Is this sediment or something worse?

[theTheme]

I bottled a batch of strawberry a month and a half ago and it has been quietly laying in its side in a closet. Today I went to put up another batch and I noticed it has dropped a ton of something. It looks like a kind of slime (see pictures attached) in that it hangs together not like free floating sediment. Can someone with strawberry experience tell me if this is something I should be concerned about? I would hate to make someone sick with my first batch every made.

 

[JohnT]

Looks like tartaric crystals to me.

How does the wine taste??

 

[theTheme]

How does the wine taste??

Don't know, I wanted to leave it at least 3 months before I opened the first one, the batch only yielded 4 bottles. I have read about tartaric crystals, I just always figured they would be more, crystal like. This reminds me of very thin algae (struggling for the words to describe it).

Here is more info if that helps.

Recipe:
4# Strawberry (frozen, Great Valu Brand)
7 pt Water
2# Sugar
1 tsp Acid Blend
1/4 tsp Tannin
1/2 tsp Pectin Enzyme
1 tsp Yest Nutrient
1 Campden (crushed)
1 pkg Red Star Montrachet Yeast

Important milestones:
1/10/14
Added all ingredients except yeast, stirred well, let sit.
1/11/14
1.086 starting gravity
TA - not measured (didn't have kit at the time)
PH - not measured (didn't have kit at the time)
Made yeast in starter, tossed
1/14/14
SG .994
Racked into secondary
1/20/14
SG .990
Racked, topped up w/ separated portion of extra from first racking that had been kept in the fridge
Added 1 campden, crushed
2/23/14
Racked off sediment, left significant head space
3/16/14
Bottled, tastes "hot" (that's the best way I can describe it, actually all my batches have had this kind of hot yeasty taste to them, is this normal?)

 

[Deezil]

It's probably a mixture of sediment and tartaric crystals..
What did you use to degas the wine?

Sometimes the action of bottling the wine, and the time it sits before it gets corked (minute or three), is enough to dislodge enough trapped CO2, that the wine appears to make sediment from 'no where' / otherwise clean looking wine... When it just wasn't degassed and cleared enough to begin with..

Pretty sure its happened to all of us..

Only 4 bottles? I wouldnt worry about it so-much then, I just wouldnt try to age these ones for years, as that sediment will likely degrade and contribute to off-flavors and -aromas over time.. A shorter time period, it just becomes unsightly and wont taste very good if you happen to get some in your glass..

Wont make you sick though..

 

[olusteebus]

looks like pectin haze to me. I could be wrong of course. Here is an excerpt from Keller

Pectin Haze: The most common cause of a haze in wine is the presence of pectin, which forms gelatinous solutions in the wine. The problem is aggravated if the must is initially boiled to extract flavor, color or both. To check if a haze is pectin in origin, add 3-4 fluid ounces of methylated spirit to a fluid ounce of wine. If jelly-like clots or strings form, then the problem is most likely pectin and should be treated.

To treat the wine, for each gallon of wine draw off one cup of wine and stir into it teaspoon of pectic enzyme. Set the treated sample in a warm place (70-80° F.) and stir hourly for four hours. Strain the sample through sterilized muslin cloth and add to the bulk of the wine. Leave the wine at 70° F. for 4-5 days. The haze should clear. If it does not, strain the wine through sterilized muslin cloth and then through a vacuum-pumped filter. If it still does not clarify, the problem was misdiagnosed.

Pectin hazes can be prevented by adding pectic enzymes to the must 12 hours before adding the wine yeast. One teaspoon of enzyme per gallon of must is usually enough, but some musts require 1-1/2 teaspoons.

 

[theTheme]

What did you use to degas the wine?

Nothing...I know, I know...but it was my first batch. It likely could have cleared longer, I was concerned about the head space in the carboy with nothing to top it up with.

How does the wine taste??

I pulled the cork on one and tasted it. It tasted about like it did when I bottled it. It has a kind of "hot" taste to it although it has moderated somewhat since I bottled it (either that or it's actually just as bad, but I imagined it to be better).

looks like pectin haze to me. I could be wrong of course. Here is an excerpt from Keller

Pectin Haze: The most common cause of a haze in wine is the presence of pectin, which forms gelatinous solutions in the wine. The problem is aggravated if the must is initially boiled to extract flavor, color or both. To check if a haze is pectin in origin, add 3-4 fluid ounces of methylated spirit to a fluid ounce of wine. If jelly-like clots or strings form, then the problem is most likely pectin and should be treated.

I just saw your response after I posted, I will try this and see if it is indeed pectin.


Actually all my fruit wine has had this kind of hot taste. Is this normal? Everything I've done has fermented fast and hard and different strains of yeast have the same kind of taste (so far there are 3 variants of strawberry and other fruit, blue berry, and pear). I think I can taste this same thing, although much less, in the 2 kits I have made (cab and Mueller Thurgau). I know this last bit is a bit off topic.

 

[Deezil]

Just touched on this last part in your other post but to clarify here as well..

The alcohol will stand out, in a young wine.. It's "All in your face"; but as time goes on, the alcohol will settle down into the background, until it just warms your chest and you dont even really taste it... As the alcohol it 'hot', or all in your face, the other flavors of the wine are hidden.. But as the alcohol blends/melds into the wine, the other flavors are allowed to express their presence..

'Fast and hard' fermentations arent always the way to go, although they can be nicely done on red wines (blackberry comes to mind for a non-grape fruit).. But with this, you lose the aromatic nuances that an be found in a colder fermentation.. The hotter fermentations also make for more a jammy/baked sort of fruit flavor, where the cooler fermentations lead to a more delicate, fresher sort of fruit flavor.. They both have their place.


Since you didn't degas, you probably let it sit until you thought it was clear.... Which makes me lean more towards the sediment + crystals, that I was leaning towards anyways.. The jostling of the wine to get it into bottles would dislodge enough CO2 to expose the sediment so cleverly hidden in the wine until that point.. After some time passes, the sediment gathers..

And all the sudden you wonder what you did wrong

 

[Turock]

It truly looks like sediment or haze to me. I'll bet you didn't bulk age this wine very long. All our fruit wines get at least one year of bulk aging--then you won't have sediment or haze in the bottle.

 

[grapeman]

It looks like yeast sediment to me. Just a few months is not enough to get strawberry to drop all the sediment. It won't hurt anything so for four bottles, just pour carefully and enjoy it.