Does pectin affect specific gravity?

[Maylar]

I have an odd observation that I'd like to share with the cider community.

I have some fresh pressed orchard cider and I'm following my typical protocol. Added k-meta when I got the juice home, then some pectic enzyme the next day. S.G. was 1.060.

Normally I'd have pitched yeast at the same time, but I was waiting for it to come in the mail. A couple days later yeast arrives and just to be sure no wild things had become active, I checked SG again - 1.050.

Ten points lower in 2 days. The cider had become much clearer from the enzyme, and there is sediment in the bottom of the bucket. But it's 10 points lower in SG than a few days before. There are no bubbles or any indication that a wild ferment is in progress, so I'm attributing the change to the pectins having dropped out.

Which leads me to the question - has anyone else ever seen this?

 

[bernardsmith]

Don't know that the pectins "drop out" like that. I thought the enzyme simply broke up the lengthy chains and left them as smaller chains of protein-like chemicals. They would still be in solution, no?
My thinking is more towards any change in temperature. What was the temperature of the must when you checked it and the reading was 1.060 (which seems a little high for pressed juice) and what was the temperature when the reading was 1.050? Could the juice have been colder when you added the enzymes and warmer after two days. Might the change in temperature not account for the apparent drop in SG?

 

[Maylar]

It's been a pretty constant 70°F in my house for the last week. And yes, the haziness of fresh pressed juice definitely fell out of solution and is sitting on the bottom of the bucket. I've read of people adding the enzyme and racking off the clear cider before pitching yeast. I've just never done it this way before, I've always added it when I pitch the yeast.

Since there are solids that have fallen out of solution, I'm wondering if they would have had an effect on the initial gravity reading. Hence this thread -

 

[Scrumpy!]

The density of apple juice is a function of everything that is in solution, not just sugar. Clear fruit juice is less dense than cloudy juice. You will get more accurate results with a refractometer before you start fermenting. The refractometer becomes less accurate as the alcohol content of the fermenting must increases.

Racking off the clear juice after pectinase treatment will leave most of the pectin and other plant material behind thus reducing the nitrogen load in your must. If you are trying to ferment to a significant residual sugar content by starving your yeast of nutrients, this is a good start.

I treat my apples with pectinase after milling (0.1g/l) and macerate the milled fruit for 48 hours before pressing. I stir the milled fruit with a spiral paint mixer in an electric drill every 12 hours to make sure I get even exposure to pectinase. My juice yields are much better, the must is more flavorful, and the sugar extraction is greater. It takes between 11 and 15 lbs of milled apples to produce a gallon of must after this process. Without the pectinase/maceration step it takes 10-20% more milled apples to press a gallon of must.

 

[Scrumpy!]

I'm pressing this morning and the must is pretty cloudy. I measured an SG of 1.0625 with my hydrometer and 1.056 with my refractometer.

 

[MarkKF]

It's been a pretty constant 70°F in my house for the last week. And yes, the haziness of fresh pressed juice definitely fell out of solution and is sitting on the bottom of the bucket. I've read of people adding the enzyme and racking off the clear cider before pitching yeast. I've just never done it this way before, I've always added it when I pitch the yeast.

Since there are solids that have fallen out of solution, I'm wondering if they would have had an effect on the initial gravity reading. Hence this thread -

The solids in that juice I got yesterday dropped out already! Same thing happened with the stuff from High Hill last month. I wonder if leaving the mud on the bottom will affect flavor, mouth feel and yeast stress either way?

 

[Maylar]

I have read that racking off the pectin sludge will make the yeast happier, but I can't find the article now. I put enzyme in mine this morning, I think I'll rack off it before pitching the yeast tonight just to see if this batch goes any different than normal.