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Steve Waller
 
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As I understand it, there are numerous grades/types of bentonite. For
me, each type of bentonite seems to require different handling.

As someone already said bentonite gets rid of proteins that can cause
a haze in your wine.

It is often used in the primary for two reasons....

1) it provides 'nucleation' sites for the yeast. No I'm not a chemist
and I got that word off the internet somewhere. Basically it helps
the yeast to circulate in the must/wine.

2) When used in the primary, less bentonite (and less stirring) is
used to produce the same effect. Because the 'lift' provided by the
yeast causes the bentonite to circulate, less stirring is required.

When making a kit, the bentonite usually settles out failrly quickly
(less than an hour?). Then when the yeast starts up, the bentonite
can be seen throughout the wine. This is much more visible in white
wines, of course.

Steve