# Gettin' them little beggars off the stems



## BobF (Aug 19, 2010)

... Elderberries

I hate freezing the heads first. Messy ...
Stripping by hand is a time consuming PITA, but better than combing ...

The other forum had this posted a few days ago:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDFTtmK7nU[/ame]

I tried it today. Cut my time to 1/30 of the hand stripping method - with BETTER (cleaner) results than freezing or hand stripping!


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## Woodbee (Aug 19, 2010)

AAAAAAAAAAmen. Looks good to me. He didn't show purple his palms were after 30 lbs.. Grate Idea thanks for passing it along


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## upper (Aug 19, 2010)

Wow looks great.If you freeze the berries first it is hard to float out the green ones and also to get out the trash.Freezing is good to store,but I think they should be cleaned and processed first.I can't wait to try it.......Upper


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## Wade E (Aug 19, 2010)

Yep, Ill try that this year if I ever get out there and get some!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I havent had the time to do anything lately and when I have ive been in to much pain to even think about it.


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## kegmeister (Aug 20, 2010)

wonder if the wine will be done before the purple comes off his palms


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## BobF (Aug 20, 2010)

kegmeister said:


> wonder if the wine will be done before the purple comes off his palms


 
I end up with purple hands/fingers no matter how I process them. I washes off pretty easily. The purple I got yesterday is completely gone as I type this ;-)

Stems are the side effect of this method. A few more than hand-stripping, but about the same as pre-freezing. It's easier to roll the berries in a collander and grab stems after floating out the greenies and trash though (compared to pre-freezing).

All things considered, having processed elderberries every way imaginable, this is by far the most efficient over all. For me ...


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## BobF (Aug 20, 2010)

upper said:


> Wow looks great.If you freeze the berries first it is hard to float out the green ones and also to get out the trash.Freezing is good to store,but I think they should be cleaned and processed first.I can't wait to try it.......Upper


 
I've avoided pre-freezing since the last time I processed 18# of frozen heads.

Harvest, strip, clean/float, bag/weigh, freeze, juice, ferment!!!!!!


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## Arne (Aug 20, 2010)

The same web site that showed using the grates showed how to beat em against the side of your bucket. Most of the ripe berries come off and a lot of the unripe ones just stay on the heads. Afterwards, float the stems and greenies off, rinse again bag and freeze. Ready to use when you get enough.


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## BobF (Aug 21, 2010)

Arne said:


> The same web site that showed using the grates showed how to beat em against the side of your bucket. Most of the ripe berries come off and a lot of the unripe ones just stay on the heads. Afterwards, float the stems and greenies off, rinse again bag and freeze. Ready to use when you get enough.


 
bucket banging doesn't work for me. I only have wild varieties available, which may have something to do with it.


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## Arne (Aug 24, 2010)

Did not work on some of the heads. They looked like they were ripe, but think they were a little green yet. Also used a rectangular bucket instead of round. Don't know if it made any difference, but worked for me. "Arne


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## BobF (Aug 24, 2010)

Arne said:


> Did not work on some of the heads. They looked like they were ripe, but think they were a little green yet. Also used a rectangular bucket instead of round. Don't know if it made any difference, but worked for me. "Arne


 
I tried banging most of them prior to using the grate. In most cases, even with the really-ripe-almost-mushy berries, they simply would not shake or bang loose.

It's not like I haven't tried


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## Arne (Aug 24, 2010)

Well, guess them Mo. berries are toughter than the Husker berries. lol. Arne.


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## Mud (Aug 26, 2010)

I know another guy from nebraska who freezes and shakes the berries loose. Doesn't work in my neck of the woods, though.

Used a screen over a bucket today. Worked great. There were more stems to pick out but it took less then 1/3 of the time that hand stripping takes. And I was wearing a big unwieldy glove. 

This is the go-to method from now on.


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## BobF (Aug 26, 2010)

Mud said:


> I know another guy from nebraska who freezes and shakes the berries loose. Doesn't work in my neck of the woods, though.
> 
> Used a screen over a bucket today. Worked great. There were more stems to pick out but it took less then 1/3 of the time that hand stripping takes. And I was wearing a big unwieldy glove.
> 
> This is the go-to method from now on.


 

Mine too. I don't wear a glove though. The purple only hangs on for a few hours


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## Wade E (Aug 26, 2010)

The best method Ive seen but havent used yet is the cooling rack for baking and you put that over the bucket like Mud has referred to. here is a link to a video of a friend using this method.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDFTtmK7nU[/ame]


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## BobF (Aug 26, 2010)

Wade E said:


> The best method Ive seen but havent used yet is the cooling rack for baking and you put that over the bucket like Mud has referred to. here is a link to a video of a friend using this method.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDFTtmK7nU


 
Did you happen to look at the first post in this thread? Have been sampling again? ;-)


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## Wade E (Aug 26, 2010)

Hehehe, sometimes I loose track as I try to get the best answers to every thread that I can and dont always go back to the beginning of every thread and Im always sampling!


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## Minnesotamaker (Aug 27, 2010)

I collected 14 pounds of wild ones using the bang in bucket method. Went much faster that last years method of freezing and running them down a board to seperate the stems.


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## TwinMaples (Aug 27, 2010)

Wade E said:


> The best method . . . is the cooling rack for baking. . .


We were having trouble finding the square grid type of cooling rack. We went to a restaurant supply store, they had an industrial strength one, and it was less than $6.00!

Jim


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## Mud (Aug 27, 2010)

Above I called it a screen but I actually used galvanized hardware cloth. The kind with 3/8" squares.


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## Julie (Aug 27, 2010)

TwinMaples said:


> We were having trouble finding the square grid type of cooling rack. We went to a restaurant supply store, they had an industrial strength one, and it was less than $6.00!
> 
> Jim



Hey Jim,

I see this is your first post, welcome to winemakingtalk. Nice to see you here


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## Wade E (Aug 27, 2010)

Welcome TwinMaples! Mud, never evn thought of that and I also could use some to make a new dirt screen to get the rocks out as I destroyed mine finally last year sifting all dirt from planting the Currants.


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## Runningwolf (Aug 27, 2010)

TwinMaples said:


> We were having trouble finding the square grid type of cooling rack. We went to a restaurant supply store, they had an industrial strength one, and it was less than $6.00!
> 
> Jim



Hey Jim, thanks for stopping in and Welcome. Pull up a chair and let us know what you're making. Please feel free to ask/answer questions anytime. Glad to have you on board.


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## TwinMaples (Aug 28, 2010)

Mud said:


> Above I called it a screen but I actually used galvanized hardware cloth. The kind with 3/8" squares.


I thought of using hardware cloth, but thought there would be too many sharp points/edges that would puncture the berries.

Jim


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## TwinMaples (Aug 28, 2010)

Runningwolf said:


> Hey Jim, thanks for stopping in and Welcome. Pull up a chair and let us know what you're making. Please feel free to ask/answer questions anytime. Glad to have you on board.


Julie, Wade, and Dan, thanks for the hospitable welcome!

Right now, I have 2 carboys of elderberry, 2 carboys of elderberry mead, a peach/white grape, and a blueberry. The elderberry carboys are from last year. Had to make room for this year's harvest!!!


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## Mud (Aug 28, 2010)

TwinMaples said:


> I thought of using hardware cloth, but thought there would be too many sharp points/edges that would puncture the berries.
> 
> Jim



Since I only did it with the hardware cloth I can't compare. But burst berries are no problem. You want them crushed when they're fermenting.


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