"Fall clear" meaning

[TheLush]

I have a batch of dandelion wine I've started using one of Jack Keller's recipies that calls for the first racking after it clears. When reading his website he says dandelion wine will fall clear in several weeks and when it does it will happen quickly. I've been under secondary since 4/29 and besides a 1/8-1/4" layer of lees it looks about the same, definetly not clear. My question is, does fall clear mean see thru or what exactly?

Here's the recipie:

DANDELION WINE
(2)


2 qts dandelion flowers
3 lbs granulated sugar
4 oranges
1 gallon water
yeast and nutrient

This is the traditional "Midday Dandelion Wine" of old, named because the flowers must be picked at midday when they are fully open. Pick the flowers and bring into the kitchen. Set one gallon of water to boil. While it heats up to a boil, remove as much of the green material from the flower heads as possible (the original recipe calls for two quarts of petals only, but this will work as long as you end up with two quarts of prepared flowers). Pour the boiling water over the flowers, cover with cloth, and leave to steep for two days. Do not exceed two days. Pour the mixture back into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the peelings from the four oranges (again, no white pith) and boil for ten minutes. Strain through a muslin cloth or bag onto a crock or plastic pail containing the sugar, stirring to dissolve. When cool, add the juice of the oranges, the yeast and yeast nutrient. Pour into secondary fermentation vessel, fit fermentation trap, and allow to ferment completely. Rack and bottle when wine clears and again when no more lees form for 60 days. Allow it to age six months in the bottle before tasting, but a year will improve it vastly. This wine has less body than the first recipe produces, but every bit as much flavor (some say more!).

 

[TheLush]

I'm confused because he talks about it instantly falling clear after several weeks then also about additional rankings to clear it.

Here's his comments:

Dandelion must is a milky yellow color. The milkiness comes from the pigments, pollen and other extracts of the flowers and the dense population of yeast (as many as 10 million yeast cells per drop of must). After several weeks, the wine will "fall clear." When this happens, it will be over quickly and you will probably miss seeing it happen. In all the batches of dandelion wine I've made, I've only caught it happening once.

It will start at the neck of the jug or carboy. The wine will suddenly begin to clear as the pigments and yeast "fall." Within 15-30 minutes, the whole batch will "fall clear" and a thick layer of very fine lees will settle across the bottom of the secondary. Do not rack the wine until it falls clear as described or you could seriously damage the wine by making it difficult to clear at all. In winemaking, patience is the highest virtue.

Dandelion wine will clear very well all by itself, but even more so if racked at least three times. If fined with Sparkolloid or Isinglass, the wine will rack brilliant. I have never had to filter dandelion wine.

 

[Turock]

I've never made this wine but let me ask you this---at what temp do you have this wine stored in? If it's in a basement, it might be a tad cool for it. Get it to an area that's at least 70 degrees and see what happens. I've often seen problems with people trying to clear wine and the temp is just too cold. When they get the wine to a warm area, it starts to clear.

 

[TheLush]

70-72 degrees.

I'm just wondering what the statement, fall clear before racking means. The wording in the recipe says, Rack and bottle when wine clears and again when no more lees form for 60 days. So I am to wait for the wine to literally be clear before racking? If that's the case it might be a while cause I have other wines older than it that still aren't clear.

 

[Stressbaby]

Falling clear means that wine that is hazy will abruptly drop sediment and clear up.

I've seen other people besides Keller describe the sudden clearing of dandelion wine. I made dandelion wine last year using a lazy man's recipe (calyces included) and it did NOT fall clear overnight. It slowly cleared like any other wine and it did finally require a dose of SuperKleer to get it "brilliantly clear."

I would recommend checking pH carefully. I had to adjust with 16g of acid blend to get my 3 gal batch from pH of 4.01 to 3.69. In retrospect I should have driven it a little lower.

It is interesting wine, pretty good!

 

[Turock]

From what Jack Keller said, he is saying that the sediment will suddenly fall out of the wine and it will look very clear. To be honest with you, I've never seen that happen like that and I've been making wine 25 years!! I don't see the use of pectic enzyme on this wine. Is it recommended for dandelion??? Is this wine prone to pectin haze? It might be useful to do an internet search on this wine--you might find a few secrets. I'm sure all the pollen is a big problem!!

What other wines do you have that aren't clearing? Some wines--and in some years--you'll have trouble clearing wines. Bentonite in the primary can often help many wines to clear. Also, try using a better pectinase. Lallzyme C-Max is one of these. It rapidly de-pectinizes the pulp and is designed for more rapid clearing. On one of the wines that is not clear--add a dose of pectic enzyme to it and see if it starts to clear. Do this if the wine is 6 months old or more and not attempting to clear. If that doesn't do it, you can use other attempts, such as Super Kleer.

 

[TheLush]

What other wines do you have that aren't clearing?

Nothing I'm concerned with at the moment. Other than the dandelion I have onion, strawberry, and skeeter pee, going right now. I don't believe any of them are far enough along to be concerned with their clarity.

The reference to the dandelion falling clear quickly after several weeks had me thinking I was missing something in the meaning of "fall clear". I keep expecting to come home to a magically clear wine but everyday it looks the same.

 

[TheLush]

Has anybody seen dandelion wine clear in the manner he describes?

 

[Xandra]

The only wine I've seen fall clear was the Skeeter Pee, and it wasn't something that one could sit and watch happen... but one day it was cloudy, and 2 days later it was clear with about half an inch of sediment. I racked it then, and let it continue to age for about 4 weeks, 'cuz I wasn't able to attend to it. When I finally was able to bottle it, there was about 1/4" of sediment at the bottom of the carboy. Don't stress if it's not clearing immediately, just give it the time that particular batch needs. I racked that batch a total of 3 times.

Onion wine? Really? I'm intrigued, and at the same time kind of hesitant... Onions? How does that taste?

Can one pick dandelions, de-petal them and freeze the petals while waiting for the next patch to bloom?

All in all, I'm learning that patience is a virtue when winemaking. Toughest hobby I've ever engaged in, I'm much more used to having instant gratification. Learning to love it, though, via the results.

 

[TheLush]

The onion isn't ready yet so I've been holding off on tasting it. I figure worse case I made a cooking wine. I'm expecting it to have some of the sweeter tastes of baked onions. We'll see.

As for freezing the dandelions, I don't know I have a large yard and the church beside me does also so I have all the dandelions I want.

This is a perfect hobby for me since I don't have a lot of free time.

The way Keller made it sound, I thought the wine would clear pretty early on. I guess several his several weeks and my several weeks are different.

 

[Medic8106]

I also used a recipe this year listed on Jack Keller's website for dandelion wine. Last year, I used a recipe of his for sunflower wine in October. The dandelion i started may 2nd of this year. I did not use clearing agents on either. Posted are pics of both. The sunflower is crystal clear and to be bottled later this summer. What i am getting at is the sunflower looked the same way as the dandelion and i would believe is similar in the clearing process. I was going to use a clearing agent on the dandelion but i think I an going to wait it out as i did the sunflower. The dandelion is at a point where when i get time, i will rack it. Have two gallons of it going.

 

[TheLush]

Carlisle PA huh? You're a few hours from me.

Have you racked the dandelion? My understanding is to wait til it falls clear. Seems like it takes a while to get where yours is. By the looks of it I haven't done anything wrong, my expectations were just a little high.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Medic8106]

I have not racked the dandelion yet. It is the second picture down and is fairly clear, it's been in secondary over a month now. When i have time I'm going to rack it. Maybe this weekend.