Hi all, I'm new here and have a few questions. I started a white Zinfandel
kit with the intention of making most of it into sparkling Zinfandel. I'm
wondering about the stabilizing and clearing stages. The kit contains a few
things like potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite, kieselsol and "pack
D" which reads: Clarifier, add last after kieselsol
Allergy Alert Chitosan is A shellfish derivative

So, which of these would kill the yeast? Which are safe to add? Are there
any alternative methods of clearing the wine without adding all these
chemicals?

On a final note I added about a cup of cherry wood chips in hot water to the
kit at the start because I thought it might improve the taste, any thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

Generally the wisdom seems to be that if you want an easy life you just do what your kit instructs so you can be
confident it will turn out right. I know you wouldn't be asking if you didn't feel like researching and experimenting
though

I believe 'time' is the main way to clear / settle out wine. The effect of gravity on the particles in the wine
apparently 'always' clears it 'eventually'. Saying that I've had hazes and wines that didn't seem to clear by
themselves and have used various agents. I don't mind using clearing agents in those circumstances one bit. But I'm
not a winehead yet!

Jim


"Dirty Harry" > wrote in message news:slEHh.1242225$1T2.181778@pd7urf2no...
> Hi all, I'm new here and have a few questions. I started a white Zinfandel kit with the intention of making most of
> it into sparkling Zinfandel. I'm wondering about the stabilizing and clearing stages. The kit contains a few things
> like potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite, kieselsol and "pack D" which reads: Clarifier, add last after
> kieselsol
> Allergy Alert Chitosan is A shellfish derivative
>
> So, which of these would kill the yeast? Which are safe to add? Are there any alternative methods of clearing the
> wine without adding all these chemicals?
>
> On a final note I added about a cup of cherry wood chips in hot water to the kit at the start because I thought it
> might improve the taste, any thoughts?
>
> Thanks everyone!
>
>

I agree with the above. Especially for the first few kits, make them the
way the instructions say. After you gain some experience (and have a
backlog of wines stocked up) then try experimenting.

As far as the cherry wood, it probably will do nothing. It is surprising
which woods will impart flavor and which will not. My understanding is that
woods like cherry, pecan, and walnut will impart very little flavor. I
would think any wood used to smoke meat would be good but not so. This is
not from personal experience but rather form people who have experimented a
lot.

Ray

"jim" > wrote in message
...
> Generally the wisdom seems to be that if you want an easy life you just do
> what your kit instructs so you can be confident it will turn out right. I
> know you wouldn't be asking if you didn't feel like researching and
> experimenting though
>
> I believe 'time' is the main way to clear / settle out wine. The effect
> of gravity on the particles in the wine apparently 'always' clears it
> 'eventually'. Saying that I've had hazes and wines that didn't seem to
> clear by themselves and have used various agents. I don't mind using
> clearing agents in those circumstances one bit. But I'm not a winehead
> yet!
>
> Jim
>
>
> "Dirty Harry" > wrote in message
> news:slEHh.1242225$1T2.181778@pd7urf2no...
>> Hi all, I'm new here and have a few questions. I started a white
>> Zinfandel kit with the intention of making most of it into sparkling
>> Zinfandel. I'm wondering about the stabilizing and clearing stages. The
>> kit contains a few things like potassium sorbate, potassium
>> metabisulphite, kieselsol and "pack D" which reads: Clarifier, add last
>> after kieselsol
>> Allergy Alert Chitosan is A shellfish derivative
>>
>> So, which of these would kill the yeast? Which are safe to add? Are
>> there any alternative methods of clearing the wine without adding all
>> these chemicals?
>>
>> On a final note I added about a cup of cherry wood chips in hot water to
>> the kit at the start because I thought it might improve the taste, any
>> thoughts?
>>
>> Thanks everyone!
>>
>>
>
>

On Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:26:16 GMT, "Dirty Harry" >
wrote:

>Hi all, I'm new here and have a few questions. I started a white Zinfandel
>kit with the intention of making most of it into sparkling Zinfandel. I'm
>wondering about the stabilizing and clearing stages. The kit contains a few
>things like potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite, kieselsol and "pack
>D" which reads: Clarifier, add last after kieselsol
>Allergy Alert Chitosan is A shellfish derivative
>
>So, which of these would kill the yeast? Which are safe to add? Are there
>any alternative methods of clearing the wine without adding all these
>chemicals?
>
>On a final note I added about a cup of cherry wood chips in hot water to the
>kit at the start because I thought it might improve the taste, any thoughts?
>
>Thanks everyone!
>

potassium sorbate is the chemical that inhibits yeast reproduction...
It does not kill yeast.

The Anchorage Fishwrapper and Litterbox Liner Press

I can't speak to the cherry wood but f you do add wood toast it next
time. Raw wood doesn't do anything good to wine for the most part.
As to toasting you can do that in an oven set to >350, probably more
like 450 F.

As to sparkling the wine, if you are just going to carbonate it with a
tank it doesn't matter what you use to fine or stabilize. If you are
doing it naturally you may want to cut back on adding the sulfite and
definitely don't use the sorbate.

The general process for naturally sparkled wine is to:

Start on the lower end of alcohol, 10-11%.
Start with higher acid levels usually around 8g/l.
Get the wine cleaned up with time or fining agents. (Both are good,
since you are probably considering a fruity style, use the fining
agents).
Add a very precise amount of sugar and some new yeast to the batch (EC
1118 is a good choice).
As soon as that starts fermenting bottle it using crown caps and
champagne bottles.

Joe