I read through the archives and nothing answered me so I'm going to ask
one of those questions that asked a thousand times.

How do I clear my wine?

It's a reisling from a kit with lousy instructions which I tried to
follow. As per the instructions I degassed (vigorously) and added
potassium meta and potassium sorbate. Then I added the packet of kieselsol.

It's been two weeks since and the wine is solid haze top to bottom. I
moved the carboy today, stirring it up a bit and the particulates were
very fine and sort of formed very fine strings.

Is there an additive I can use to help clear this wine without adding an
off flavour? Is using a filter a viable alternative? The shop down the
street rents them for $4).

Thanks for your advice,
Andrew

It would help to know the brand of the kit, as different kit companies
offten differ in fining procedures. In general terms, kieselsol by
itself should not be enough at this stage. I would expect kieselsol
fining to be followed by isinglass or gelatin or another positively
charged fining agent - isn't there any other fining package in the kit?

Filtration is not recommended on visibly cloudy wines, so I'd wait with
that and try fining first. I'd also contact the kit producer for advice
- they should know their product and tell you the best approach to take
at this point.

Pp

On Nov 8, 2:41 pm, Andrew > wrote:
> I read through the archives and nothing answered me so I'm going to ask
> one of those questions that asked a thousand times.
>
> How do I clear my wine?
>
> It's a reisling from a kit with lousy instructions which I tried to
> follow. As per the instructions I degassed (vigorously) and added
> potassium meta and potassium sorbate. Then I added the packet of kieselsol.
>
> It's been two weeks since and the wine is solid haze top to bottom. I
> moved the carboy today, stirring it up a bit and the particulates were
> very fine and sort of formed very fine strings.
>
> Is there an additive I can use to help clear this wine without adding an
> off flavour? Is using a filter a viable alternative? The shop down the
> street rents them for $4).
>
> Thanks for your advice,
> Andrew

pp wrote:
> It would help to know the brand of the kit, as different kit companies
> offten differ in fining procedures. In general terms, kieselsol by
> itself should not be enough at this stage. I would expect kieselsol
> fining to be followed by isinglass or gelatin or another positively
> charged fining agent - isn't there any other fining package in the kit?
>
> Filtration is not recommended on visibly cloudy wines, so I'd wait with
> that and try fining first. I'd also contact the kit producer for advice
> - they should know their product and tell you the best approach to take
> at this point.
>

All good advice; I use straight bentonite as a 5% solution and never
have issues. I mix a pint at one time because I rarely need that much
to do 5 gallons. I do trials on 375 ml at 1/4, 1/2 and that dosage.
Within 2 days you will know how much you need. 1/4 dose is usually
enough if you are willing to wait a few weeks.

You should follow up with a hot stability test but I never do. I
figure if I give someone a white and they leave it in the trunk of
their car on a hot day they really don't know much about wines to begin
with; cloudy wine is probably the least of the problems...

Joe
Joe

The kit was kind of a no name package hence the lousy instructions. The
only additives were those that I mentioned. As well there was no mention
of another fining agent, the kieselsol being the last additive before
bottling.

Would you recommend isinglass as my next step?

Thanks, Andrew

pp wrote:
> It would help to know the brand of the kit, as different kit companies
> offten differ in fining procedures. In general terms, kieselsol by
> itself should not be enough at this stage. I would expect kieselsol
> fining to be followed by isinglass or gelatin or another positively
> charged fining agent - isn't there any other fining package in the kit?
>
> Filtration is not recommended on visibly cloudy wines, so I'd wait with
> that and try fining first. I'd also contact the kit producer for advice
> - they should know their product and tell you the best approach to take
> at this point.
>
> Pp
>
> On Nov 8, 2:41 pm, Andrew > wrote:
>> I read through the archives and nothing answered me so I'm going to ask
>> one of those questions that asked a thousand times.
>>
>> How do I clear my wine?
>>
>> It's a reisling from a kit with lousy instructions which I tried to
>> follow. As per the instructions I degassed (vigorously) and added
>> potassium meta and potassium sorbate. Then I added the packet of kieselsol.
>>
>> It's been two weeks since and the wine is solid haze top to bottom. I
>> moved the carboy today, stirring it up a bit and the particulates were
>> very fine and sort of formed very fine strings.
>>
>> Is there an additive I can use to help clear this wine without adding an
>> off flavour? Is using a filter a viable alternative? The shop down the
>> street rents them for $4).
>>
>> Thanks for your advice,
>> Andrew
>

I'd try pectic enzyme (my first line of attack as my posts indicate)
then bentonite, as Joe recommended.

I filtered my wines many moons ago but stopped the practice. Fining
agents and time generally do just fine -- I've had reds that lasted 5+
years with no sediment. [I also made a mead that sat for a year, no
sediment the last 9 months, bottled it and it dropped a fine amount of
sediment within 2 weeks ...]

Bryan


On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:51:18 GMT, Andrew >
wrote:

>The kit was kind of a no name package hence the lousy instructions. The
>only additives were those that I mentioned. As well there was no mention
>of another fining agent, the kieselsol being the last additive before
>bottling.
>
>Would you recommend isinglass as my next step?
>
>Thanks, Andrew
>
>pp wrote:
>> It would help to know the brand of the kit, as different kit companies
>> offten differ in fining procedures. In general terms, kieselsol by
>> itself should not be enough at this stage. I would expect kieselsol
>> fining to be followed by isinglass or gelatin or another positively
>> charged fining agent - isn't there any other fining package in the kit?
>>
>> Filtration is not recommended on visibly cloudy wines, so I'd wait with
>> that and try fining first. I'd also contact the kit producer for advice
>> - they should know their product and tell you the best approach to take
>> at this point.
>>
>> Pp
>>
>> On Nov 8, 2:41 pm, Andrew > wrote:
>>> I read through the archives and nothing answered me so I'm going to ask
>>> one of those questions that asked a thousand times.
>>>
>>> How do I clear my wine?
>>>
>>> It's a reisling from a kit with lousy instructions which I tried to
>>> follow. As per the instructions I degassed (vigorously) and added
>>> potassium meta and potassium sorbate. Then I added the packet of kieselsol.
>>>
>>> It's been two weeks since and the wine is solid haze top to bottom. I
>>> moved the carboy today, stirring it up a bit and the particulates were
>>> very fine and sort of formed very fine strings.
>>>
>>> Is there an additive I can use to help clear this wine without adding an
>>> off flavour? Is using a filter a viable alternative? The shop down the
>>> street rents them for $4).
>>>
>>> Thanks for your advice,
>>> Andrew
>>

Thanks again for the advice. I'll give the pectic enzyme a try.

I also have some mead on the go. It looks and smells delicious.

Andrew

Jake Speed wrote:
> I'd try pectic enzyme (my first line of attack as my posts indicate)
> then bentonite, as Joe recommended.
>
> I filtered my wines many moons ago but stopped the practice. Fining
> agents and time generally do just fine -- I've had reds that lasted 5+
> years with no sediment. [I also made a mead that sat for a year, no
> sediment the last 9 months, bottled it and it dropped a fine amount of
> sediment within 2 weeks ...]
>
> Bryan
>
>
> On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 23:51:18 GMT, Andrew >
> wrote:
>
>> The kit was kind of a no name package hence the lousy instructions. The
>> only additives were those that I mentioned. As well there was no mention
>> of another fining agent, the kieselsol being the last additive before
>> bottling.
>>
>> Would you recommend isinglass as my next step?
>>
>> Thanks, Andrew
>>
>> pp wrote:
>>> It would help to know the brand of the kit, as different kit companies
>>> offten differ in fining procedures. In general terms, kieselsol by
>>> itself should not be enough at this stage. I would expect kieselsol
>>> fining to be followed by isinglass or gelatin or another positively
>>> charged fining agent - isn't there any other fining package in the kit?
>>>
>>> Filtration is not recommended on visibly cloudy wines, so I'd wait with
>>> that and try fining first. I'd also contact the kit producer for advice
>>> - they should know their product and tell you the best approach to take
>>> at this point.
>>>
>>> Pp
>>>
>>> On Nov 8, 2:41 pm, Andrew > wrote:
>>>> I read through the archives and nothing answered me so I'm going to ask
>>>> one of those questions that asked a thousand times.
>>>>
>>>> How do I clear my wine?
>>>>
>>>> It's a reisling from a kit with lousy instructions which I tried to
>>>> follow. As per the instructions I degassed (vigorously) and added
>>>> potassium meta and potassium sorbate. Then I added the packet of kieselsol.
>>>>
>>>> It's been two weeks since and the wine is solid haze top to bottom. I
>>>> moved the carboy today, stirring it up a bit and the particulates were
>>>> very fine and sort of formed very fine strings.
>>>>
>>>> Is there an additive I can use to help clear this wine without adding an
>>>> off flavour? Is using a filter a viable alternative? The shop down the
>>>> street rents them for $4).
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for your advice,
>>>> Andrew

On Nov 8, 3:17 pm, "Joe Sallustio" > wrote:
> All good advice; I use straight bentonite as a 5% solution and never
> have issues. I mix a pint at one time because I rarely need that much
> to do 5 gallons. I do trials on 375 ml at 1/4, 1/2 and that dosage.
> Within 2 days you will know how much you need. 1/4 dose is usually
> enough if you are willing to wait a few weeks.
>
> You should follow up with a hot stability test but I never do. I
> figure if I give someone a white and they leave it in the trunk of
> their car on a hot day they really don't know much about wines to begin
> with; cloudy wine is probably the least of the problems...
>
> Joe

Joe, are you saying you can reliably and quickly clear your whites with
just bentonite? I'm not doing the trials and do my bentonite additions
pretty low, and I usually have to use another fining agent after -
Sparkalloid or gelatin (in the past). My understanding was that using
two agents is the normal case because of the polarity - bentonite takes
out proteins, and the other agant takes out negatively charged
elements. If bentonite were enough on its own, I'd prefer that because
it'd speed up the clearing considerably.

Also, I'm not clear on the amount you're using - are the 1/4, 1/2, and
1 referring to the pint of the solution with respect to 5 gals? So
something like 20-25g of bentonite at the full strength?

Thx,

Pp

> Joe, are you saying you can reliably and quickly clear your whites with
> just bentonite? I'm not doing the trials and do my bentonite additions
> pretty low, and I usually have to use another fining agent after -
> Sparkalloid or gelatin (in the past). My understanding was that using
> two agents is the normal case because of the polarity - bentonite takes
> out proteins, and the other agant takes out negatively charged
> elements. If bentonite were enough on its own, I'd prefer that because
> it'd speed up the clearing considerably.
>
> Also, I'm not clear on the amount you're using - are the 1/4, 1/2, and
> 1 referring to the pint of the solution with respect to 5 gals? So
> something like 20-25g of bentonite at the full strength?

Pp,

Although your question is to Joe, I'll pass along what has worked well
for me with Riesling using pressed settle juice:
1.) 2g/gal Bentonite (net negative charge at wine pH). Excellent for
protein stability in wine since many protein are net + at wine pH.
Must be swelled properly.
2.) Isinglass (I buy the premixed stuff 'cause it's a PITA to mix
yourself) at 5mL/gal (net positive charge at wine pH).

RD

I don't know what happened to the reply to this, I posted it a week
ago. apologies.
:
> Joe, are you saying you can reliably and quickly clear your whites with
> just bentonite?

Yes, I just wait a few weeks and rack. I take the dregs and let them
settle in another bottle too. That way I don't waste too much wine
left in the lees.

> Also, I'm not clear on the amount you're using - are the 1/4, 1/2, and
> 1 referring to the pint of the solution with respect to 5 gals? So
> something like 20-25g of bentonite at the full strength?

I do 375 ml bottles, one with 10 ml of the bentonite slurry, one with 5
ml, one with 2.5 ml added.

Make sense?

Joe
>
> Thx,
>
> Pp