floaters in the wine

[Inspector7]

I bottled an apple wine that I have made about 3 months ago. Recently I looked at one of the bottles and found that all of them ( 25 ) have something floating inside. I am looking for some idea as to what those floaters might be. At the time of bottling the wine was nice and clear. All of the bottles and equipment were cleaned and rinsed with Easy Clean. The floating particles seem to be flat, vary in length and do not settle to the bottom of the bottle quickly. Any ideas?

 

[Wade E]

Did you add campden tablets or metabisulphite right before bottling?
Edited by: wade

 

[Inspector7]

My recipe calls for potassium sorbate to be added a day prior to bottling.

 

[jobe05]

Could be your corks got mangled during corking? Went in dry and splintered? What corker do you use?

Or could it be pectin from the fruit (doubt it based on description) or chemical as Wade suggest? Most likely. How did you make the addition of sulphites to the wine? Did you mix it well? Probably did if your getting this in all bottles, one would think that if it wasn't stirred well, then some bottles would be worse than others.

Could it be a type of wine diamonds? Acid?

 

[NorthernWinos]

I have had Pot Sorbate not dissolve very well...they are kind of long skinny granules.


I now dissolve them in about 1/4 cup warm water and then add them to the wineprior bottling.


Anyone else have trouble dissolving Pot Sorbate granules???

 

[Wade E]

Was it campden ad how did you break them up? I used to put them in a little baggie and smash the s%^t out of them with a hammer and then use a drill mounted stirrer to mix it in very well.

 

[Inspector7]

I cork my bottles with a Portuguese double lever handheald corker. I don't think that the floaters are cork though. I typically add the potasium sorbate granules into the carboy and stir vigorously. I have had wine stones in my grape wine before. This is not wine stones, they float much longer than a wine stone will.

 

[Wade E]

I dont think it is diamonds as they usually stick to the glass and i dont believe it would be cork using a floor corker either. My suggestion would be to empty all bottles into a primary, filter, add more meta to kill any bacteria if this is 1, and re bottle. Maybe someone will have a better idea though.

 

[Waldo]

Inspector,try opening a bottle, what do the corks look like?

 

[grapeman]

I don't think it is any more than an unsightly inconvenience. You probably used whole(crushed,diced , etc)apples and not filtered juice. Every once in a while I get what you describe in the apple wine. No off flavors, spolage bacteria, etc- just some left over pectin that never fully settled out. Generally I only get it if I get in a hurry to bottle. The wine can look clear, but if you bottle sooner than say 6 months, that's when you can get what you describe. Filtering would probably remove it. I did filter a batch once that looked clear and ended up with a slight slimy film on the filter, but the wine never got the floaties.

 

[joeswine]

could be tartanic crystals,from temp change//

 

[joeswine]

tartanic crystals???

 

[Wade E]

Tartaric crystals. It is a type of acid that can gather up especially in colder temps in red wines.