I have some cider that’s just about done fermenting. Alas, I forgot to add pectic enzyme, so it’s cloudy. Is it too late to add it to the fermented cider?
How long has it been fermenting? I’ve never added pectic enzyme and I’ve never had cloudy cider given enough time to settle.
Really? That’s incredible. I’ve got cider that’s about 1.5 yrs old and it’s still cloudy.
I’ve never added pectic enzyme, but I don’t think there is a certain timeframe that it needs to be added at. I would say it’s still fine to add it now.
$0.02 from a wannabe cidermaker
All I can tell ya is that I do about a 4-8 week primary, then a few months in secondary and it’s always crystal clear.
As long as you haven’t ‘set’ the pectin in the juice by boillng it, you shouldn’t need to add pectic enzyme at all…it WILL clear on its own, as Denny points out.
The juice from which you’re making the cider should never be boiled. I’ve never used pectic enzyme, but I believe that it is generally added at the beginning of fermentation…bujt again, never having used it myself, I can’t be sure about that.
I’ve not boiled any of my ciders… and they’re all still cloudy. Interesting.
Try fining it with Sparkalloid or Super-Kleer.
Normally pectic enzyme is added before fermentation as alcohol interferes with the enzyme. Whether or not it is too late depends on the specific pectic enzyme and the alcohol concentration. I don’t have any further information that would be helpful.
This isn’t necessarily a fault. Cloudiness can be desirable. English scrumpy is always cloudy, and it doesn’t clear much over time.