Help: Removing Elderberry Residue

[Donald & Melissa Hellen]

I just racked my elderberry wine into secondary containers and now I need to
remove the sticky green stuff from the primary and the fruit bags. This stuff
seems to come from the pulp and seeds, not the extracted juice. Some of it has
stuck to the top inner wall of the primary and here and there on the bags. TSP
substitute does not seem to remove it. Detergent (used on my hands to remove it
from them) hardly works at all. For now, I am soaking it and the bags with a
strong solution of chlorine and TSP substitute (it is no longer sold around
here.) This should keep it from drying out until I figure out what to do.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? Any
suggestions will be deeply appreciated.

Please respond via email (you may post also if you like, but I might not read
the post. I will read my email.)

Donald Hellen

dhe...@bright.net

[Vincent Norris]

>I just racked my elderberry wine into secondary containers and now I need to
>remove the sticky green stuff from the primary and the fruit bags.

>Please respond via email (you may post also if you like, but I might not read

>the post. I will read my email.)

>Donald Hellen

>dhe...@bright.net

If anyone knows how to deal with problem, please post, too. I, and no doubt
many others, would like to know what to do about it.

vince norris

[Don Schiller]

dhe...@bright.net (Donald & Melissa Hellen) wrote:

>I just racked my elderberry wine into secondary containers and now I need to
>remove the sticky green stuff from the primary and the fruit bags.

snip

>Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? Any
>suggestions will be deeply appreciated.

>Please respond via email (you may post also if you like, but I might not read

>the post. I will read my email.)

Another succumbs to the scum.

If it is not too late, our wine club has found the cold water, not hot
will help with the removial of the scum. Using cold water will help
keep it from getting embedded in the container. Use soap or B-Brite
to help clean up the mess.

This is not new, you are not the only one this has happened to. You
just joined the club.

Don

Winemaker, Landlord, Adventurer

[Donald & Melissa Hellen]

>Another succumbs to the scum.
>
>If it is not too late, our wine club has found the cold water, not hot
>will help with the removial of the scum. Using cold water will help
>keep it from getting embedded in the container. Use soap or B-Brite
>to help clean up the mess.
>
>This is not new, you are not the only one this has happened to. You
>just joined the club.
>Don

I did, in fact, end up soaking it in cold water with chlorine and TSP
substitute, and it did a fine job of removing the residue on everything I put in
the fermenter I soaked, including the fruit bags. Thanks for the info, anyway.
It's probably good to mention this about this time of year to the group. It
definitely did not want to come off in hot water very well.

Don Hellen

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dhe...@bright.net

[Roy Parker]

On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 23:57:26 GMT, dhe...@bright.net (Donald & Melissa
Hellen) wrote:

>I just racked my elderberry wine into secondary containers and now I need to

>remove the sticky green stuff from the primary and the fruit bags. This stuff
>seems to come from the pulp and seeds, not the extracted juice. Some of it has
>stuck to the top inner wall of the primary and here and there on the bags. TSP
>substitute does not seem to remove it. Detergent (used on my hands to remove it
>from them) hardly works at all. For now, I am soaking it and the bags with a
>strong solution of chlorine and TSP substitute (it is no longer sold around
>here.) This should keep it from drying out until I figure out what to do.
>

>Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what did you do about it? Any
>suggestions will be deeply appreciated.
>
>Please respond via email (you may post also if you like, but I might not read
>the post. I will read my email.)
>

>Donald Hellen
Don, hope you get this, but I don't respond to posts like this via
email since a lot of folks have the same problem,.

First thing you do is minimize the amount of wax present. You do this
by using a table fork to knock the berries off the stems. Yes, this
is an awful way to do it, some gallon of berries per hour per person.

For cleaning all the wax, etc. out of the primary, the best thing I
have found is Dawn (brand) detergent in cold water and let it set. If
you have a stainless steel primary, mineral spirits or acetone will
probably do a better job of cleaning the stuff up. Scrape off the
heavy deposits, and have at it with the solvents. No really easy
way that I am aware of.
Roy Parker--Buckskinner, brewer, and semi-handyman
Booshway, 1998 SW Regional Rendezvous. Houston, Texas
rpar...@ix.netcom.com roy.p...@psl-online.com

[n...@gwe486.cb.att.com]

In article <32531c52...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>,

Roy Parker <rpar...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 23:57:26 GMT, dhe...@bright.net (Donald & Melissa
>Hellen) wrote:
>

[snip]

About cleaning elderberry stuff....
An earlier poster mentioned stemming the tiny berries. I go one further.
I freeze them and use boiling water to extract the juice (as my recipe
calls for).

I only have a problem with keeping floating or sunken berries from getting
sucked up by my siphon hose when transferring from primary to secondary.
Then at racking, I try to get the last few berries to stay behind, but I
don't get this slime/scum stuff that others are talking about.

The recipe is for "raisin jack" as it has raisins floated in it in primary
(for the first week). It is sweet, strong, and far too easy to drink lots
of. I don't have the recipe with me (I'm on a trip in France just now).

---
Neil Kirby DoD# 0783 n...@gwe486.cb.lucent.com
Lucent Technologies - Home of Bell Labs Innovations
(Formerly AT&T) Bell Labs Columbus OH USA +1 (614) 860-5304
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The BMW R1100RSL - Red Bike, Blue Skies; Smiling Rider.

[2kiw...@gmail.com]

I used plain olive oil and a scratcher pad...came off effortlessly.

[mccanne...@gmail.com]

I tried several approaches with no good result, so I thought the sticky green stuff might be oil based (it floats). I rubbed everything down with vegetable oil, then I washed it all away with warm water & dish soap. I think the residue comes from the berry skins so now I avoid pulverizing the berries.

[j.mitch...@gmail.com]

Yes, I also experienced the same issue. It is like glue.

[Georgina Beers]

Cooking oil and scrubbing pad. I have done it for years.