Hello,
Your wine is very young, and you're fine. I've made plum wine, and you
need to give it more time to clear on its own. I usually don't bottle my
wine until it is about 8 months old - which might include 2-4 rackings in
that 8 months depending on how cloudy the wine is. Yes, it sounds like you
have too much head space in your carboy and that would be a concern. You
need to get your wine in 1 or more carboys with bungs and airlocks with very
little head room. I do 1 gallon batches and there is barely 1 inch of
headspace between the wine and the bung. Do keep some wine back for top-up -
when you rack the wine off the sediment (which will continue to drop over
the next few months). I like to keep all my wine in the dark as much as
possible, especially when you're aging it. I wait until the wine is clear
before bottling. If you bottle a young cloudy wine, you'll get sediment in
your bottles, so you need to decide if that's acceptable or not. The most I
get in my bottles is a dusting of sediment. I let time do its work - I've
only had to fine with bentonite 2 or three wines in the 4 years I've been
making wine. Good-luck. Plum wine is a yummy wine.
Darlene
Wisconsin

"sjstokes" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hello. I hope someone can indulge a complete beginner and help me out
> with a few questions on some plum wine I've recently made.
>
> 1) The fermentation finished about three weeks ago. I've racked the
> wine three times since and now, although I'm getting very little
> sediment at the bottom of the container, the wine is still very cloudy.
> What would be the best way to clear it? I've tried pectolase, both
> before fermentation started and also a bit afterwards. I've also added
> a small quantity of bentonite. Is there anything I've missed/done wrong
> or am I just being impatient?
> 2) I made about 22 litres and the liquid is in a large carboy which
> could hold maybe another 10 litres or so. Is there any risk to the wine
> in there being so much air sitting on top of the wine while it clears?
> The process of racking is adding fresh air ro the carboy. Will this air
> oxidise the wine or affect its flavour detrimentally?
> 3) I read that the wine should be fermented in the dark which I
> complied with. Does it need to remain in the dark while it clears?
> 4) Does the wine have to be completely clear before I bottle it or does
> the clearing process continue after bottling?
>
> Thanks, Stephen Stokes.
>