Apple Wine not Clearing

[Dave_W]

Hello all. I have 3 gallons of apple wine that has completed primary (0.990 SG) and I have racked it from the 3 gallon fermenter into three individual 1 gallon jugs. This is only my 4th batch of wine to make, and my first apple. I used a raw unfiltered apple juice from the grocery store and it was very cloudy in the original container. The liquid still has that same cloudiness. I did use pectic enzyme during the primary. My other batches began clearing up very quickly once placed in the secondary container, but this apple is not. It has been 10 days in the secondary containers.

Has anyone used unfiltered apple juice and seen similar results?

I have placed one of the containers into the refrigerator to try and “cold crash” the liquid, it has been 2 days and no change. I have not tried bentonite or any other fining agent yet.

 

[Rice_Guy]

There are two main issues with apple. Pectin is fairly high in apple and will produce cloudiness. You have treated with pectase so I will assume that isn’t the whole issue. (10 days isn’t long ) and I have had pectin drop out after bottling, it made a dust on the bottom of bottles.
I have also had cloudy apple where the pH increased and the TA dropped. I could filter this out with a #3 BonVino pad. The likely cause in this case is I had a wild lactic acid bacteria infection causing the pH shift/ removing some malic acid. This is more serious. In this case I added acid to reduce the pH to 3.2, filtered, sulphited and bottled.

Do you have pH numbers? TA? Less acid would suggest infection. If you don’t have test numbers start looking at best methods for sanitizing your equipment. Sanitation is always worth while.
Welcome to WMT.

 

[Dave_W]

Unfortunately I did not check pH or TA when I first started. I’m following a recipe from City Steading Brews (YouTube). Rookie mistake not to check these numbers I guess. I do have the necessary gear to check those numbers and I will do so this evening.

I’m not saying I couldn’t have missed something, but the original fermentation container and all used equipment was sterilized with StarSan. Again, maybe I missed something.

I am hoping that it is just an issue with not enough time for clarifying yet, but figured I would ask. My hopes were the extra pectin in the original juice would add to the wine flavor, but looking back maybe a filtered juice would be better.

 

[winemaker81]

10 days is not long enough for a wine to clear, and the only treatment you may need to apply is patience.

As David suggested, check your pH. If it's high, that may need addressing.

If the wine is not clearing in another month, consider adding a double-dose of pectic enzyme. Post-fermentation the pectic enzyme is less effective, so a higher dose is required.

 

[Dave_W]

10 days is not long enough for a wine to clear, and the only treatment you may need to apply is patience.

As David suggested, check your pH. If it's high, that may need addressing.

If the wine is not clearing in another month, consider adding a double-dose of pectic enzyme. Post-fermentation the pectic enzyme is less effective, so a higher dose is required.

Thanks! I’ll get the info on the Acid and go from there.

 

[Raptor99]

It has been 10 days in the secondary containers.

I make hard cider, and also made a batch of apple wine. I find that it sometimes takes 3-4 months to clear. My suggestion would be to give it some time.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome again to WMT!

 

[winemaker81]

Something to keep in mind is that winemaking is a procrastinator's hobby.

Prior to and during fermentation, there's a lot of activity. Post-fermentation, there may be a fair amount of activity for a week or two, but after that it dies down ... and there's nothing to do except every 3 months or so.

Some of our members start a batch of wine every month or two, just to have activity. For others, it's an annual process, e.g., start wine in the fall. Barrels get topped monthly, carboys get K-meta quarterly. Bottle summer or into the fall. Repeat.

It's pretty much the opposite of beer making.

 

[Dave_W]

Checked my acids……

0.85% TA
3.6 pH

The pH is using pH strips in the 2.8-4.4 range for wine, may not be exact, but close enough I guess.

TA is using a TA test kit.

I did not add any acid blend during fermentation.