JUICE DIAMONDS

[NorthernWinos]

I mixed up a batch of wine today, using 3 different grapes juices from wine grapes that I steam extracted and put in mason jars this fall.

One of the juices had crystals in the bottoms of the jars.....

I have heard of Wine Diamonds [Cream of Tarter Crystals] in Wine, but never had crystals in any of my drinking grape juices....this was a wine grape called King of the North, it was quite sweet...SG 1065....and much like Concord, but lighter flavor.

Do any of the grape juices you folks buy for winemaking have these crystals in them????

 

[bmorosco]

I dont know ..but could that be some sort of mold in the jar??

 

[NorthernWinos]

No, it for sure wasn't mold...they are hard like the Wine Diamonds...must be a 'grape-thing' of some sort.

 

[sangwitch]

They're mineral deposits picked up from the ground by the grapes as they were growing. Potassium-bitartrateis formed by potassium and tartaric acidwhen wine is cooled. I see you steamed the juice so you probably created a nice environment for it to happen.








The crystals are common in older wines or if your grapes were especially ripe.Crystal sediment istheprimary reason to own a decanter. I wouldn't worry about it one bit.


EDIT: I did not know this, but potassium bitartrate is also known as cream of tarter.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_bitartrateEdited by: sangwitch

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks for the info...The grapes were ripe and the juice was most delicious...

I only had a six quarts of that one juice and added it to two other grape juices....all were wine grapes...so it will be a Trio of Grape Wine....hope it is as good as those juices were.

 

[Bill B]

Like sangwitch said this is not a bad thing, acctually this is a sign of a good wine. If you don't want to decant then rack off the diamonds. If the temp get to warm they can disolve back into the wine or juice.
<DIV SuperAdBlocker_DIV_Elements="0" SuperAdBlocker_OnMove_Hooked="0" SuperAdBlocker__Hooked="0" SuperAdBlocker_DIV_FirstLook="0">Bill

 

[NorthernWinos]

I tried to keep them all in the mason jars when I was putting the juice in the primary bucket....a few must have gotten in there, I can hear them when I was adding the Peptic Enzyme and Yeast Nutrient and stirring today...I imagine they will stay in the bucket when I rack it to a carboy.

Thanks for the responses and information everyone...

 

[NorthernWinos]

Well, I have racked this wine 3 times now...and every time I have some crystals in the sediment and stuck to the sides of the primary and carboy....

Is this wine going to drop crystal forever????

I put some Super-Kleer K-C in the two batches that are dropping crystals, will see if that slows the crystals down, or stops them.Both batches are from my own grapes....Only one batch had the crystals in the juice.

I'd hate to have crystals form in the bottles...

It's too darn cold here to do cold stabilization, but might have to keep it around till more moderate temps come around....

Anyone else have this Titrate Crystal drop in their wines????

 

[Wade E]

Never seen them before but have never made wine with grapes YET!

 

[jobe05]

NW: For the first time, I had this problem with a scuppernong that I made. I remembered Martina had put hers in a cold area (outside) wrapped in a blanket and it sped up the diamond building process. So I put mine in the coldest part of the house and let it set for a few weeks. It created lots of diamonds, but once removed, they haven't come back................. yet! It's only been 30 days or so, so we'll see.

 

[Francie]

I was always told that to have those "crystals" means the wine is of exceptional quality!!

 

[Dean]

You can also have the wine precipitate out more crystals by cold stabilization, but you can help this along by creating a site for the crystals to form by adding a teaspoon of cream of tartar. That's what the crystals are anyways, and this will help to create a nucleation site for more crystals. But you really do need about 2 weeks in the low 30's.