Egg white fining for tannin management?

[Americanhooch]

I've got some super tannic Petite Sirah hanging in carboys right now. I was chatting with a winemaker the other day and when this came up, he suggested using egg whites as a fining solution which would also soften the tannins.

I've heard of this process and been curious about it, but generally try to avoid fining. If it softens the wine, however, I'm thinking it might be worth it.

Has anyone done this successfully (or unsuccessfully) before? Any tips on how to approach it?

 

[Johnd]

I've got some super tannic Petite Sirah hanging in carboys right now. I was chatting with a winemaker the other day and when this came up, he suggested using egg whites as a fining solution which would also soften the tannins.

I've heard of this process and been curious about it, but generally try to avoid fining. If it softens the wine, however, I'm thinking it might be worth it.

Has anyone done this successfully (or unsuccessfully) before? Any tips on how to approach it?

I have some relatively tannic reds that I've chosen to age instead of fining, so can't help you with any personal experience. Here's a straight to the point article that you can use to understand the process and results, it seems to be a very easy process and should provide the results you desire in just a few short weeks..........
https://winemakermag.com/article/egg-white-fining

 

[sour_grapes]

Since you said "carboys" (plural), what about fining one or two with egg whites, and aging the others. Maybe the fined ones will be quick drinkers, and you can enjoy the others later.

 

[stickman]

I've used egg whites a few times, probably 20 years ago, these days I don't use any fining. The egg white sediment can end up a little fluffy making racking a bit of a pain. The tricky part is getting the egg whites mixed into the wine quickly and as evenly as possible. If you just pour them in the top of a carboy, they coagulate immediately and look like scrambled eggs floating around. I was doing larger volumes than a carboy, a 30gal barrel, so I used a turkey baster with an extension tube, get the wine moving first then inject the egg white mixture from the turkey baster while continuing to stir. That's what I did, but I'm sure there are many other ways to do it. You may be able to use a marinade syringe given smaller volumes for a carboy. I suppose you could mix it in a bucket, but for me, I wouldn't want that much oxygen exposure.

As suggested above, if you have more than one carboy, definitely do one and see how you like it, if the fining removes too much tannin you can always blend them back together. Some people believe that treating a portion of the wine and then blending back is better than treating all of the wine.

 

[Americanhooch]

Great ideas! I've got two five gallon guys going. So maybe I'll see which one is running a little more tannic (they're different yeast strains) and use the egg whites on that one.

 

[salcoco]

a few years ago I had a Cabernet Franc that was very bitter, and I assumed correctly that it was tannin. I did a bench trial with PVPP, gelatin and egg fining. the gelatin won out as not only the best fining but the easiest to use. You might want to consider using gelatin on one of the carboys. it is the standard clear gelatin found in the grocery store. dosage is on the packet.