Clearing/Fining which to use?

[lhunkele]

When I initally purchased my supplies, I bought Super Kleen (liquid) but now see it is for 5-6 gal and I’m only making 1-gal so I guess I need to pick something else up… Any suggestions for a fruit wine?

Thanks!
Linda

 

[winemaker_3352]

i have used to the entire thing on a 1 gallon batch before - not sure if it was the right thing to do or not - but it worked fine.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I use sparkolloid on fruit wines with success. It's not as quick and reliable as SuperKleer, but it is in a powder form and is relatively inexpensive, so you can use what you need to match your batch size. It takes a little longer than SuperKleer and the sediment isn't as compact.

 

[jet]

i have used to the entire thing on a 1 gallon batch before - not sure if it was the right thing to do or not - but it worked fine.

I have a package of it that someone gave me. I was wondering about using it all in a 1gl batch, or trying somehow to divide it among a couple of 1gl batches.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I use sparkolloid on fruit wines with success. It's not as quick and reliable as SuperKleer, but it is in a powder form and is relatively inexpensive, so you can use what you need to match your batch size. It takes a little longer than SuperKleer and the sediment isn't as compact.

Sparkelloid is great and works well for me, providing you degass some what. I'd like to try to figure out to do sparkelloid in the microwave.

 

[Tom]

Sparkelloid is great and works well for me, providing you degass some what. I'd like to try to figure out to do sparkelloid in the microwave.

I have used it in the micro. Make sure you get the water hot 1st (6oz) and do it in a big 4 cup pyrex glass
I do not do it for 3 min thou. They are saying that to make sure you kill anything. After 2 min nothing is alive.
Then I add the hot mix to the DEGASSED carboy.
make sure you have added meta, sorbate and f-pac if used BEFORE adding clearing agents.

 

[Sliverpicker]

the Super Kleen is AWSOME!!!!!

You may be able to use a needle and syringe to measure out the correct dosage for smaller or multi batches.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I have used it in the micro. Make sure you get the water hot 1st (6oz) and do it in a big 4 cup pyrex glass
I do not do it for 3 min thou. They are saying that to make sure you kill anything. After 2 min nothing is alive.
Then I add the hot mix to the DEGASSED carboy.
make sure you have added meta, sorbate and f-pac if used BEFORE adding clearing agents.

I have always wondered why you are suppose to simmer the mix for 30 minutes. If all I have to do is kill bacteria then yes 2-3 minutes if fine.

I thought that simmering for that long did something to the sparkelloid (clay) to make it attach itself to the sediment.

 

[jet]

I used a medicine dropper to divide the package of Super Kleer between a gallon of chardonel and a gallon of sauvignon blanc.

 

[Sliverpicker]

Glad you got it to work in the 2 bottles. Is it working yet?

 

[lhunkele]

I ended up pretty much doing the same; used half the package in my gallon peach and will use the other half next week with the gallon mango. I'm keeping the open package zip-locked in the fridge until then. I remembered to wait an hour in between Part-One and Part-Two, then forgot to dissolve the second part in warm water before adding, opps! ...wonder what the purpose of that was?

 

[jet]

Glad you got it to work in the 2 bottles. Is it working yet?

OMG, does that stuff work fast. I snapped this pic of the chardonel about an hour and a half after adding the second half of the clearing agent. It's hard to capture on film, but you can see all the sediment that had already fallen out of solution.

 

[jet]

I ended up pretty much doing the same; used half the package in my gallon peach and will use the other half next week with the gallon mango. I'm keeping the open package zip-locked in the fridge until then. I remembered to wait an hour in between Part-One and Part-Two, then forgot to dissolve the second part in warm water before adding, opps! ...wonder what the purpose of that was?

The second part (chitosan) is really thick, and I'm guessing the mixing in warm water is to help it mix with the wine.

 

[lhunkele]

Wow, that's incredible!! Mine isn't anywhere near that yet... After talking with my husband (and showing him your photo), and being meticulous as he is, we appearently didn't use 1/2 the package, but only about 1/5th...

After adding we did degas using the drill attachement so hopefully it mixed well even though being thick as it was, time will tell

 

[djrockinsteve]

The amount of clearing agent you use, the temperature of the wine, how much CO2 is help in suspension all effects how fast your wine will clear. Some of mine I can see within hours, some take a few days.

I still allow all of my wines to clear 6 weeks. No longer.

 

[jet]

Wow, that's incredible!! Mine isn't anywhere near that yet... After talking with my husband (and showing him your photo), and being meticulous as he is, we appearently didn't use 1/2 the package, but only about 1/5th...

After adding we did degas using the drill attachement so hopefully it mixed well even though being thick as it was, time will tell

It may have something to do with the youth of the chardonel. A month ago, it was still grapes. The sauvignon blanc has already been through MLF and has been racked a couple of times. It didn't show the dramatic change, although it is clearing nicely.

I'm going to rack them again in about 3 weeks and check the SO2 in preparation for bottling.

 

[jet]

The chardonel is brilliant, but I'm seeing small bubbles coming up from the bottom. I was going to give it a couple more weeks, but the bubbles have me concerned. I'm thinking about racking it now. Any thoughts?

 

[winemaker_3352]

Did you degass it? It is either degassing or going thru MLF - did you add any sorbate and k-meta in?

 

[jet]

Did you degass it? It is either degassing or going thru MLF - did you add any sorbate and k-meta in?

I have not degassed. We added 1 campden per gallon at pressing (8/23), which should be sufficient to inhibit MLF. I fermented it dry, so I didn't add sorbate.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I have not degassed. We added 1 campden per gallon at pressing (8/23), which should be sufficient to inhibit MLF. I fermented it dry, so I didn't add sorbate.

I would degass it then or you can wait and let it naturally degass on its own - might take a while though. Make sure the temps are around 75 - it will help the CO2 to be released.