How much bentonite for 1 gallon of wine?

[tbayav8er]

Hi Everyone,

I will soon be harvesting my Marquette grapes. I probably have barely enough for one gallon of wine (probably not even that). I was just wondering, should I use bentonite for such a small batch? If so, how should I go about preparing the bentonite to add to my fermenting bucket? Normally with kit wines, I would add the bentonite to 2 litres of hot water, but I'm obviously not going to want to mix 2 litres of water with such a small batch of wine.

 

[FunkedOut]

On both kits I have done, from different companies, the bentonite is a 30g packet for 6 gallons.
I would be reckless and say 5g per gallon if you’re adding it before the yeast.
Never used it post fermentation.

I’ve had good success adding 1 pint of boiling water to a blender, spin it and add the 30g of bentonite.
I add it to the must stirring well, and add another pint of boiling water, spin and add to the must.
Rinse and repeat if needed.
I would go with a cup of water for your 5g.
You may not need to rinse much at all.

 

[stickman]

I wouldn't normally add bentonite to a red fermentation from fresh grapes.

 

[GreginND]

Ideally you would do heat trials to find the lowest amount of bentonite that prevents haze from happening. Bentonite strips out proteins and adding too much without knowing the minimum required could strip out flavors and textures from your wine. Frankly, I never use it and rely on time and filtering. Here's a good document with more information about bentonite fining.

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FS/FS-53-W.pdf

 

[Ct Winemaker]

I’m with stickman on this one. Normally you don’t use bentonite at all for red wine, and certainly not pre-fermentation. Adding bentonite prefermentation is pretty much a “kit thing” that helps to get the wine clear more quickly. Most of us use it for white wine made from grapes, but well after a period of “natural” clearing / settling / racking.

 

[Scooter68]

For me bentonite is sort of a last resort thing even in the fruity world of country fruit wines Unless I know a certain fruit is tough to get to clear.... I wait until the wine has had at least 6 months to clear on it's own. That's how I work with fruit wines.

Guys and gals who do red wines are your best helpers though.