US First Time Keever, Sourcing True PME Domestically

[Marco Cattani]

First-time keever here in the US, small batch (~1–1.5 gal juice from windfall/dooryard apples). Struggling to source true PME domestically — hoping someone might have a small amount of Vigo/Klercidre/Rapidase PME they'd be willing to sell or trade a small quantity of, since the retail kits are sized for hundreds of liters. Happy to cover shipping + cost.  

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Honestly, with the quantity you mention, there is no point in trying keeving.

You need a some volume and some height for the keeve to be successful. I'd say 5 gallons would be a minimum.

[Marco Cattani]

Makes sense; I would size up then if need be. I just want to make a cider that closely resembles French farmhouse-style (Domaine Dupont). Do you have any recommendations?

[Claude Jolicoeur]

That is a pretty ambitious goal for a first trial.

You need the same apples as they have for that!!! Not so easy.

[Marco Cattani]

Haha, I know, but I'm an ambitious person. Here in Tennessee, it's hard/rare to find anything with that style. If I fail 3000 times but can produce something reasonable, I can drink and reminisce about the time I walked through their orchard, eating apples off the ground. I will be a happy man. So anything helps. 

[CGJ]

Hi Marco,

Since it's such a small quantity, how about cold crashing it a couple of
times in the refrigerator? I just did this with a one gallon test batch
with good quality supermarket apple juice (Martinelli's, supposedly just
pasteurized Newtown Pippin) and Cotes de Blanc yeast, and the stable
product finished up at 4.4% ABV and 3.4% residual sugar. Certainly not a
true keeve, but it does get you to about the same place in terms of
final alcohol and sugar content. Just a thought.

Carl Johnson
West Barnstable
Massachusetts

[Jonathan Miner]

Hi Marco, 

About 5 years ago, I started a journey similar to the one you are on. Keeving is fun (but hard and unpredictable!) and I wish you all the best with it. Based on my experience, my very strong recommendation would be that you start out your first year or two by doing some frequent cold crashing and racking to approximate the lower ABV end-result that you get from Keeving.  

I have searched and searched for PME in the US and came up empty. The place I've ended up sourcing it for the past few years is from source in Quebec that Claude connected me to. Chantal at 
La Fabrique du Vin (http://www.fabriqueduvin.com/). She sells a Keeving kit with the PME and calcium chloride solution. In past years, it's only available in the early fall, so you won't be able to get it now. Chantal is wonderful, but she only speaks French, so you will need to do some translating and also navigate our stupid new US tariffs to get it here. Chantal ships kits that are scaled to hobby producers (e.g., 100 liters). Here's the product listing: https://boutique.fabriqueduvin.com/boutique/fr/kit-pour-la-gelification-des-pectines-keeving-avec-de-la-pectine-methylesterase-pme-p659/

Hope that helps a bit. 

Jonathan