correct me if it's wrong......

Oh, and apparently the cone shaped coffee filters work well for straining juice... not tried it myself...... and also, it might seems stupid, but the Normandy cider makers apparently just extract the juice and then let it oxidise some to darken in colour as it makes their product more presentible - I'd think that it would also give a wine a nicer colour......

regards

jtfb

[alcopop]

Thanks for all the help.

Terry

[ms67]

I have started to experiment with adding spices to wine. and i really do mean started just incase it helps i'll pass on what i have found so far. I added (at secondary stage) to one gallon of rosehip a single star anise flower, to another a single mace flower, and another a half quill of cinnamon (3 inches or so). The first two took the flavours very nicely but the one with cinnamon didnt take any discernable flavour. Grinding would definately help for extracting more flavour tho i have no idea at all if it will clear just as easily as without ground spices. If you do go the grinding route then i would start with whole spices and grind at home - ahem - as the spice flavour will be much better/fuller than tired old pre-ground spices.

[fatbloke]

I have started to experiment with adding spices to wine. and i really do mean started just incase it helps i'll pass on what i have found so far. I added (at secondary stage) to one gallon of rosehip a single star anise flower, to another a single mace flower, and another a half quill of cinnamon (3 inches or so). The first two took the flavours very nicely but the one with cinnamon didnt take any discernable flavour. Grinding would definately help for extracting more flavour tho i have no idea at all if it will clear just as easily as without ground spices. If you do go the grinding route then i would start with whole spices and grind at home - ahem - as the spice flavour will be much better/fuller than tired old pre-ground spices.

Be very careful of cloves, they're powerful little beasts....... try a batch with just one single clove, 2 at most, if you over do it, you'll make the wine undrinkable.....

regards

jtfb

[alcopop]

Yesterday I put 1 tsp of powdered cinnamon into the apple juice, frementation is going well and the taste so far is good.
will keep you posted on results.

Terry

[ms67]

Be very careful of cloves, they're powerful little beasts....... try a batch with just one single clove, 2 at most, if you over do it, you'll make the wine undrinkable.....

jtfb

i could imagine that - taste something like cheaply perfumed hospital handwash -, ta for the tip cos it's a natural choice if you're gonna experiment with spices.

[alcopop]

Yesterday I put 1 tsp of powdered cinnamon into the apple juice, frementation is going well and the taste so far is good.
will keep you posted on results.

Terry

Sorry this post started with Blackberies and has ended up with Apple, still it all goes down the same way

Terry