Pommeau Clarification Issues

[Patrick McCauley]

Hi All. I was bottling a two year old pommeau and ran into an issue where half the barrel had a layer of gelatinous sediment and pommeau that had not settle out, despite the two years of sitting there undisturbed. I moved it to a carboy in order to better see what was going on. I was told that diatomaceous earth might help with the clarification, but it didn't seem to do much. The settled out layer seems slightly gelatinous, so I'm guessing it's some sort of reaction of the pectin in the cider and the high ABV of the brandy? I've made pommeau before with a similar process, and while there was lots of sediment in the bottom of the barrel, it was nothing like this. Here was my process:

-2 Gallons of 100 proof Brandy (aged for 1 year on its own)

-Added to a 5 gallon(actually slightly less than 5 gallons) neutral oak bourbon barrel 

-Added 2.5+ gallons of partially cryo-concentrated sweet cider(unclarified)

-Aged for 2 years in this barrel at cellar temps

The finished product tastes fantastic. Only slightly oaky, despite the long stay in a small barrel. I'm just not sure how to salvage the remaining cloudy pommeau. Is there a way to clarify a 40ish proof beverage without altering the flavor? I don't have a home filtering system since I never filter any of my cider. I'm guessing the proof is too high for pectinase to be effective? I've heard bad things about bentonite's effect on taste. Any other thoughts on what to do? I was thinking of trying to just let it sit for another year or two, but since it tastes so good, I would love to bottle and enjoy it. I suppose that I should have clarified the sweet cider ahead of time, but too late for that now. Thanks so much!

Pat McCauley

[George Kledaras]

Patrick,

I am far from an expert, but what I would do is syphon off the clear liquid and bottle that. Then I would cold crash the sediment in hope of clarifying more. If you have access to a centrifuge.....

--George

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[Jason Cassidy]

Patrick,

I had the same issue and I did use bentonite successfully and I don't think it had too much of an effect on the flavor. I did first get every bit of clarified liquid off the top so as to only bentonite the 'slurry', then do racking and stirring to try to get as much as you can. I didn't need to use very much. Time has also been very helpful as I kept racking and settling the remaining slurry and got quite a bit out of it. Oxygen isn't really your enemy so I've found this to not be a huge problem if you can wait it out and keep settling and racking off the clear stuff.

I now try to avoid this by using very aggressive enzymes on the juice prior to adding it, and then racking/settling it to only put in exceedingly clear juice. I use this product which might be too pricey but one like it that's actually not recommended prior to fermenation (due to the possibility of overclarifying juice to the point of impeding fermentation) is what you are after and I'm sure there are alternatives.

Hope this helps,

Jason

[Patrick McCauley]

Thanks so much, George and Jason! I'll try racking off the good stuff and then see if bentonite will clear the rest. I think that in the future I'll completely clarify my cider prior to adding it to the brandy in the barrel. Unfortunately, I already started a new batch this year, and it was was acting really weird and almost separating and geling when I added the sweet cider to the brandy. Not sure if that's just standard with the way the pectin and solids interact in the juice interact with high proof alcohol, but it seems to be a theme over here! Cheers and Happy New Year!

Pat

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[Claude Jolicoeur]

One nice way to do it is to keeve the juice. The juice racked from under the "chapeau brun" is then perfectly clarified and has no more pectin. It will have slightly fermented, which is a plus for the flavor of the pommeau.

[Patrick McCauley]

Thanks, Claude. I will try to do some sort of clarification prior to adding it to the barrel next time. Just curious, though, what do you think lightly fermenting the cider does for the flavor? I've read about people in the old days loving the flavor of a lightly fermented sweet cider.

Pat

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[Claude Jolicoeur]

As for mine, I ferment my juice quite a bit more (down to SG 1.020 to 1.025) before mixing with eau de vie to raise 

the abv to about 18%. I prefer it that way, being not as sweet. Also I don't age in wood, as I don't really enjoy the woody flavor in pommeau.

In France, they routinely use juice racked under the chapeau brun to make their pommeau.

As of flavor, sure a bit of fermentation changes the flavor of the juice - and of the final pommeau. Now, it becomes personal taste as to if you prefer a pommeau made with fresh juice or with partly fermented juice.

But the way I make mine, it is not really pommeau - hence I call it Pineau de pommes

[Patrick McCauley]

Thanks again, Claude. Yours sounds more like a fortified cider than a true pommeau. Is there really a difference? Not sure if there was historically in Normandy, but the end results would be fun to compare. Mine is actually quite sweet due to the addition of ice cider, but also the alcohol was about 23%. The additional sugar seems to balance out some of the heat from the alcohol.

Pat

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