Yeah yeah patience, how long does that take...

[pizzaerick]

Hi all,
Been lurking and reading a couple of days.

Started my first 2 batches ever about 2+ months ago.

1 Rhubarb and 1 banana (sounded cool)

The banana is crystal clear. The rhubarb still seems cloudy.

The rhubarb seemed to go crazy in the primary. It was a slow starter, then BOOM. It went to 1.000 SG in about 2 days after the activity started. Could that be why it is not clearing?

On the other, the banana, as it is so clear, is there any reason not to bottle it in a week or so? I have read a lot about bulk aging, but if I choose to bottle it, is 2.5 months too soon? If so why?

I am loving this hobby, but it has become kind of an obsession!Aside from my first 2, I have a riesling kit in the secondary, a strawberry JUST started, a raspberry just started, and a merlot kit on deck... all this before waiting to see if my first ones are even safe to drink!


Patience...I want it NOW!

 

[Wade E]

It is very addicting and fun. Some batches just wont clear on their own
but most just take time, you could use a clarifier and I recommend K.C.
SuperKleer if you go that route. Are you going to back sweeten any of
these wines and if so you will need to stabilize with sorbate and
K-meta. You could bottle at this time if you have already sweetened and
stabalized or if it fermented all the way. You should at least add
extra sulfite if you plan to age these more than 6 months in the bottle
to prevent them from oxidizing. You have come to an excellent forum
with a lot of people wanting to share all their knowledge and hope you
stay awhile. This is also a great place to buy all your winemaking needs.

 

[grapeman]

Don't have a lot to add but must say - "Welcome Pizzaerick!" Glad to have you aboard. There are a couple others who have made the Rhubarb and also had clearing problems. Do a search on Rhubarb and you might find out what they did to get it to clear.

 

[peterCooper]

There are too additional possibilities for the cloudiness, other than it needing more time to settle. First is 'pectin haze'. Many fruits contain pectin which willl not precipitate out. Products such as pectozyme (George sells both dry and liquid pectin enzyme stuff) will remove pectin haze. That mean racking the wine, adding the enzyme and stirring and letting it settle for a few weeks again.

The second potential issue is oxalic acid. Rhubarb leaves contain a lot of oxalic acid, the stems don't contain much. O. acid is a poison to us mere mortals but not in the quantities found in the stem. If you trimmed the rhubarb in such a way as to leave part of the leaf then that may also cause a hazing. O. acid reacts nicely to chalk (Calcium Carbonate) which will then precipitate out. Again it is a matter of racking, mixing in food grade powdered chalk and then letting it clarify. George might be able to help on that too, although I didn't see anything in the catalog.

Of course others should wade in on this too.

Welcome Pizzaerick. This is a great forum.

 

[pizzaerick]

No leaves, actually used too much chalk, had to add a little acid blend to get the right PH.

Since I don't know what they should taste like at this stage, I will hold out hope for the rhubarb, it tastes just plain nasty. The Banana on the other hand tastes like permanent marker and rubber cement with a hint of tropical fruit. I think it will need to age a few months, and will be pretty good.

Living in a small townhouse, so the spare bathroom has become my winery!
Edited by: pizzaerick

 

[Wade E]

I had a few batches that were just nasty until they had some age on
them and actually turned out to be 2 of the best wines Ive ever made
One was a spiced apple with cinamon sticks and raisons and the other
was a pear wine made from canned pears in heavy syrup. That one needed
the K.C. SuperKleer as it was 4 months bulk aging and was still as
cloudy as day 1. The clarifier took 8 days to clear that 1 and it
usually only takes 2 or 3 days with this stuff.

 

[dfwwino]

I think I'd bottle the banana if it's clear. You only have a gallon, so I doubt bulk aging will add much benefit. Can't help you much on the taste of the Rhubarb as that's about one of the few items I haven't tried to make into wine. Aging always helps, but sometimes super nasty only becomes mildly nasty. I'd just keep plugging along, making more batches, taking notes, reading winemaking books, magazines and forums, tweaking your new hobby skills. After 13 years, I can say I've learned to make consistently good wine if I don't get lazy. You'll be buying a bigger place to live soon as the addiction takes hold. Good luck.