Bentonite and/or Sparkolloid: Comparative Study

[dangerdave]

CLEARING THINGS UP by dangerdave

Given the depth and breadth of the winemaking industry throughout the history of mankind, I expect to view myself as a "beginner" for many years to come. We are all still learning together how best to make wine. With less than a year of experience under my belt, and no real fear of failure, I submit to you the follwing.

Here, we will do a side-by-side (by side) comparison of the use of bentonite and sparkolloid. More specifically, we will be observing the effect of bentonite on the lees and clarity of both the primary fermentation and secondary clearing of my own personal recipe for what I call Dragon Blood (some of you may know this as my Triple Berry Lemon recipe derivied from Lon's original Skeeter Pee). I am posting the recipe here, for easy reference:
_____________________________________________________

"DRAGON BLOOD"

FROM DANGERDAVE'S EASY PEESY (SKEETER PEE) RECIPE

Ingredients: For a six gallon batch:

Step 1: To a cleaned and sanitized seven gallon primary, add---in this order:
2 bottles (48 oz each) 100% Lemon Juice (ReaLemon in the green bottle): if you want to recude the acid level use one bottle.
Water to about five gallons
20 cups of white granulated sugar (looking for a SG btw 1.085-1.09): use less sugar for lower final ABV. Stir sugar until completely desolved.
1 tsp. tannin (stir)
4 tsp. yeast nutrient (stir)
2 tsp. yeast energizer (stir)
3 tsp. pectic enzyme (stir)
6 lbs. of Triple Berry Blend (raspberry/blackberry/blueberry--available in most grocery store freezer sections), frozen then thawed, in a nylon fine mesh bag (tied shut), placed in primary: Give the bag a couple of squeezes to work in pectic enzyme. May also toss fruit directly into primary, but this makes for a "messier" fermentation and subsequently will require more clearing time and racking.
Top water to six gallons
Cover primary
Place brew belt: Keep temp in 70F-80F range.
Let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours...

Step 2: To the primary fermenter, add:
1 packet of EC-1118 Yeast (starter, per yeast directions): Sprinkle yeast into one cup of warm water (100F), let sit for 15 minutes (no longer), stir and add to primary. Other yeast strains may also work well.
Stir Primary Vigorously!

Step 3: Each day, do the following, in this order:
Check temp
Check specific gravity
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove friut pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bucket.
Stir primary vigorously: To introduce oxygen into must.
Replace fruit pack
Cover primary

Step 4: When specific gravity (SG) reaches <1.000, do the following:
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove friut pack: Discard fruit.
Rack to cleaned and sanitized six gallon carboy
Degas very thoroughly: I cannot emphasize this enough!
Add 1 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite (stir)
Add 3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate (stir)
Add Sparkolloid* (or other cleaing agent): *1 tbs in one cup of water simmered for about 30 minutes. Add hot mixture to carboy.
Allow to clear undistrubed for no less than 1 week

Step 4: When wine is clear:
Carefully rack off of lees into cleaned & sanitized six gallon carboy
Add 4-5 cups of white granulated sugar (stir until sugar is completely disolved): Add more or less sugar to taste. Remember! The sugars will blend with the berry flavors over time, and the sweetness will come forward. Do not over-sweeten!
Allow wine to clear free of all sediment: This may or may not require more racking over the next few weeks.

Step 5: When wine is completely clear:
Bottle in clear bottles
Note: Never bottle cloudy wine! NEVER!

Wine is drinkable right way, but may benefit from up to a year of aging.
____________________________________________________________

We will proceed with a chronology of the events that began on the evening of June 5th, 2012. While in the Lab, I mixed up two batches of must using the above recipe.

We will refer to them as batch A and batch B. The only difference between the two was the addition of bentonite to the primary fermenter of batch A. Let's see how this all turns out!

June 5th, 2012: DAY 1
Added all the necessary ingredients listed in the recipe into the two primaries. Per the bentonite package directions, I stirred 2 teaspoons into 1/2 cup of warm water, then added this mixture to the primary. I remember the first kit I ever made, almost a year ago. I was astonished to learn that the first thing I had to add to the must was mud! My lovely wife immediately pointed out that batch A looked darker. Batch A is on the left, B on the right. I covered them and let them sit quietly overnight.

June 6th, 2012: DAY 2
The next morning at 0830, I separtely rehydrated two packets of EC-1118 yeast and added them to the primaries. Ten hours later---that evening---I checked the wines. There were "visual signs of fermentation" noted.

What struck me again (can you see it?) was that batch A was much darker than batch B. I carefully removed each bags of fruit, sqeezed out all the juices into the primaries, stirred each batch vigorously, and replaced the bags of fruit.

<I invite specualtion as to why the color difference between the two batches.>

June 7th, 2012: DAY 3
I squeezed and stirred each batch before I left for work at 0730. I will inspect the primaries upon my return home tomorrow.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Nice test, I will be watching this thread. I just tried Sparkolloid for the first time in a batch of Skeeter Pee and Apple Wine. Both dropped crystal clear in about a week each. So far I like the Sparkolloid but have not tried Bentonite.

 

[btom2004]

I will also.

 

[dangerdave]

I am using the bentonite in the primary in conjunction with the sparkolloid at clearing time. I agree with John, the sparkolloid works very well at clearing wine (especially the skeeter pees). However, the lees are very light with the sparkolloid, and the use of bentonite should make the lees more compact for the purposes of easy racking. There may be other benefits as well. we shall see...

Now, for a little lesson.

BENTONITE: According to Wikipedia---your source for all knowledge---Bentonite is an absorbent phylloslicate, essentially impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. Bentonite usually forms from weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence of water. However, the term bentonite, as well as a similar clay called tonstein, has been used to describe clay beds of uncertain origin. For industrial purposes, two main classes of bentonite exist: sodium and calcium bentonite. In stratigraphy, completely devitrified (weathered volcanic glass) ash-fall beds are commonly referred to as K-bentonites when the dominant clay species is illite. Other common clay species, and sometimes dominant, are montmorillonite and kaolinite. Kaolinite-dominated clays are commonly referred to as tonsteins and are typically associated with coal.

Bentonite has many industrial and agricultural uses, from cat litter, to sand molding, to the medical poultices, even soil conservation. The US is the worlds largest producer of bentonites, providing a full third of the world's supply.

For our purposes, bentonite also has the interesting property of absorbing relatively large amounts of protein molecules from aqueous solutions. Therefore, it is uniquely useful in the process of winemaking, where it is used to remove excessive amounts of protein from white wines. Were it not for this use of bentonite, many or most white wines would precipitate undesirable flocculant clouds or hazes upon exposure to warmer temperatures, as these proteins denature. It also has the incidental use of inducing more rapid clarfication of both red and white wines.

SPARKOLLOID: Sparkolloid is a fining agent developed by Scott Laboratories for clarification. It is a blend of polysaccharides in a diatomaceous earth carrier and has a strong positive charge. For some, it is the product of choice for clarifying white and blush wines. Sparkolloid is one of the more benign fining materials, and when used in reasonable quantities, it seldom strips wine flavors or aromas. It neutralizes the repelling charge of particulate matter allowing aggregation and formation of compact lees. It does not remove desirable color constituents. It is not a cold stabilizing, heat stabilizing or odor removing agent. Sparkolloid clarifies naturally by removing protein haze.

More later...

 

[BobF]

Good experiment and info. I'll be watching with great interest.

 

[Boatboy24]

Good experiment.

I am watching and reading with great interest.

 

[WildBill]

Subscribing!

 

[dangerdave]

So what do you guys think? What about the color variation between the two batches. It could just be that one of the four bags of fruit I bought had a lot more, say, blackberries in it. If we presume equal fruit distribution amongst the bogs, what could it be? The bentonite I have looks like course ground pepper. Could it be that the bentonite itself makes it darker, or is the bentonite effecting the fermentation somehow (beneficial or benign)?

 

[g8keeper]

i just found this article about bentonite use in wine making....perhaps a little more insight into this whole discussion....

http://enologyaccess.org/ea2/index....ent-of-grape-juice-on-yeast-fermentation.html

 

[oldwhiskers]

Well the bentonite is bound to affect the color of the must, I would think. As I said earlier I have not used bentonite yet, I have some but just not used it yet. By the way, your work area looks pretty god.

 

[BobF]

A few years ago I did 2 one gallon batches of strawberry and used bentonite post-ferment on one of them. Even though they were both the same shade/darkness before, the bentonite batch ended much paler - almost orange.

The flavor was still very good, so I labeled the bottles 'Pale Strawberry' ...

I'm sure the amount used will have a lot to do with this kind of result.

 

[dangerdave]

Thanks for the link, Ken (liked it!).

"...juice fining by adding and removing the bentonite, was less effective in removal of protein than leaving the bentonite throughout the duration of the fermentation, in the highest bentonite concentrations."

I was unaware of this method of "juice fining", and glad to see that what I had done with the bentonite was the better route. The conclusion of Weiss & Bisson's study was that bentonite (in the way we are usuing it here) had no over all effect on fermentation (either the rate or time), had less effect on glucose/fructose levels, and was much more effective in removing proteins (which is what we want it to do!). Perhaps the early bonding of the bentonite with these proteins---even in the primary fermenter---is making the wine look darker without the protein haze (which is white). I'm not convinced yet. I'll allow for some further comments before explaining myself...

 

[dangerdave]

Well the bentonite is bound to affect the color of the must, I would think. As I said earlier I have not used bentonite yet, I have some but just not used it yet. By the way, your work area looks pretty god.

Maybe this will give you insentive to break it out and use it. My guess is that in the end, bentonite will make the wine better. We shall see!

 

[dangerdave]

A few years ago I did 2 one gallon batches of strawberry and used bentonite post-ferment on one of them. Even though they were both the same shade/darkness before, the bentonite batch ended much paler - almost orange.

The flavor was still very good, so I labeled the bottles 'Pale Strawberry' ...

I'm sure the amount used will have a lot to do with this kind of result.

Paler, huh? Interesting. Mine definately cools darker, richer. I'm anxious to taste the difference later and see if the deeper color equates to flavor.
I must say, I've cheated a bit. Nothing to mess up our current study, mind you. I'll tell you about it later.

 

[SarahRides]

I hadn't used either for a while (I was mostly using Isinglass). I have a stubborn Pineapple wine that after a month still had a haze to it, so I tried the bentonite with is (I'm was just wondering if it was a protein haze). There is already about 1/2" of sediment on the bottom of the carboy, but it looks really light and fluffy! It seems to work well and quick, but I'm curious to see how easy it will be to rack the wine off of that sediment! I've also never used it post-fermentation, I've always added it during fermentation.

 

[dangerdave]

June 10th, 2012: DAY 6
Both of the batches were started with a SG = 1.065. They are fermenting at the same temp, at the same rate, this morning having equal SG readings of 1.025. Batch A is still darker in appearence, with no free-floating clumps of yeast noted, as in batch B. As per the Dragon Blood Recipe, I am doing the Squeeze & Stir every day.

Here's where the fermenters sit, quietly maintaining a perfect 75F with a 45% relative humidity (thanks to my new dehumidifier). Note: I have recently increased my fermentation capacity by 1/3 with the addition of a third fermenter.

Here are the two batches with the lids off this morning. They are fizzing softly with the audible sounds of active fermentation.

Batch A (with bentonite):

Batch B (no bentonite): note the clumps of yeast no present in batch A

Here's the two batches after the daily squeeze & stir, prior to replacing the fruit bags.

Just another day in Danger's Lab!

 

[dangerdave]

I hadn't used either for a while (I was mostly using Isinglass). I have a stubborn Pineapple wine that after a month still had a haze to it, so I tried the bentonite with is (I'm was just wondering if it was a protein haze). There is already about 1/2" of sediment on the bottom of the carboy, but it looks really light and fluffy! It seems to work well and quick, but I'm curious to see how easy it will be to rack the wine off of that sediment! I've also never used it post-fermentation, I've always added it during fermentation.

Is the wine clearing? I have had to treat for pectin haze during a lengthy clearing, but not for protein haze. I like to use the bentonite and sparkolloid because they are unlikely to affect people with certain allergies.

Fluffy, huh? The bentonite is suppose to produce compact lees. This could be applicable to our study. Please, keep us posted, Sarah.

 

[SarahRides]

I did notice that it started clearing right away, within an hour there was a noticeable layer of sediment on the bottom. I had added pectic enzyme before fermentation, so I did not add it again. I figured if the bentonite didn't work, I'd try the Pectic again. It has been only about 12 hours since I've added it, it may compact down! I'll keep you updated.

 

[dangerdave]

I must admit...

Here's where I come clear...I mean, clean.

I have been one step ahead of this study. My inspiration for this comparison was another batch of Dragon Blood that I started about two weeks ago (about a week before the A/B batches used in this study). As I was mixing up the must, I remembered one of our forum members (I wish I could remember who it was so I could give credit) saying they used both bentonite & sparkolloid on all of their wines. I decided to give it a try.

My lovely wife, Johnna didn't know I had changed the recipe. She loves her some Dragon Blood, too! I was in the Lab, racking this batch (we'll call it batch X) from the primary fermenter and adding the sparkolloid. She walked in, looked at batch X in the carboy and said, "Wow, that's darker than the others!" I had to agree with her astute observation. I told her what I had done, and my plans. She still wanted to know why it was darker. I could not answer that question. And so we have our current study.

So, here is batch X just after adding the sparkolloid at clearing: June 3rd (PM)

June 5th (AM):

June 6th (PM): After only three days! At this point, I usually give the carboy a good jiggle to get all the sediment to fall off the sides of my Mexican carboys...

June 8th (AM): Five days into clearing!

Here's a picture of the lees. They look kind of fluffy, but my guess is that this is an illusion, and that the bentonite has done it's job.

Check back in a few days!

 

[dangerdave]

I did notice that it started clearing right away, within an hour there was a noticeable layer of sediment on the bottom. I had added pectic enzyme before fermentation, so I did not add it again. I figured if the bentonite didn't work, I'd try the Pectic again. It has been only about 12 hours since I've added it, it may compact down! I'll keep you updated.

Thanks, Sarah. Getting other views during this study is very helpful.