Superkleer Question

[Jwatson]

I have a RJS Super Tuscan that has been bulk aging for 6 mos. I would like to fine it and then bottle in another month or 2. There is a a layer (1/8 to 1/4 inch) of sediment on the bottom. Do I need to rack the wine off the sediment , or is it okay to add and stir in the superkleer without racking?

I do have sparkalloid for later kits. Must you rack off the sediment with sparkalloid?

 

[Rocky]

JW, I would rack the wine first. Any time I can get sediment out of my wine is a positive to me.

 

[Flem]

+1 to what Rocky said. It sounds like your wine is already clear. In many cases, with time, you don't have to use fining agents. With a kit, I would have thought you would have already used the superkleer.

 

[Jwatson]

I have read recommendations, one from Mosti's web site, that if you plan on bulk aging, fining agents can be delayed until the end (2-4 weeks before bottling). I plan on waiting 4 weeks between fining and bottling. A lot of sediment does drop with time. Some say it is better for taste to have the wine in contact with all the particles for a longer period during bulk aging. I don't know for sure, but I am happy with the taste so far.

Thanks for the help. I'll be racking. By the way, is it okay to add some more oak cubes, if needed, during this time of fining.

 

[Dugger]

If you are adding a clarifier at this stage you don't need as much as you would have at stabilizing. Probably a third to a half would be plenty. If you don't rack and stir up the sediment you could add it all. Oak can certainly be added - just monitor it so you don't overoak.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

On the sugject of super-kleer. I just added it to my "Granny Smith", Fig and Blackberry. I don't know if this is the right way to do this, but, Before I added the D1 packet I measured it and there is approx 12 cc and the D2 packet has approx 50 cc. I added a fat 2 cc of D1 per gallon and 10 cc of D2 per gallon. Whata think, is this a good way to divide it up, I had a 3 gallon batch of Apple, a 1 gallon batch of Fig and a 1 gallon batch of blackberry???

Semper Fi

 

[Jwatson]

I also read that the full dose of fining agents is also not needed after bulk aging. Is there any drawback on using the full amount? Could you strip the wine of its color or flavor by using the full dose?

Would sparkalloid be a better, more gentle approach after bulk aging?

 

[Wade E]

Isinglass or Bentonite are the most gentle fining agents there are I believe but if your going to age them long why bother fining them at all. I only use fining agents on wines that just wont clear on their own, time will clear the rest of the wines. Ive made quite a bit of wine in my time now and have not seen any taste difference in using SuperKleer on any wines and Ive done side by side comparisons. It will strip a little color but Ive seen the color fall out of a lot of wines that werent fined also so I believe this color would have fallen out later in the bottle anyway. Im sure youve seen this before on any ig red that has aged some time where the sides of the bottle are discolored and stained.

 

[Jwatson]

Thanks Wade!

 

[mrpoland]

I agree with Wade! Do everything you can to keep the wine natural adding anything will change the wine. If you did everything and wine is still not clear then use something. Depending of what you have in your wine, lots of tannin or protein from dead yeast. Some stuff works great for protein some not. The best way is to get samples and test it on it if it works and also the amount of clearing specific. Every wine is different and it is not good to add stuff as much as you want.

If you have lots of sediment it is better to rack the wine. It is not good to keep lots of old yeast in the wine. You are from Florida; maybe because of the heat the fermentation is still going on slowly and what you see in the wine is yeast. Give the wine some more time….

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Sometimes splash racking will help get out the C02 stuck in the wine and allow the floating particles to fall out.

We've had alot of trouble going from carboys to tanks with clearing. They just don't clear fast (have been in secondary for a year). We even used bentonite. Let it sit a month, racked and then rough filtered. Still have wine that is hazy/cloudy. At this point, we are just ready to bottle it.