How to deal with a (completely) clogged press bag

[Bartek Knapek]

It seems my previous post did not made it to the list, so I re-try.
Sorry if you get the message twice.

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Background:
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It is a second season I am using a 18L bucket press with a 2T hydraulic jack,
with an original press bag made of a rather thick fabric. Recently it occurred
to me that pressing takes much longer time than it used to, I am unable to press
the pomace dry, and the juice yield is down to 30% while it used to be somewhere
~60%. Now that I think of it, the trend was there from the beginning, but as I
did not have much experience, I blamed the fruits and the slimy pulp...

But then yesterday I almost completely failed to press anything, what triggered
some more detailed troubleshooting. Initially, I have focused on the hydraulic
jack, which must lost its strength obviously ;), but it has proven to
successfully lift a car... That finally led me to the press bag - but what could
possibly be wrong with it? I have poured some water into and...

Problem:
-------
My press bag has evolved into a bucket! I can literally carry water in it, and
it almost does not drip! :)

Of course I was cleaning it after every use! I mean I was getting rid of a
pomace and rinsing it with water. It never occurred to me it was not enough! :)
Well, now I am wiser, but still I have this completely clogged press bag. I
tried machine washing twice, but it is still clogged.

What can I do about it?

I read I should soak it for a couple of hours in a mild caustic solution, then
machine wash it with a bleach.
You obviously clean your press bags/cloths - is this how you do it?

I wonder what "caustic solution" to use - will NaHCO3 do, or should I rather go
for a 0.1M NaOH?
Any hints, please? :)

/Bartek

[Bartek Knapek]

It is a second season I am using a Vares 18L bucket press, with an original press bag made of a rather thick fabric. Recently it occurred to me that pressing takes much longer time than it used to, I am unable to press the pomace dry, and the juice yield is down to 30% while it used to be somewhere ~60%. Now that I think of it, the trend was there from the beginning, but as I did not have much experience, I blamed the fruits and the slimy pulp...

But then yesterday I almost completely failed to press anything, what triggered some more detailed troubleshooting. Initially, I have focused on the hydraulic jack, which obviously lost its strength, and first it has proven to successfully lift a car I have focused on the last piece: the press bag. What could possibly be wrong with it? I have poured some water into and... well... my press bag has evolved into a bucket! ;-). I can literally carry water in it, and it almost does not drip!

Of course I was cleaning it after every use! I mean I was getting rid of a pomace and rinsing it with water. It never occurred to me it was not enough! :) Well, now I am wiser, but still I have this completely clogged press bag. I tried machine washing twice, incl. O2-based bleach, but it is still clogged.

What else can I do about it?
You obviously clean your press bags/cloths - how do you do it?

/Bartek

[Michael Davidson]

Maybe try pressure washing it from the inside out?

[Andrew Lea]

You talk of slimy pulp, so I guess your cloth is clogged with insoluble pectin.

Two ideas

1. You could try soaking for a day in a pectinase solution at 30 degrees C, if you have access to pectinase. This may break down the pectin.

2. Soak in a warm dilute (5 - 10%?) solution of what we call washing soda. That is Na2CO3 or sodium carbonate. Don't use sodium bicarbonate, it will be too weak, but don't use NaOH (caustic soda aka sodium hydroxide) because it is dangerous to handle.

It sounds as if your bag is too thick and muslin like, really. Most bags and cloths should wash out quite clean at the end of every pressing session. I'm surprised Vares sell a bag that clogs, really.

Andrew

Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
www.cider.org.uk

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[Paul Ross]

How about using pectolase on your pomace, waiting for it to macerate and then not use the press bag at all.

Depends on your press but when I used to use a basket press I never used a bag. Too fiddly.

[Bartek Knapek]

I usually add pectolase and macerate for 24h. Unless I experiment with keeving, then I  macerate without any additions.

Actually, now that I think of it, the problem escalated during pressing ~70L of such untreated, just macerated pomace.

 

For a moment I considered pressing without a bag, but I thought it was sort of mandatory and it would become messy without it.

I should have tried at least...

 

/Bartek

Dnia 2 listopad 2016 o 15:34 Paul Ross <pa...@skylarkmediagroup.co.uk> napisał(a):

How about using pectolase on your pomace, waiting for it to macerate and then not use the press bag at all.

Depends on your press but when I used to use a basket press I never used a bag. Too fiddly.

 

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[Paul Ross]

If your fruit is easy to press, you don't need one. If you have pectinny fruit, you should be alright after the pectolase.

Depends how big the gaps are on your basket and how fine your pomace is but youll be surprised by how much is held back as long as the pomace isnt slimy.

[David]

When you buy a new tent for camping the advice is to wet it and let it dry out. This causes the canvas to shrink and it becomes waterproof after that.

You have proved it works :)

I never used a bag in my basket press

[Bartek Knapek]

W dniu 2016-11-02 o 15:11, Andrew Lea pisze:

> You talk of slimy pulp, so I guess your cloth is clogged with insoluble pectin.
>
> Two ideas
>
> 1. You could try soaking for a day in a pectinase solution at 30 degrees C, if you have access to pectinase. This may break down the pectin.
>
> 2. Soak in a warm dilute (5 - 10%?) solution of what we call washing soda. That is Na2CO3 or sodium carbonate. Don't use sodium bicarbonate, it will be too weak, but don't use NaOH (caustic soda aka sodium hydroxide) because it is dangerous to handle.
>
> It sounds as if your bag is too thick and muslin like, really. Most bags and cloths should wash out quite clean at the end of every pressing session. I'm surprised Vares sell a bag that clogs, really.
>
> Andrew
>

Sodium bicarbonate ideed was too weak - after soaking in a ~15%
solution, and machinewashing afterwards, my press bag still pretended to
be a bucket - see attached, it does not even drip!

Soaking in a warm pectinase solution for a couple of hours, and
machinewashing afterwards made it drip only a bit.

It was first when I have soked it in a 10% Na2CO3 for 24h,
machine-washed, and then repeated the prodecure the next day - the bag
got unclogged. Now it seems I will be able to use it again, though I
will give it a try and press a pomace already pressed in a bag, again
without the bag. I want to see if/how much more I will be able to
squeeze out of it.

I do not think it is Vares fault - I have just misshandled the bag in
the past, did not wash it good enough.

Thanks!

[Claude Jolicoeur]

Le dimanche 6 novembre 2016 10:04:20 UTC-5, Bartek Knapek a écrit :

I do not think it is Vares fault - I have just misshandled the bag in
the past, did not wash it good enough.

The picture is quite impressive, but I don't agree with you there...

I think this is simply not an appropriate fabric to make a pressing bag.
I suggest you go in a fabric store, get yourself some white sturdy curtain fabric and sow yourself a new pressing bag!
Claude

[David]

I think you have invented a very good collapsible camping bucket there. Will probably make you more money than cider. :)

[Richard Anderson]

I had some really badly clogged X6 bags several years ago, tried soaking in several kinds of cleaner with repeated washing. The only thing that really worked was to pressure wash them insider and out, it took some time to return them to being sufficiently porous to allow the juice to flow. Needless to say I now take more time to clean them after each use.