I have never used isinglass for fining, and my impression is that its use
among home winemakers isn't as popular as other fining ingredients like
Sparkolloid, betonite, gelatin, Kieselsol and Polyclar.

The problem I've had with Sparkolloid is that unless you will filter your
wine after treating, you will need to allow plenty of time (4 to 6 months)
after fining for all the fine particles to settle out of suspension to avoid
ending up with floaters later in the bottle (even when the wine looks
perfectly clear when bottled). You can try fining first with Sparkolloid
and then follow it up with a betonite "topping", but the betonite itself
will leave large fluffy lees that can be difficult to rack off of. This
works though, I believe, because betonite is negatively charged while
Sparkolloid is positively charged, so the betonite will attract the
remaining Sparkalloid particles. Sparkolloid usually leaves wine very clear
very quickly. Sparkolloid should be added to the wine hot, and betonite
needs to be blended into a slurry with water.

Some of the easiest and cleanest finings are the two-packet varieties like
"KC Kler", usually containing a packet of Kieselsol and I think another of
gelatin. This leaves nice, compact lees in short time that are easy to rack
off of. Down side is that it's a bit more expensive and the shelf life of
the packets doesn't allow you to keep a supply around like you can with
betonite or sparkolloid.

Popular finings for red wines are betonite (which you can even use during
the primary fermentation if you like), egg whiles (for a very light
"polishing" fining), and gelatin (if you want to soften a tannic wine since
gelatin removes an equal quantity of tannin). Egg whites won't have much
negative effect on the wine, but both betonite and gelatin can remove some
color and taste, so best to use them conservatively.

Polyclar is an unusual fining ... you normally don't want to use it on a red
wine, because it will remove some color. But, if you have a wine that has
oxidized a bit (say an apple wine where the fruit was damaged, or a raisin
wine or from other dried fruits), Polyclar can sometimes work wonders,
clearing up the browning and removing tannin and bitterness.

Sorry, I don't have any experience with Isinglass, but I'm sure someone else
can fill in info on that one. Keep in mind that all finings need to be
mixed well into the wine. You can buy a wine stirer that will attach to the
end of a power drill to make the easier (it's a rod that has two fins at the
end that fold up to enter through the mouth of the carboy, and then deploy
out into the wine for stirring).

Jon
[Check out my winemaking homepage
http://users.rcn.com/jcgilliam/Southeast_PA_Winemaker/!]


"Crhoff" > wrote in message
...
> I'm sort of new to wine making and have heard Sparkolloid is prefered by a
> lot of people compared to Isinglass. Can anyone comment?
>
> crhoff
>