Reaction from Addition of Pectic Enzyme

So I just added a 2.5 teaspoons of Pectic Enzyme to a 5 gallon batch of Cider that had failed to clear after a long time in the Secondary. The visual effect it had on the cider was not what I expected. The moment the mixed up cup of cider/dissolved pectic enzyme powder hit the rest of the cider, a significant amount of foam was created and now the activity in the carboy looks just like a very active fermentation.

I know this can't be fermentation so I was wondering if anyone knew what this kind of reaction is. Is this normal with the addition of pectic enzyme?

Thanks alot!

It's possible that it restarted fermentation (whats the OG and FG?) but most likely it's just CO2 escaping. This has been reported to have happened after adding more dextrose to fermenting apfelwein. Some have described an apfelwein fountain exploding out of their carboy! The most likely explanation is that the fine powder creates lots of nucleation sites for CO2 bubbles to form.

The OG was 1.060 (pure apple juice with no added sugar) and the FG had stabilized a month ago or so at 1.002. At that time I racked it to secondary and it had been sitting there for a month. It would really surprise me if it had re-started fermentation, but I guess you never know.

please let us know if this works or not. i cant get mine to clear either.

Well I learned something new!. I never realized you could get pectin enzyme as a powder. I've only seen it in liquid form!

I added the petic enzyme at secondary It took 3 months but it did clear very well. I just pulled a little cider out with a thief and mixed 1 teaspoon in it then poured it in the one gallon jug and gave it a light swirl.

Other side of the coin for RuganBrau's post - I've only ever seen pectic enzyme as a powder.

I've always used powdered pectic enzyme.

That being said, if it had only been sitting for a month after end of fermentation, it probaly still had a bunch of CO2 suspended (I suspect that's not word I'm looking for, but it's almost 1am ) and the agitation of adding the cider/enzyme mixture created agitation points for the CO2 to form bubbles on. No worries on it.