Sparkaloid

[TNFISHRMAN]

Is Sparkaloid one of the clearing agents that needs to have the sediment stirred back into the wine for it to clear properly or should you rack and the add to partially cleared or cloudy wine?

 

[Hippie]

There are 2 types of sparkaloid available. 1 is hot mix type and made for clearing wine made from juice. The other is cold mix type and is used in scratch wines with alot of pulp. Whichever you use, be sure the wine is totally degassed or it will not work. You can add it to the carboy without racking and stir it in well with the sediment, or if you have a huge amount of sediment, you might want to rack onto it in a sanitized carboy.

 

[TNFISHRMAN]

Thanks Hippie!

 

[TNFISHRMAN]

Hippie, help me understand something. 1st if I have not made sure that my wine is totally degassed and have added sparkaloid only and no sulfite will it hurt to stir up the seditment again after it has cleared for a week and a half? I wasn't trained to stir to de-gas my wine. I also only add sparkaloid when I am in the clarifying stage. One more Question about Super Kleer Kc do I need to add any sulphite with it in the clarifying stage. Thanks for all your help, Hippie-sahn. Please be patient with grasshopper, he is just beginning. Lynn

 

[Hippie]

I don't know anything about sparkaloid or KC or any of the finings, Lynn. Sorry. I don't use them. With scratch wines, if you just stabilize with sulphite and follow a good racking schedule and don't get in a hurry, the wine will degass itself as time goes on. You shouldn't need to add more sulphite unless you plan on not opening the bottles for 2-3 years. If so, make another addition at bottling. Edited by: Hippie

 

[geocorn]

Hippie brings up a very good point relating to that patience thing. Almost all wines will de-gas and clear themselves if you give them enough time. A few may be stubborn on the clearing and when that happens, I recommend the Super Kleer. It normally clears a wine in 2 days and if it does not clear your wine, you probably have pectic haze. Adding some pectic enzyme should take care of that.


The wine kits are made to be bottle in a short time frame, which does not give the wine enough time to de-gas on its own. Thus, the need for the de-gassing. If you leave your wine in the carboy for several months after stablizing, your wine will de-gas itself.

 

[mharrell]

Hippie, thanks for education on Sparkaloid. Back about3 months ago I made a Banana wine from scratch. I was wondering why it would not clear. I used the hot mix Sparkaloid. Didn't know there were 2 different types.