Pectic enzyme, why weight 12 hours???

A common thing I see in directions for wine making, is to "add the pectic enzyme, weight 12 hours, then pitch the yeast." My question is WHY??? does the pectic enzyme have an adverse effect on the yeast?? does the yeast mess up the enzyme??? What is the reasoning?? I ask because whenever working with the fermentation of something the best way to avoid contamination and growth of an unwanted culture (aside from the obvious and required sanitation practices) is to establish the "wanted" culture. In other words having a healthy yeast culture going is one of the best ways to avoid something else taking hold. With that said I would much rather pitch the yeast right away and not give any other potential contaminants a 12 hour head start. So again I ask what is the reason for weighting???

Sulfites interfere with the action of the pectic enzyme, so you wait 12 hours after mixing up the must before adding the pectic enzyme (if you used sulfites/campden). Pectic enzyme and yeast shouldn't interfere with each other.

Well the pectin emsyme will start to break down the fruit. If you wait 24 hours then it allows so juice for the yeast to hit. The othe reason you wait is because the capton tablets must be allowed to do there job and kill off any natural yeast on the fruit

good info. Campden tablets are a totally different piece of the puzzle. The quote I made above usually starts with "add the campden tablets (if you uses them) weight 12 hours" and then says what I said before "add the pectic enzyme, weight 12 hours, then pitch the yeast." I don't use campden tablets so thats not an issue.

I just wanted to make sure the yeast and enzyme would play nice together. I can see when making a whole fruit wine some advantage of giving the pectic enzyme a chance to do its work prior to pitching the yeast, but when making wine from juice I don't see any real advantage so I guess I will add them together. thanks for the input.

you are adding the yeasts at such a high level when you introduce them to the product that unless it is grossly contaminated by another organism the yeast will out compete anything else that may be in there.

i was re-reading the welches recipe thread because i started a few more batches and was looking for any updated info and this question also came to mind, why wait the 12 hours.

this is yoopers quote from that thread in response to why is it necessary to wait 12 hours before pitching

Yooper said:

It allows you to add the pectic enzyme, and then add the yeast 12 hours later. The pectic enzyme doesn't work well with yeast, it needs to go in first. It's really not necessary, if you don't have it, but it helps clear the wine so it doesn't form a pectin haze.

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now i see the above. not callin you out Yoop, just confused¿

Rowdy said:

i was re-reading the welches recipe thread because i started a few more batches and was looking for any updated info and this question also came to mind, why wait the 12 hours.

this is yoopers quote from that thread in response to why is it necessary to wait 12 hours before pitching



now i see the above. not callin you out Yoop, just confused¿

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Yes, that was something I had read a while back, but my experience hasn't been true to that. I followed those instructions, but I'm not sure that my reasoning behind it was true. I looked today to figure out WHY I thought that, but couldn't find any hard data.

It's possible, but I find that I by adding the campden at hour 0, then pectic enzyme at hour 12, and then the yeast at hour 24, it works out. I don't really think the pectic enzyme and yeast together are an issue any more. Although, it's certainly possible of course.

I did a bunch of research yesterday and I have a little more definitive answer. yeast does not inhibit pectic enzyme nor does pectic enzyme inhibit yeast HOWEVER alcohol inhibits pectic enzyme, that is why you can not add it after the wine has fermented out. I think the 12 hour weighting period came about because it seamed logical, yeast produce alcohol and alcohol inhibits the enzyme, BUT the amount of alcohol produced in 12 hours, especially on a fermentation that is just started is probably not enough to inhibit the enzyme at all and I think if you started two identical batches with the exception of one having the enzyme added with the yeast and one added 12 hours before the yeast, I seriously doubt you would be able to tell the difference when it is all said and done.

GreenTerror said:

you are adding the yeasts at such a high level when you introduce them to the product that unless it is grossly contaminated by another organism the yeast will out compete anything else that may be in there.

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while that is an absolutely true statement, it doesn't negate the fact that any possible contaminants still have a 12 hour head start. Why give them any advantage?? If weighting the 12 hours was necessary I would do it, and not worry about it for the exact reason you mentioned, but if the reason people say to weight is misguided and unnecessary, than why follow that practice. I have never been one to do something just because "that is the way it has always been done." If you don't challenge the status quo you can't ever grow.