On Feb 22, 11:16*am, "Robert Lewis" wrote:
Jim,

*Howdy. *My thought is that if you're gonna let it sit anyway, you might as
well just let it settle naturally. *Then you can do a final racking right
before bottling.

Alternately, if you can find room in your refrigerator, you can put the
carboy in there for a week or so. *That'll expedite settling as well as cold
stabilize.

*Robert

"jim" wrote in message

...
Hi, I started a red wine made from my father in law's grapes. *There's
only a gallon of it, but it is rich and dense, almost black in
colour. *I think it will be pretty good when it is finished,
especially since it came from a fairly random grape vine which wasn't
sold with wine in mind. *I tasted it on second racking and it was
better than the bottled french burgandy I was drinking the day
before...

I usually use a laser pointer and a strong torch to ascertain the
clarity of my 1 gallon and sometimes 5 gallon wines. It usually gives
a pretty good indication of how clear or otherwise a white, rosé or
clear red wine is. *However, for a rich red grape wine, or elderberry
wine, the laser just can't penetrate more than 1/8th of an inch until
it is clear - or close to.

The wine was started on the 1st of September last year. *I expect it
to be September 2009 before we drink it. *My question though, is
should I leave it to clear naturally, however long that takes. *Or,
would I be better off fining it at some point and then continuing the
again process after that?

I am keen to let it clear naturally if it isn't likely to result in
off flavours or other damage to the wine. *If I do need to fine it,
what would be recommended, bentonite?

I am sure it is a 'how long is a piece of string' kind of question and
surely doesn't justify the length of my post *Any help though is
gratefully received as always.

Best wishes to you all, Jim

how cold can wine be "cold stabilized" at?
Its 20-ish deg F in my garage right now.......