Gelatin Fining Wine?

[mattsbrewery]

I am very new to wine making, but make lots of beer. I often use gelatin to clear up a hazy beer. Can this be used with wine? I know I'd have to cool it to below 50*, but that's not an issue for me. Has anyone else tried it?

 

[Tom]

I have not used this for wine. But I have doing all grain. Mostly "time" will work both in Beer and Winemaking. There are however plenty of clairifiers made for wine. If you plan on doing kits then everything is included. If making wine from fruit, juice or grapes then you can check back here as to what we reccomend.

 

[mattsbrewery]

I mostly plan on doing fruit wines, although I do have my eye on a kit or two as well. Big "thumbs up" on the clarifier "Time"! Nothing works as well as patience in beer either.

 

[Tom]

Wine making needs MORE patience than beer.

What kind of fruit wine you gona make? I make Straw, Blue, Peach, Cran ras and some fruit blends

 

[Wade E]

We make a lot of fruit wines here and time is the best but sometimes something extra may be needed to bottle early if you need a carboy or for that stubborn wine that just wont clear on its own and it does happen! I use SuperKleer KC when time just doesnt do its thing or when Im pressed for time and it works great every time.

 

[Jeff H]

Gelatin is generally used in wine to remove astringency/bitterness.It can be kinda rough and possibly remove more than is desired. There are many other fining agents that aid clearing but time is generally the best measure. Here is a book excerpt if interested:


http://books.google.com/books?id=Zf-24UvvT4oC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=astringency+and+gelatin&source=bl&ots=yuL2xN477J&sig=uBOCW2jQBsMwbqEvpqJA5pFbIfQ&hl=en&ei=nxb1SdavG6HOMd2gnKkP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPA95,M1


Jeff


Edit: Another weblink...Take note of the mention of "Lab (Bench) Trials"


http://www.fst.vt.edu/extension/enology/EN/45.html

 

[mattsbrewery]

Jeff, It sounds like I don't want mess with it if it'll affect flavor!

Tepe, I intend to make whatever kind of fruit I can get my hands on!

 

[Tom]

Where are you from?
I am making TODAY a mixed fruit wine. I got the frozen fruitfrom Sam's. I got 3 bags of "fresh fruit" 1 bag strawberries and I had frozen 5# of Blueberries.

You can make fruit wine all year long..

 

[mattsbrewery]

I'm in Wyoming. My first batch is from frozen grape juice concentrate. I started cheap so if I screwed up I wasn't out any money, just time!

 

[Jeff H]

Matt, To some extent most fining could affect flavor. Just depends on the end goal. With so many choices I would probably shy away from gelatin unless it was a bitter wine, had some age on it and worth the fight. Good luck with your wines, Jeff

 

[mattsbrewery]

Thanks Jeff! I really appreciate all the great info here!

 

[Jeff H]

Your welcome Matt. Enjoy making your wines! Jeff

 

[joe and linda]

I'm like you. My first batch was Welchs Niagra, and since I was on my own as far as fining and I had made some beer, I used gelatin to clear. If I got an off taste, you sure can't tell it now. I was very happy with my first batch and have got 3 more going now! All my buddies pilfered my first 30 bottles, and now I got nothin to drink til I get some more done. Good luck.