Bentonite

[gird123]

I added bentonite to the primary when I racked to secondary it left little or no sedimate, so most of the bentonite is in the secondary. Can I wait three months to rack or should I do it sooner. The lees are very compact in the secondary.

What does extended time on bentonite do?

Thank you,

Nate

 

[Tom]

What U making? Recipe..
There should be sediment in the primary. what was the gravity when you racked?
Betonite will not hurt your wine if left in for a while. What I dont understand is why you had no sediment left in the primary.
Please post recipe, readings and what you did so far.

 

[gird123]

Ingredients:

18 Pounds Fresh/frozen Elderberries
5.5 Gallons Water
6 11.5 Oz. Cans Welch’s Frozen White Grape Juice
8.5 Pounds Sugar, approximately sg 1.079
2 Tbls. Yeast Nutrient
2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
2 tbs ground oak
1 tbs bentonite
5 Campden Tablets, Crushed
kv1116

Boiled elderberries for 15 min and inverted sugar. Poured in to paint strainer bag. Then waited until room temp and added pectic and sulfite. Waited about 24 to 30 hours and removed bag with berries. fermented to 1.01 then racked i was stirring daily and when racked from my 10 bucket it left almost no sediment. I stirred in the morning and racked in the afternoon.

 

[Wiz]

When in the secondary and after the wine stops active degassing by itself, I add bentonite. After 2 weeks I rack and stabilize and add Kmet. It is my understanding that after 4 weeks the bentonite adds an aftertaste. This has worked for me.

 

[jet]

I would not wait 3 months for the first racking, with or without the bentonite.

 

[Tom]

I would have fermented it till gravity is 1.015 then remove the berries. Doing this will add tannin and body.

 

[Wade E]

Did you by any chance disturb the primary before racking? Ive never seen a fermentation go that low and not have a good layer of sediment in there. I know if you racked earlier that sometimes the fermentation is so vigorous that it keeps all the sediment in suspension kind of like a lava lamp but at 1.010 it should have dropped a decent amount and it sounds like it good stirred before racking.

 

[tjbryner]

fermented to 1.01 then racked i was stirring daily and when racked from my 10 bucket it left almost no sediment. I stirred in the morning and racked in the afternoon.

I would say that was the problem if I'm reading it write.

 

[gird123]

Yeah. It was strange to rack and not have sediment. I don't feel like I did any thing different.

Now it has a very nice compact layer, so I guess I will wait a week and rack.

 

[Wade E]

I guess I am guilty of not reading thoroughly again!!! Bentonite will typically settle fast but not that fast. You want to add the bentonite in primary when adding everything else. The fermentation will become pretty violent and bring the bentonite up to the top and when fermentation settles down it will drag all or most of the solids down with it. If this is a kit that states to stir it up then follow the instructions but otherwise dont stir before racking as then you are racking over all the sediment that otherwise would have been left behind reducing the need to rack again so early in carboy.