Hi all
I live in New Zealand, and this summer my Loquat tree went absolutely manic. Between spending a few nights away from home right while it was fruiting, and ignoring the fruit the birds beat me to, I picked around 17kg of processed (de-seeded) fruit from it. I used about 2.5kg to make my first batch of wine, which is having its final racking at the moment and due to bottle at the end of the month, depending on how clear it is.
Given there's probably enough for another 5-6 batches of wine in the freezer, and the current batch will have been brewing for at least 3 months, it's going to take a long time for me to use them all up. So I'm thinking I may have a go at some cider instead.
Does anyone know how much loquat fruit I would need to get a gallon of juice? Is there any reason I can't use fruit pulp with pectic enzyme as a starting must? The wine recipe I used calls for sulphites and pectic enzyme in the must, then leaving it to sit for 24 hours before pitching the yeast. I figure that could form a good starting point for cider.
I can't imagine the work that would be involved in juicing enough fruit to yield 1 gallon of juice, and it seems to me that if I aimed for perhaps 10% more juice than the carboy could fit, I could siphon the juice out of primary once the pulp has risen to the top, without worrying too much about getting much pulp into the carboy.
It's difficult to find much about brewing with loquats, apart from wine recipes. Perhaps their juice is no good for making cider? I'm not sure. Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
Richard
I live in New Zealand, and this summer my Loquat tree went absolutely manic. Between spending a few nights away from home right while it was fruiting, and ignoring the fruit the birds beat me to, I picked around 17kg of processed (de-seeded) fruit from it. I used about 2.5kg to make my first batch of wine, which is having its final racking at the moment and due to bottle at the end of the month, depending on how clear it is.
Given there's probably enough for another 5-6 batches of wine in the freezer, and the current batch will have been brewing for at least 3 months, it's going to take a long time for me to use them all up. So I'm thinking I may have a go at some cider instead.
Does anyone know how much loquat fruit I would need to get a gallon of juice? Is there any reason I can't use fruit pulp with pectic enzyme as a starting must? The wine recipe I used calls for sulphites and pectic enzyme in the must, then leaving it to sit for 24 hours before pitching the yeast. I figure that could form a good starting point for cider.
I can't imagine the work that would be involved in juicing enough fruit to yield 1 gallon of juice, and it seems to me that if I aimed for perhaps 10% more juice than the carboy could fit, I could siphon the juice out of primary once the pulp has risen to the top, without worrying too much about getting much pulp into the carboy.
It's difficult to find much about brewing with loquats, apart from wine recipes. Perhaps their juice is no good for making cider? I'm not sure. Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
Richard