Useing a juicer?

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kennywd

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So my question is is there any negatives, do's or don'ts with using an electric power juicer? I mean I know what my juicer can juice, but I am about to start experimenting with a few 1 gallon batches. And. Just want to know if using a juicer worth it or not. And if I do, do I need to use the pulp if I do. I was still planning on using a grape concentrate but planed on using real fruit(blueberries).

This is just a general question, I have been brewing beer Year now. also any good books to kinda get into wine making? Thanks for any help.
 
My thoughts on using a juicer is that the results will vary with the function of the juicer. I have seem some that are glorified blenders while others just make pretty colored water.

Depending on the product being juiced. Some fruits, like Apples which has a cyanide like compound in the seeds, have undesirable compounds nicely locked away in the seeds that may contribute an off-flavor to the finished wine. Stone fruits such as Cherries, Peaches, and Apricots also contain such compounds which may be unpleasant if breached.

Most juicers proudly tout their ability to remove the skins from the items being processed. In some items such as grapes, the skins provide the much needed tannin and color when making various styles wine.

I don't personally have any book recommendations about books that cover this topic; not in the concise format of great books such as Designing Great Beers but ECKraus (http://www.eckraus.com/home-wine-making-creating-recipe/) has a great primer. I there is also a lot of information to be obtained from the website of Jack Keller (http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp).

Personally, I think I'd get some 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon jugs and do some test batches. The mention of using grape juice for body tells me you've at least gone and researched some recipes and should have a good idea of where to start.
 
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/winemaking-ingredients/canned-concentrates/fruit-wine-bases-vintner-s-harvest/blueberry-vintner-s-harvest-fruit-bases.html

In my experience, using a juicer didn't save any money over canned juice or produce a noticeably better product. The above cans can be purchased at many LHBS if you don't want to order. The only time I juice is when I want to make a wine which juice is not available like mango. There is a guy over on the wine site that get free produce, so for him juicing works great, but unless you can get a great deal on produce, its just not all that worth it to me.
 
I use a juicer for fruits like pears and plums. We quarter them and get rid of the seeds and stones first. I use pulp and all in mesh bags. Blueberries work better in the blender. Fill the blender most of the way with berries and then add water to the top of the berries. I just buy fresh cider for apple wine. My real fruit wines have turned out far superior to any concentrates I have tried. Blueberries make a great wine with good body. I have used a couple different recipes. one is all blueberries about 4 pounds per gallon. The other is a jack keller recipe that uses 10 pounds of blue berries and 4 pounds of raisins for a 5 gallon batch. I really have a hard tinme telling the difference between them.
 
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