Ok I have a fruit mix working its mostly strawberry, with some pineapple, banana, and mango. So far its been ok, just moved along very fast up to this point. After only 3 days it was below 1.040. then it was all the way dry at .990 after only like 2 weeks. it looke like it was starting to clear, but there was so much lees I went ahead and racked again and dosed with k meta. its been several days and I havent seen any sign that is clearing again. Did I mess it up? is this normal? and if I messed up is there a way to fix this? and should I have added a Clarifying agent? any tips would be awesome.
still hazy
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Ernest T Bass
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Did you degas the wine good. I'm new at this wine making also, but I've read a lot of the post. You should degas your wine after it is dry and degas with the wine temperature at about 75*. After you have degased you can add a clearing agent, I use Sparkolloid most of the time, it usually clears in 3 or 4 days. Then I will rack it and check to see if there is any more gas. If you are going to backsweeten you will need to add Sobate. I backsweeten all my wine and add the K-Meta and Sorbate at the same time. Like I said, I'm new at this also, so don't take my word, someone else with more experience will show up pretty soon and you can get an answer from a more experienced wine maker.
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oldwhiskers
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Racking it before it cleared would redistribute any settling yeast as well as waste wine. Wine clears better if degassed and at least 70-75 degrees F. You could add a clarifier if you did not want to wait for the long term natural clearing, but be sure it's degassed good first.
Dend78
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yeah a little sparkolloid should help clear it up or even the 2 part super-kleer either one of those should do the trick
Dend78
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it wont hurt!
that apple pie wine (currently apple wine) has been a little crazy in the start but its moving right along, its SUPER sweet right now and tastes awesome! Note to all make sure sugar is completely dissolved before trying to read SG, its a weird feeling when you get your SG set then check it after fermentation has started to see your SG is now up 0.015 from where you left it 8-12 hours ago
im interested to see how this turns out, the exotic fruit mix sounds really good, and after i finish another batch of blueberry i may have to give something like this a shot
that apple pie wine (currently apple wine) has been a little crazy in the start but its moving right along, its SUPER sweet right now and tastes awesome! Note to all make sure sugar is completely dissolved before trying to read SG, its a weird feeling when you get your SG set then check it after fermentation has started to see your SG is now up 0.015 from where you left it 8-12 hours ago
im interested to see how this turns out, the exotic fruit mix sounds really good, and after i finish another batch of blueberry i may have to give something like this a shot
jswordy
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Yeah, within 10 days almost all wines will go dry. Many are done in 5.
Everything sounds normal to me. You have stuff in there that takes time to clear. You have a choice: Cheat Father Time with a clearing agent to speed things along, or wait until it clears up, reracking evry time you get 3/4 to 1 inch of lees in the bottom of the carboy.
It is not a matter of several DAYS but rather WEEKS for it to clear, if you have ingredients that are slow to clear. It will be three rackings, with maybe 3-6 weeks between each, before it really clears up great with what you are using in it.
Did you use pectic enzyme in your must? If not, adding it now I have found can help clearing, though I will say that is a disputed suggestion. It will not hurt anything to add it now if you did not use it in the must stage.
Dosing with k meta should be done every other racking.
I never use clearing agents. I have 2 kinds in my wine cabinet and have yet to touch them. Patience and time do an excellent job and your wine is also aging all along!
yeah I already used the pectic enzyme with the recipe. I have several other wines going at the moment and I am getting close to bottling some of it. alot of people say that when they bottle they sanitize there bottles with k meta and leave it on wet to ensure that the wine keeps, however all of these peoples wines smell like a fart lol. From what I have read and heard if you dose the wine with the k meta it produces SO2 gasses which smell bad so if it is added to close to bottling you will be stuck with that smell. How far from bottling would you suggest adding any amount of k meta?
jswordy
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The k meta produes the SO2, not the wine. K meta is used in viisually clean bottles to kill any unwanted organisms in the bottle that could contaminate the wine, not to keep the wine itself.
If these people already had a very high level of k meta in their wine, then they added more inside the bottles, and then they were impatient and did not let the wine properly age, it is possible they got the rotten egg smell. You can also get that from stressed wine yeast from improper or unsanitary techniques.
Personally I use Easy Clean on my bottles and drain them, then fill after 2 minutes has elapsed. I have friends who simply load them in the dishwasher with no soap and run it on hot cycle. Whatever works.
I dose ccarboys with 1/4 tsp k meta every other racking and I wait at least a month before I bottle a wine that has been dosed. Good winemakers know this is a patience game. The more you rush, the worse it can potentially turn out. On the other hand, many shortcomings can become attributes over time. It's a parable of life, actually.
jswordy
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If it has an inch of lees, I would wait another week, as I like to let it go at least 2 weeks minimum, then rack again. This will actually speed clearing. These are the gross lees, and the fact they are piling up so fast means your yeast are still living and dying. That's good!
If you worry about loss, get some marbles big enough to drop in there and sanitize them. Use those to make up your loss. Or simply top up with a like wine, commercial or some you have already made. I even use water, even though people are horrified of that.
just an update I just racked one final time and before racking took a small thief sample. I put it in a glass and took a look. very clear very nice, had a pretty decent smell. I went ahead and tasted the very young batch, i was suprised on how mellow it tasted. Actually a very nice wine so early, it actually tasted pretty decent almost drinkable. I am actually worried that its too mellow. with time will it get better, or will it start to lack luster and flavor. I understand it is probably impossible to speculate but i dont have too much expeirience. any thoughts. i had planned on letting it age quite a while, so im hoping the flavors will get more intense, im kinda worried i didnt use enough fruit. Or like i said maybe it will get better.
