Prickly Pear Wine Foaming

I stumbled upon ... many many pounds of Prickly Pear (Tuna Roja). In this situation, after getting ~ 6 gallons of juice, my poor freezer was just looking like a disaster zone. So, I was forced to experiment (oh the humanity!)

Regardless, like all experimentation, things went wrong. I created 3 different batches, each using ~1/3 gallon of juice in a 1 gallon carboy. I used ~2-2.5 lbs of sugar, of three different varieties: white, light brown, "sugar in the raw". Store bought RO drinking water (Kroger's) to "top it off". Pectic enzyme was added (wow, this stuff is viscous even raw - added a couple extra drops just for good measure). Pitched K1-V1116 yeast re-hydrated in a small amount of the juice itself (mainly for mixing purposes). Covered with a towel and in 12 hours ...

Barney has a cold coming out of these carboy's. There is a foam that is oozing out of the top of the carboy's that is extremely viscous, bright purple, and excessive in amount. As a beer/mead brewer - this seemed like a fun experiment, but it didn't seem like it should be that bad. The foam is so thick in the carboy's that there is only about an inch of the juice, and the rest of it is foam. More than likely, this stuff is toast, but it was fun enough while it lasted. And very purple.

Also, of note, is that the light brown sugar is not doing this - only the white and "sugar in the raw". So at least one of them will be salvageable - and maybe even tasty.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I don't see where you mention the OG's of any of the three. Did you measure them?

It was a big no-no, I'm fully aware. I assumed the viscosity of the juice would skew the OG readings and neglected to take them - sorry, not the most helpful.

Lets see some pictures!

I had to sacrifice the containers, so now it is simple curiosity. What on earth is this? The important part to note from the picture is that this is not a high speed shot of liquid pouring. This is "snot" - no better word for it, no matter how gross it is.

From "The complete meadmaker"

"In addition, prickly pears must be boiled for half an hour or more before adding to your fermentation, or they will become a bubbling, foaming, slimy, and difficult-to-clean mess. If you can press or otherwise extract the juice, it can be boiled on its own"

Who'd have thought I should read a book I already own. Doh!

Thanks for that. Hey, everybody, above is a picture of a "bubbling, foaming, slimy, and difficult-to-clean mess"

Thanks for reading on my behalf.