Observation on Clearing

[derunner]

This is in regard to wine kits. My first batch was a dark red so i did not notice much of what was happening during clearing. I now have a pinot gregio and a Riesling clearing. One is on its 3rd week, just reracked which mixed some things up and i am now clearing again. The second was just started clearing. Both batches were managed on Friday night.

Interesting, about 6 inches from the top is very clear in each carboy, and there is basically a line where it is a litle cloudy in the older batch and very cloudy in the new batch. So it appears wine clears top down. It is almost like there is a cloud of haze floating below they very clear wine. It appear to have went further down from yesterday.

So what is in this haze that is settling? Based on the amount cleared so far, it looks like it will take about 20 days to reach the bottom.

 

[derunner]

It shows it better in person, but this looking in from the top.





And from the Side. very clear above, and cloudy below.

 

[Brian]

Well what is settling is the solids contained in the juice for the kits.
Depending on how warm the wine is and what clearing agent is that you use to clear the wine (if you use a clearing agent) determines how long it takes to clear. Most of the time when I use a clearing agent on a kit and the wine is around 70 degrees it only takes about 48 hours or less to have crystal clear wine. If you don't use a clearing agent then it will take longer.

 

[cpfan]

Also, poorly degassed wine can take longer to clear.

What brands are these kits? Wade and others have had problems with Winexpert kits clearing, so they substitute Super Kleer. I haven't made many WE kits, but so far haven't had problems with clearing.

Steve

 

[derunner]

These are both WE kits, they have cleared this much since Friday night. The clear line continues to lower each day in the carboy.

I'm such a newbie, that this was really interesting to see how it clears, very slowly dropping out. Better than watching paint dry.

 

[derunner]

Maybe it it not clearing anymore. first 8 inches from top look very clear, then there is basically a line where everything below is very cloudy and that has not changed in 2 days. Is this just a slow process? It is odd to see crystal clear at top 1/4, and bottom quarter is hazy. I plan to bulk age 3 months with probably a couple racks. Will it clear eventually?

 

[SpoiledRotten]

You didn't respond to the de-gassing possibility. What about it? Did you de-gas properly? That will keep the particles suspended much longer.

 

[derunner]

You didn't respond to the de-gassing possibility. What about it? Did you de-gas properly? That will keep the particles suspended much longer.

I used a drill mounted stirring rod. I also used the vacu vin to pull out some gas. But I have a hard time telling i I got the gas out. I'll try the vacu vin some more and see i still get gas out. Thanks.

 

[derunner]

last night I used the vacu vin to vacuum out gas from both wines. I did it for about 30 min. Pump, wait a couple mins, pump some more. Both continue to pull gas out of the wine, but my arms got tired. I will do some more tonight as I rack another wine to secondary.

Today, I no longer have a crystal clear section at the top as the bubbles mixed up the wine some. But the haze line has now moved to the bottom 1/3 of the carboy. Above this line it is slightly hazy, and below you can't see through it. So it seemed to do some good as it was 2/3 heavy haze before.

Any chance you can pull too much gas out like this and start pulling alcohol?

fyi, wine temp is 68F which is not ideal for degassing, but my brew belt is being used on the batch i have fermenting. In a week i can probably warm these up to 75 and see if i get more out.

 

[wyntheef]

my guess is you need to relax and let it clear, even if it takes a few weeks. i have had this clear definition between clear and cloudy like you are talking about and it's just the way it's clearing. no problem, no worries.

if you start doing things to it now, you may not help it and basically be clearing from scratch again. on the other hand, if you wait a few weeks and you don't like what's happening, you can always do something then, so i suggest forgetting about it for a while.

 

[Scott]

Don't forget to gently rock the carboy to get the sediment out of the grooves.

 

[derunner]

my guess is you need to relax and let it clear, even if it takes a few weeks. i have had this clear definition between clear and cloudy like you are talking about and it's just the way it's clearing. no problem, no worries.

if you start doing things to it now, you may not help it and basically be clearing from scratch again. on the other hand, if you wait a few weeks and you don't like what's happening, you can always do something then, so i suggest forgetting about it for a while.

Thanks, I did pump out some more gas tonight, but I think i will take your advice and leave them alone for a few weeks and then rack.