WineXpert Cloudy wine

[sheffield251]

Ok, so my first kit ever,Johannisburg Riesling went well; so i thought. After 10 days of clearing, i checked in a glass to the sun and it seemed very clear. So, I went ahead and bottled. As soon as I bottled my first one, I wanted to cry. It is not very clear, it looks somewhat like lemonade, maybe a little clearer, but cloudy no less. So now what? Since this was my first batch of home made wine I was not sure what I should do, so I finished bottling. Am I screwed? If so, Oh well, I will just do better next time.

 

[Wade E]

Im betting you bottled from a carboy with sediment at the bottom! This is why you should never do so, always rack off all sediment to a clean vessel so as that if you do disturb these lees it can settle out so that you can bottle from a vessel with very little or no lees. Another thing to do is to not drop the racking cane or auto siphon to the bottom until the last second. What you have now is a wine that will have sediment in the bottles, no warm done, just be careful pouring so as not to have a cloudy glass. Its all appearence at this point. Some people also like to filter the wine when its at the point you wrere at to polish the wine and also to rack to the other vessel without getting any sediment transfer at all.

 

[sheffield251]

Thanks for the tip. I am glad to have at least a drinkable wine and not had to dump it. I did transfer from my carboy to my primary fermenter first, but i did notice that i did get some sediment at the very end. What do you use to filter? I thought that was what the auto siphon did? Thanks again for your post.

 

[Scott]

One option is to uncork and put back into carboy to clear again, then bottle. Corks aren't too expensive to be assured of a noncloudy wine.


Been there done that!

 

[grapeman]

The auto siphon only transfers a wine. The tip of it will keep the sediment out as long as the lees aren't thick enough to get picked up at the end of transfer. Tip the carboy to get most of the wine. Leave the last cup in the carboy. Either pour it out or carefully pour that bit into a bottle and put a temporary stopper on it and refrigerate for a few days until it clears most of the way. Then you can pour that off the crud and have a glass of wine without wasting it or having a cloudy wine to bottle.


A filter is a different device meant the filter out extra sediment and make a clearer wine. The big thing is to not rush a wine to bottling.

 

[ibglowin]

If you have not (yet) watched any or all the videos you should. That is the easiest and best way to explain the wine making process for kits. Head over the the finevinewines.com homepage and click on the videos link.

All will be explained grasshopper.

And welcome to the forums!

 

[sheffield251]

I actually thought about doing that; if I do. should I add more clearing agent and then add more sorbate before bottling again, or pour into carboy, let sit longer then re-bottle without doing anything? thanks for the tip.

 

[ibglowin]

No need to add any more agents. Sorbate is a one time addition and K-Meta only every 3 months when bulk aging (long term). It should clear/settle in the bottle and then you could just be very careful when pouring and make sure you get the last glass with the sediment and not your guest.

If you really really want to have a perfect first batch and have time and extra money you can open and pour back into the carboy and let it sit for a week to settle then "carefully" rack back into a clean sanitized primary for rebottling. Remember you will have to rinse your bottles well and resanitize once again just before bottling again. Alot of work for sure.

I can personally recommend the Harris Vinbrite gravity filter. Have used it twice now and I have had crystal clear wines both times. Just remember its for "polishing" your wines not filtering sediment. If you have a load of sediment it will plug/slow down the filtration process and you may need to use another filter. Cost is ~$40 and it includes 6 filters.

Watch George's videos and learn from the Jedi Master!

 

[sheffield251]

Thanks for the tip. since my wife has called me a perfectionist since we first met, i think i will re-rack into a carboy and let sit then re-bottle later. I want my first batch something that I will be proud of, so i am not worried about a little extra work and money. I will look into the filtration system you mentioned as well. and yes, i will check out the videos frommaster Yoda.

 

[xanxer82]

I have the vinibrite gravity filter and it did a very nice job without stripping the wine of flavor.
I would let wines clear for about two weeks or more between rackings to settle out particles. Ten days is never enough. I found that out the hard way on my first kit. Thankfully it was a red and I used bordaux bottles and can pour off the sediment better.
Just remember the three Ps and you will do well.

 

[mpt1123]

Hello:
I too have a cloudy batch of wine from WineExpert. I have the Trio Blanca. All was well until I bottled. I racked into my bottling bucket but I must have picked up some sediment because the bottles are a little cloudy. I waited a few days and I could see some sediment on the bottom. I took the labor-intensive approach and uncorked the bottles and poured everything back into a sanitized carboy. Right now I have a brew belt on it and it's cloudy. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm thinking of using Super-Klear and then let things settle down for a week or two before bottling a gain. This time, however, I'll bottle from a carboy using a racking cane.
Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[v1rotate]

Hello:
I too have a cloudy batch of wine from WineExpert.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

I would take the brew belt off the carboy and let it sit for a month. Chances are it will clear on its own. I am pretty sure I have read that a batch will clear at cooler temps faster than at warmer temps.

Also, it probably isn't necessary to bottle from the carboy. Just be careful not to transfer any sediment to the bottling bucket. If you are concerned, you could transfer about 5 gallons from the upper part of the carboy and leave the last gallon for separate bottling. Then you could label the last bottles for your own drinking only!

 

[PsiFire]

What are the consequences of having a little bit of the sediment dragged into the bottle. I just bottled my first batch of wine (a MM Riesling) and have noticed that each bottle has a little bit of sediment in it. From drinking some of it that was sitting in the fridge, the first glass is nice and clear and has a decent flavor to it. The last glass from the bottom is noticeably hazy and has an "off" taste to it. I'm concerned about having the same problem with my other bottles, and am tempted to unbottle, let it sit for the sediment to resettle, then rebottle to avoid problems. Suggestions?

 

[v1rotate]

What are the consequences of having a little bit of the sediment dragged into the bottle. I just bottled my first batch of wine (a MM Riesling) and have noticed that each bottle has a little bit of sediment in it. From drinking some of it that was sitting in the fridge, the first glass is nice and clear and has a decent flavor to it. The last glass from the bottom is noticeably hazy and has an "off" taste to it. I'm concerned about having the same problem with my other bottles, and am tempted to unbottle, let it sit for the sediment to resettle, then rebottle to avoid problems. Suggestions?

The usual recommendation for sediment in the bottle is to decant for an hour or so and leave the sediment in the decanter when pouring carefully. Your comment about the off taste surprises me. Maybe you could try a funnel with strainer to a decanter? Opening all the bottles is a lot of work and upsets the wine.

 

[PeterZ]

Warmer wine will clear faster than colder wine. There is a very complex equation that describes the rate of sedimentation. One of the factors is the difference in density between the liquid and the particulate. Warmer wine is less dense, so the difference between the density of the wine and the density of the particulate is larger. That results in a faster settling rate.

 

[v1rotate]

Good to know, Peter. I've been putting my sludgy leftover wine in a magnum bottle and refridgerating to try to get as much sediment to settle out as possible. <duh>

 

[mpt1123]

Hello:


Just a quick status on my cloudy wine problem.


The wine has been clearing for about a week with a brew belt. It looks great (but it looked great before too). I racked it from the carboy to the bottling bucket using a Vinbrite filter in between.There was a small amount of sediment remaining after the transfer. I rinsed all of the bottles, sanitized them with Star-San, rinsed them again, and let them drip dry. I sanitized the corks in K-Meta. I bottled the wine and it is perfectly clear!!


I'm not sure what went wrong but I have some suspicions. I have a tendency to use too much Star-Sansolution. I figured it's not a bad thing to have too much sanitizer. When I bottled the last batch, I sanitized the bottles but that was it. I'm thinking that too much Star-San may have remained in the bottles and clouded things up a bit. As I mentioned, this time I rinsed after using the Star-San. Luckily I'm on well water with a whole house filter and ultra-violet light system that filters any sediment and kills any bacteria. I feel confident that my water is good for rinsing. I also let my corks soak in a Star-San solution last time and bottled by picking them out of the bucket - wet. This time I used George's method of sanitizing them using K-Meta.


Another thing I may have done wrong is to soak the VinBrite filter in the Star-San solution andthen rinsed it. This time I placed the filter paddirectly into the filter andfiltered about a1/2 gallon of clear water through it before using it. It's possible that the filter reacted with the Star-San and started to break apart...causing the cloudiness.


I'm not exactly sure what caused the cloudiness. What I do know is that I have a beautiflly clear Trio Blanca wine that tastes great even before I letit sit for a few months.


Thanks for the help everyone. Very much appreciated.


Mike

 

[Wade E]

Glad you got it bottled all nice and clear!