Pectic enzyme vs. Concentrated sap gel

[wildmazer]

Story time!

So i tapped a few of my trees (both maples and black walnuts) for sap earlier this spring with the hope of getting enough to concentrate down for a gallon of must. Riding the free-sugar train to wine-town, right?

Weather warmed up and put a stop to sap flow when I had almost enough concentrated, so I figured I'd give it some nutrients and then pitch yeast when it cooled down. When it cooled down, though, I was surprised to find that the whole thing had gelled to a jammy/ectoplasmic sort of consistency. My post-gel research has revealed that black walnuts, while they can be tapped for syrup, have significantly more pectin in their sap than maples.

I've never used pectic enzyme before, but what I've seen people use it for trying to avoid (or remove) haze...it seems like the dosage might need to be different if i'm actually trying to de-gel jam.

Any thoughts? I'm thinking of starting at or just over the normal dose and step-feeding, if i can borrow the term, more enzyme in tiny amounts until I'm working with a liquid again.

 

[JimRausch]

Didn't know that about Black walnuts.
Pectic enzyme works to break down the pectin before it gels. I'm pretty sure it won't break it down once it's set by heat.
I think you have to scoop it out.
Maybe chill it even further to force it to settle.
Or, if that doesn't work, try heating it again.
If you find an answer, let us know.

 

[wildmazer]

Well, update time, I guess. Scooping it out or chilling seemed like non-starters to me (the entirety of the must was gelled, if I scooped it out, it would be gone). I considered reheating it and may try that in the future if I find myself in this predicament again. (Next time I plan on dosing the sap pre-concentration with enzyme to try to avoid the predicament altogether)

What I did do was dose it with 1.5 tsp of pectic enzyme (3 times the recommended dose) and got it from a jam-like consistency to more of a somewhat viscous liquid. It's liquid enough to ferment now, but who knows how it will be when it's farther along. My hope is that alcohol is thin enough that by the time I get close to final gravity some more of the viscosity has gone.

Had a mess for a bit - the high viscosity bubbles don't pop very quickly, so when the ferment was at its most active the foam wouldn't let up and kept growing, but it seems to be past that issue now.

We'll see! Will update as events unfold.