Hullo, my first mailing to this group. I am making 'country' wines as
one of my retirement hobbies, using produce from our organic garden.

I have been having some difficulty in clearing two demi-johns (carboys?)
of gooseberry wine despite twice racking them off. There is still a
small amount of fruit lees in the wine, but I am hoping to clear it
enough for bottling without another racking.

I have now added bentonite which seems to be helping slowly, but I
wondered if there is any accepted way of adding this type of finings
after fermentation. I tried mixing about half a teaspoonful in some of
the wine must, but it gelled up into a sticky goo, which I then added to
the wine then gave it a good stir. I sprinkled about the same amount
directly into the second jar of the same wine but it sank to the bottom
until I also stirred that. In both cases, the addition of bentonite
seemed to reactivate a small amount of fermentation, although I had
previously stopped them with a campden tablet each. Ideas?
--
Alan Gould - North Lincolnshire, UK.