Pectic Enzyme with Cranberry Juice?

[jescholler]

I'm planning on doing a variation on Ed's Apfelwein (3 gallon batch) with 2.75 gallons of apple juice and 1/4 gallon of 100% cranberry juice (http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just_juice/just_cranberry).

I have a couple of questions:
1. Should I use pectic enzyme for the cranberry juice?
2. The cranberry juice has 8g of sugar per serving and 18g of carbohydrates. I tried to see what pectin breaks down to with pectic enzyme, but I didn't have any luck. Will the pectic enzyme break the pectin down to sugars that can be fermented with wine yeast?

On a side note, if I were to measure the SG of the cranberry juice, would I be measuring the total carbohydrate content or just the sugars?

Edit: I was just wondering if 1/4 gallon of cranberry juice would not be enough. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I was thinking that I would start low since I know I like Ed's Apfelwein and I don't want to overdo the cranberry.

 

[mediaman]

Well I feel like I can shed some light on this as I was a process engineer for Ocean Spray Cranberries for 15 years. Cranberries have a high pectin level when we concentrated cranberries we added bio pectinase to brake down the pectin and prevent jelling in the membranes or first stage of the evaporator. If the juice is reconstituted from concentrate then their is no pectin in the juice unless they added it back during blending as it adds to the mouth feel and coats the mouth improving the taste.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

If your juice is clear to begin with & you don't boil it, there's really no need for the pectic enzyme, it'll clear on it's own. Regards, GF.

 

[jescholler]

Well I feel like I can shed some light on this as I was a process engineer for Ocean Spray Cranberries for 15 years.

That's pretty cool. It was a little difficult to tell because the juice is so dark, but it is pretty clear. It was also reconstituted, so it probably doesn't have pectin. I'll probably just go without the pectic enzyme and see how it comes out. The worst that could happen is I'll have slightly cloudy cider (I'm only using 1/4 gallon cranberry juice and 2 3/4 gallons apple juice).

Thanks

 

[mediaman]

The clarity of the juice is due to the polishing usually done with diatomaceous earth (DE) and a pressure leaf filter. The filter press is pre-coated with the DE and then DE is added to the batch to be filtered and is passed through the filter. Each batch has DE added in order to prevent the filter from blinding from the dregs (fruit insoluble solids). between batches flow must be maintained on the filter to prevent the DE cake from falling from the leaves and creating a hole. DE is used in some swimming pool filters but is probably not FOOD GRADE.