I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. It's
cleared the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings
get stirred up with any minor move of the siphon. Is there a fix for this?

Dick

Chilling will help some, but in my experience the lees from both pear and
apple are extremely easy to disturb. Hold your racking cane high above the
lees and rack as much as is possible, then try chilling the rest.
Cheers,
Steve
"Dick Heckman" > wrote in message
...
> I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
> that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. It's cleared
> the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings get stirred
> up with any minor move of the siphon. Is there a fix for this?
>
> Dick

Same boat as youse w/ both peach and pear wines. Now that I've got
experience w/ sparkalloids, I try to schedule an intermediate racking before
hitting the bottling bucket. The cheapest/practicalest (I know that's not a
real word) solution I've developed is to either use mini-vise grips or a
hemostat/ jumbo roach-clip like devise to grip the cane. The mini-visegrip
has enough mass to sit on the mouth of a carboy to hold the cane at a decent
level to avoid hoovering too much lee, but aren't as gentle on plastic
canes; I cracked one the 1st time. So the hemostats are more gentle on the
plastics but require better, more delicate balancing skills on the carboy
mouth. I've learned to live with the mini-visegrips and put the hemos away
for other applications... HTH, regards, bob



"Steve Peek" > wrote in message
m...
> Chilling will help some, but in my experience the lees from both pear and
> apple are extremely easy to disturb. Hold your racking cane high above the
> lees and rack as much as is possible, then try chilling the rest.
> Cheers,
> Steve
> "Dick Heckman" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
>> that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. It's
>> cleared the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings get
>> stirred up with any minor move of the siphon. Is there a fix for this?
>>
>> Dick
>
>

This item is at my local homebrew shop:

http://www.mdhb.com/product_info.php...oducts_id=3677

and looks like it might be useful for holding your racking cane fast while
you're distracted by the siphoning process.

Marshall

bobdrob wrote:

> Same boat as youse w/ both peach and pear wines. Now that I've got
> experience w/ sparkalloids, I try to schedule an intermediate racking
> before hitting the bottling bucket. The cheapest/practicalest (I know
> that's not a real word) solution I've developed is to either use mini-vise
> grips or a hemostat/ jumbo roach-clip like devise to grip the cane. The
> mini-visegrip has enough mass to sit on the mouth of a carboy to hold the
> cane at a decent level to avoid hoovering too much lee, but aren't as
> gentle on plastic canes; I cracked one the 1st time. So the hemostats are
> more gentle on the plastics but require better, more delicate balancing
> skills on the carboy
> mouth. I've learned to live with the mini-visegrips and put the hemos
> away
> for other applications... HTH, regards, bob

In article >, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
>that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. It's
>cleared the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings
>get stirred up with any minor move of the siphon. Is there a fix for this?

Patience. Winemaking is not a hobby for those in a hurry.

The longer you wait after adding Sparkolloid before you try to rack the wine,
the more compact (and less readily disturbed) the sediment will be. In my
experience, this is a process measured in weeks, not hours or days.

Don't try to bottle it right away, either. Rack to a second carboy, then allow
to settle again, for at least a week. Two weeks is better. *Then* bottle.

On Jun 16, 8:04*am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
> In article >, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>
> >I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
> >that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. *It's
> >cleared the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings
> >get stirred up with any minor move of the siphon. *Is there a fix for this?
>
> Patience. Winemaking is not a hobby for those in a hurry.
>
> The longer you wait after adding Sparkolloid before you try to rack the wine,
> the more compact (and less readily disturbed) the sediment will be. In my
> experience, this is a process measured in weeks, not hours or days.
>
> Don't try to bottle it right away, either. Rack to a second carboy, then allow
> to settle again, for at least a week. Two weeks is better. *Then* bottle.


I've had similar problems with pear and quince wine. I generally just
let them settle for 6-8 months in the carboy and rack gently. On these
occasions I wonder if using filter paper would be a good idea. Rack
off 85-90% of the clear stuff, then pour the rest through a coffe
filter to get the remaining liquid separated from the solids. There
must be a reason not to do so, as I've never heard it recommended in
the last ten or twelve years that I've been making wine, but I can't
think of what it might be.

Paul

I've made pear before and had it clear just fine without needing
anything. I used the same approach this time but no luck.

Dick

Pavel314 wrote:
> On Jun 16, 8:04 am, (Doug Miller) wrote:
>> In article >, Dick Heckman > wrote:
>>
>>> I've never had to use fining agents on my wines but I've had a pear wine
>>> that didn't want to clear so I used some Sparkolloid Powder. It's
>>> cleared the wine but whenever I try to draw the wine out, the finings
>>> get stirred up with any minor move of the siphon. Is there a fix for this?
>> Patience. Winemaking is not a hobby for those in a hurry.
>>
>> The longer you wait after adding Sparkolloid before you try to rack the wine,
>> the more compact (and less readily disturbed) the sediment will be. In my
>> experience, this is a process measured in weeks, not hours or days.
>>
>> Don't try to bottle it right away, either. Rack to a second carboy, then allow
>> to settle again, for at least a week. Two weeks is better. *Then* bottle.
>
>
> I've had similar problems with pear and quince wine. I generally just
> let them settle for 6-8 months in the carboy and rack gently. On these
> occasions I wonder if using filter paper would be a good idea. Rack
> off 85-90% of the clear stuff, then pour the rest through a coffe
> filter to get the remaining liquid separated from the solids. There
> must be a reason not to do so, as I've never heard it recommended in
> the last ten or twelve years that I've been making wine, but I can't
> think of what it might be.
>
> Paul

In article >, Pavel314 > wrote:

>If I threw some campden tablets into the wine after the filtering
>would that help prevent oxidation?

Not nearly as well as if you add them *before* filtering.