r/firewater • u/bearcatguy • 6d ago

What's wrong with my apple pie moonshine?

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So made some apple pie moonshine today. I've done it a few times in years past and just used regular apple juice and cider but this time I used some cold pressed unfiltered apple juice and when I added my everclear it turned out like big white ish cloudy clumps in it that don't really settle but stay suspended. Normally I have a brownish cinnamon type sediment which is fine. But this time ! strained it which got most of the cinnamon sediment which is cool. But I was reading that this may be pectin from the unfiltered apple juice? I just tried to buy a ultrafine nylon mesh strainer which should be here on Wednesday but any thoughts?

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19

u/Savings-Cry-3201 6d ago

This is what you get with unfiltered juice, sediment that is. I tell people “I used organic apple juice so there’s a little sediment from the apples and spices at the bottom, just like with beer you don’t have to drink it.”

With a fine enough mesh I could probably filter it out but I don’t usually have that much.

4

u/bearcatguy 6d ago

I’ve had the sediment you’re talking about before. This is different

2

u/Savings-Cry-3201 6d ago

I made a peach bounce last year that went in clear but developed something that looked exactly like this, floating and all. I could not filter it out, it came back. No solution here.

1

u/bearcatguy 6d ago

Well that’s a bummer. I guess I’ll give the mesh a shot since I bought it already but whatever. Thanks for the info

2

u/hebrewchucknorris 6d ago

Try chilling it and running through a coffee filter

2

u/Savings-Cry-3201 5d ago

If you figure it out post your solution, I would be curious.

12

u/Ok-Bullfrog9311 6d ago

I would like to say it’s just pectins…even super fine amounts of pectin will find each other and build a larger mass. On another note, it looks like there is a fizzy looking right at the top if the liquid, so you might have a wild fermentation happening if the alcohol is low enough. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/bearcatguy 6d ago

I guess I’ll know tomorrow when I check em if gas is building up lol. That picture was taken right after putting it in the jar so I doubt it would be enough time to have fermentation happening but I’ll check tomorrow

0

u/Ok-Bullfrog9311 6d ago

Oh ok, I didn’t know that. The bubbles are probably just from the exothermic reaction of adding the alcohol to the juice.

4

u/HiaQueu 5d ago

Nothing. Filter it or shake a drink. We shake a drink since we use cider and dont filter.

3

u/Sea_Waltz8508 5d ago

probably the extra pectin from the cold pressed juice, sugar crash can do that too though

2

u/Makemyhay 6d ago

Now I’m no scientist or anything but, Certain plant materials are soluble in water but insoluble in alcohol. The plants actual DNA being one of them. I think what may be the cause here, as you stated it happened after the alcohol was added. Store bought cider or juice is filtered and pasteurized which would remove or breakdown/denature some of these compounds. Cold pressed apple juice likely has more “plant material” dissolved in the juice even if you can’t see it. The high proof alcohol is causing that to precipitate from solution

2

u/loeb657 5d ago

Pectin is precipitated with ethanol, this also looks like it

2

u/Makemyhay 5d ago

You are precisely correct

1

u/bearcatguy 6d ago

Any idea on if it’s salvageable?

2

u/Makemyhay 6d ago

Filter it, try adjusting the proof down as is manageable to see if it returns to solution

2

u/Mister_Potamus 5d ago

Let it settle as much as possible then siphon off the top, filter the rest.

1

u/Chris_El_Deafo 4d ago

I had a super similar theory that the cell walls were broken down and DNA and other materials were released in the same way as that elementary school experiment.

1

u/Makemyhay 4d ago

I did more research and [u/l](u/leob657)[oeb657](u/leob657) is right. It’s called the “ouzo affect” and is pectin being precipitated out by alcohol

1

u/Chris_El_Deafo 3d ago

I thought the ouzo effect was oils, not pectin? In cases like absinthe.

1

u/thatguy16754 5d ago

Is this some kind of mother?

1

u/No-Craft-7979 5d ago

Have never used juice or cider for apple pie. I make home made pie filling, pour 1 Liter or 1 Quart over it and forget it for at least 6 months. 200 mesh filter it in to bottles. It clears up, but has some sediment in it that can get a little floaty. Never hurt anyone.

1

u/brandonHuxley 5d ago

Likely some proteins that denatured in the ethanol. Just pass it through a filter and it’ll clear right up.

1

u/uberpro 5d ago

Hard to tell from the pic, but I make pommeau (fresh pressed, unfiltered cider + brandy), and deal with something similar. Apple sediments generally settle to the bottom after a few days (i think what you've seen before), but pectin tends to congeal in the presence of high abv, and floats for a while. Is this more of a gel? I've found that shaking the hell out of it a few times in the beginning helps things settle to the bottom later. Do that and let it sit for a few days.

I have generally found filtering to be much, much more difficult than letting it settle down and then rakcing off the top. But if it's totally congealed, unseparated pectin, you might be able to filter it. But I'd still wait

1

u/Chris_El_Deafo 4d ago

I wonder if it may be something like that elementary school experiment where you use soap to break the cell walls in a berry and extract the DNA as little clumps like these. Perhaps something in your process managed to breach the cell walls of apple cells in the juice?

Far flung hypothesis but visually that is what my mind went to.

1

u/Chris_El_Deafo 4d ago

I use a water filter pitcher to filter my cloudy moonshines. It keeps the flavor but removes everything like this. Like a lincoln county process on steroids.