Cold Treatment

[NorthernWinos]

Here are some photos of the Wild Plum and White Wine Grape wine that stayed a cloudy 'Pepto' pink color for months. After getting courage from folks on Wine Fourms it went outside into the cruel world...the cold temps did wonders for it. It is still not clear, but a far sight better than before.

So now what?????

 

[masta]

I don't see an airlock on top of the carboy, is that a solid stopper?


Has the wine been stabilized with sulfite and sorbate if sweetened and degassed?


Need some background on what you have done up to this point.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hello Masta, The wine has been stable [not fermenting] for a few months. It had Sparkloid & Bentonite but remained very cloudy. I have not used Potassium Sorbate yet. Kind of like the flavor, so probably won't sweeten it, tho I haven't tasted it since it cleared like this, wonder if the flavor changed???...will try it today. I have a solid bung on it because it has been out in freezing temps and has had a cardboard box over it, touching the bung. Could have put some EverClear in the airlock, but went this way, didn't think it would matter much as I was planing on pitching the batch. The temps today will reach 61*F [16*C] and by Monday night it will be 18*F [-7*C], so the carboy will be coming indoors soon, at which point I will rack it to a clean carboy and put an airlock back on it, and probably stabilize it. Guess after that just watch for more sediment, might age it in gallon jugs in the root cellar, should those gallons have airlocks???? Thanks for your interest.

 

[MedPretzel]

NW,





Rack it.

That would be my suggestion right now. With all that sediment on the bottom, that is what I would do.





It looks good, I must say. And so do your flowers inside.

 

[masta]

I also would say to follow you plan and rack then stabilize and let it sit and it should clear eventually. Once it is stabilized and degassed there is no need for an airlock and a solid bung will be fine but keep an eye on it.


A quote from Jack Keller's site:


"Plum wine can be very aggrevating to make, but once made, can well be one of your most satisfying vintages. It tends to lack body, and for that reason it is often made with raisins added. But if you use plenty of plums, the raisins are unnecessary. It is also notoriously slow to clear, but it does clear. The flavor, aroma and bouquet of finished plum wine is really a treat, so please don't be discouraged by my words of caution."

 

[NorthernWinos]

I did use 2 500ml bottles of WineExpert White Wine Grape concentrate, so that should have helped with the body. I juice all my fruits in a steam juice extractor and then preserve the juice in mason jars...and make wine when there is an empty carboy. I have never had any problem with wines clearing before this one....? Must be just the plum-thing. Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.

 

[masta]

I did use 2 500ml bottles of WineExpert White Wine Grape concentrate, so that should have helped with the body. I juice all my fruits in a steam juice extractor and then preserve the juice in mason jars...and make wine when there is an empty carboy. I have never had any problem with wines clearing before this one....? Must be just the plum-thing. Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.

I would assume you used pectic enzyme in your must as the heat from steam juice extractor would set the pectin from the juice.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Had a dose of Peptic Enzyme at the start of fermentation and another dose between the Sparkloid and the Bentonite, and stirred the heck out of it at all additions. Always am sure of adding Peptic Enzyme as 'they' [people/books] say that steam pasteurization will set peptic haze....hadn't had a problem with other fruits till this one....maybe had been lucky till now. The apple, raspberry, strawberry, rhubarb, blackberry, blueberry, grape, chokecherry, crabapple etc. wines have all cleared within a couple weeks....no pulp in the must, so that must help, start with clear pure juices, always add WineExpert gape concentrates too, except for in the apple wines. Friends make Plum wine and theirs is always cloudy, they said it clears, but I think only when they chill the bottles in the fridge....hence...cold stabilization. I am going to rack it and watch it for awhile....then bottle and dispose of it in a royal way.... by drinking it. It was tasty, at least before we put it outside. Being as the temps will be 18*F by Tuesday I will leave it out there till then, see if it will settle any more.What a wonderful Natural Resource the great outdoors is....when the temperature fluctuates like this....could this be the +positive & the -negative of nature?????

 

[masta]

Sounds good to me...when it is cold outside turn down the lights and have nice glass of plum haze to give you a warm and fuzzy inside!

How does the steam juice extractor work?

 

[NorthernWinos]

This is what a steam juicer looks like

The bottom pot holds boiling water, the middle pot is shaped like an angel food pan..[has a cone through the middle]...the top pot is like a basket, ..holes all throughout it and holds the fruit. The steam comes up through the cone and hits the basket of fruit above, the juice from the fruit drips around the outside of the cone....there is a spigot on the outside of the cone/pot that dispenses pure-clear fruit juice. I have had mine for more than 15 years.They are not cheap, but last forever. Soft fruit like blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb, etc, release their juices quickly. Apples are a bit more tedious, tho crab apples you throw in whole, apples are cut in half or quartered. I got mine through a place called Back to Basics in Sandy Utah, Guerneys Seed catalog sells them with all their gizmo's. I have always been a Gardener and used ours to make our own juices to drink, wine making has only come recently and the juicer seems a natural....more places should sell them to winemakers. This may sound like an Info_Mercial but once yo have one and your friends see it, they will order one too....all my friends have one now. I made grape juice from our hardy grapes for drinking juice, tho this winter I am going to try to make some wine, the grapes I grow are like Concord, but the past few years I have planted hardy wine grapes...hope they produce one day. Thanks for your help n the Cold Stabilization, couldn't have done it without the forums and your interest.

 

[jojo]

shes screaming to be racked.

 

[NorthernWinos]

shes screaming to be racked.

JoJo, The carboy was cloudy like Pepto all the way to the top, it has been outside for 8 days now...everyday it was getting better. It seems to have settled less the past few days now...so, it is probably done, or close to it...sure is alot of crud in the bottom isn't there???? Never seen anything like this. In 2 more days it has to come inside....weather is going to turn foul...then we rack it and taste...thanks for your interest...cheers

 

[PolishWineP]

Hope it wasn't sitting in the sun yesterday! It got mighty toasty out there!

 

[NorthernWinos]

No sun on the north side of the house and under a cardboard box..also have little skirts on my carboys, so no fluorescent light or sun can hit them...so it was safe in what was probably our last heat wave for the year...looks like it's going to get pretty cold in a couple days, so that will end the 'cold treatment'...cheers

 

[Waldo]

I gotta find me one of them juicers Wino. How do you calculate how much of any particular juice you use to make a wine from? I am thinking ahead to next year when the Muscadine ripen again. It takes about 6lbs of the fruit per gallon of wine but if one used just the extracted juice, how much would it take per gallon of wine?

 

[MedPretzel]

So do I understand this correctly? Cold stabilization should be done for about a week to ten days? What's the optimal temperature that you should shoot for?





I've put some of my wines outside to try this method.... It's scary to put my babies outside in the cold for so long. I've been checking on them every 1-2 hours to make sure they're okay!

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

George recommends 40-50 degrees F in one of his articles. I read
somewhere else that commercial wineries get it close to freezing (an
alternative stabilization method to k-meta and sorbate I think). I assume
Northern Winos is already stable and has been trying to get ornery
suspended matter to precipitate out. Here is what George had to say:
"Stabization and Fining - Once you have stabilized your
wine, its time to bring the temperature down, it you can. Cooling it helps
particles floating in the wine to form crystals and precipitate down to the
bottom of the wine. As you rack the wine, these crystals are left behind
with the rest of the lees (sediment). 40° to 50° is ideal, but unless you
have a basement and live in a cold weather climate, this option is not
available to most of us."</font>

One thing to keep in mind is that if there is still CO2 in solution that you
are trying to bleed off, it will come out much more slowly at lower
temperatures as Masta has addressed so well elsewhere.

bill

 

[MedPretzel]

The wines I've put outside are also stable. They have been this way for probably over a month or so. (One of them is the Mint/Balm wine, the other a Niagara)





Thanks for the quick reply, bill!

 

[MedPretzel]

Alrighty, here's the update:





I put them on my porch (north side of house):

Left to right: Test-threw everything together-batch, Mint/Balm, Niagara....


These were too "naked" for me, so....

I covered them up with a flannel sheet.





It sure is cold.

Edited by: MedPretzel

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

Gawd Martina - you are colder in Ohio than we are in Maine if your
thermometer is reading right! At least we are above freezing (just). If you
are below, you'll need something other than water in your airlocks.
Vodka?

Keep everyone posted on this grand experiment!