peach wine sediment problem

[Dave H]

Pitted and Ran 18 lbs of fresh georgia peaches through a juicer placing the pulp inside a fruit bag and the juice in the primary fermenter. After sg dropped below 1. I pressed and discarded the pulp from the bag, then racked the juice off the sediment . Started secondary fermentation adding bentonite.

wine has been in a six gallon carboy since secondary fermentation began 3 months ago

I should be ready for another racking. However, the carboy has a full 8 inches of sediment in the lower part of the container. If I racked know I would lose 30% of my volume.

it appears my mistake was running the fruit through the juicer.
with additional time, will the sediment continue to fall out of suspension settling on the bottom of the carboy? could I speed the process with a fining agent?

Other suggestions

 

[St Allie]

Hello Dave and welcome to our forum..

Is this your first wine?

I'm a bit horrified at the layer of sediment personally.. where to start?

I have read your post three tiimes to be sure..Have never had such a deep layer of sediment in any of my own wines.

You have an enormous layer of sediment there in a 6 gallon carboy..you have racked once already and then using bentonite.. that seems excessive for a fruit wine.I would have racked the wine off this by now.

Can you please list the recipe you were using in its entirety?

We need more information..

Allie

 

[arcticsid]

Hi Dave and welcome to the group. I am only taking a stab here but assuming you have been in the secondary that long it may be possible to add some pectin enzyme and let it do its thing. (pectin E doesn't work well, if not at all once fermentation has begun, but I have used it after the SG came down to 1.000, thats why it is added before the yeast is pitched) I am surprised you have that much sediment remainin, makes me think it was transfered too early, or too improperly.

All is not lost. There are many members here who have way more experience to answer this than I do. Stand by and wait for their input. Please don't do anything drastic until you let them give their thoughts.

It may seem like it is 30% of your volume but I doubt that is the case. There may be steps you can take to dissapate some of it.

Sounds like you have a nice wine working. If you use the Pectin E, use about 3/4 teaspoon per gallon and stir it in. This should help break some of that down. Of course you will have to give it a couple days to help everything settle. If you add this, dissolve it in a bit of water or even the very wine must you have.

When is the last time you tasted this and took a hydrometer reading?

No need to panic, I have a feeling you are just fine. Take a hydrometer reading, or if you can take a picture and post it for us, we will help if we can.

Troy

(I made a Peach wine a few months ago from fresh peaches and I had some sediment issues, but it cleared and settled, and turned out fine.)

Patience my friend...

 

[mmadmikes1]

I dont think it is all sedement, I'll bet it is fruit pulp.
I would rack off clear part and then run what is left thought cheese cloth or paint strainer, I am sure you will recover alot of liquid. Put liquid back into batch and it should be good. BTW Ending up with a 5 gallon batch that started as a 6 has happened to more than 1 person. Dont forget to check you sg after everything is back together. Go from there

 

[St Allie]

I wondered if the fruit had been strained off in the primary mmadmikes.

Would be helpful to have the recipe please Dave.

Allie

 

[arcticsid]

Thats what I was thinking G, if it wasn't strained, or settled, or siphoned off to aggressively, alot of that setiment could have been transfered.

I don't think adding Pectin E or some of the similar products would hurt in helping this settle down,

When I made my Peach wine I started with a fermenting bag that was well over a gallon in volume, after letting it rest with the pectin e for like 24 hours I went to squeeze it and I guarantee you, there was no more than 25% of the volume left from what I started with.
I hope we can help Dave out on this.
Troy

 

[Tom]

1st "mistake"?
I don't know why you used a juicer. Some people think they need "juice" to make wine. Not so. I make peach wine for a few years and never used a juicer.
Suggestion is next time quarter and depit the fruit. add fruit to a straining bag. add enough water and sugar to the of wine you will make. Shoot for 1.085. Add PECTIC ENZYME. This will break down the fruit and extract all the natural juices.
Now what to do now. Add clarifier and wait for it to settle more. What you see is "pulp" from the juicer. This will take a while to clear. Yes you will lose quite a bit in your rackings.
Post your recipe and detail what you did.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Please post what you did as I did a pretty similar thing but with a hand blender

 

[samwisegamgeese]

The young chap is my son - a willing helper!

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Should I rack this stuff off - although to be honest it is much whiter and thinner now.

 

[Arne]

Sam, this post is from back in 2009. Other than Madmikes, Most of the posters havn't showed up for a while. Think I would let it sit for a while longer, siphon the clear liquid off, and try and filter what is left. It should clear a lot with time, but I know it is tough to wait. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Thanks

Will leaving pulp in it spoil the wine?