Finings

foraged_plonker · Mar 24, 2013

Hi All,

After about 20+ Gallons of wine making i thought i should check something;

Can you add finings (specifically harris liquid 2) at the same time as ferment stopper (pot sorb) and a CT?

Is it better to wait until the pot. sorb has stableised the wine first?

Any help appreciated.

oldjiver · Mar 24, 2013

Potassium Sorbate doesnt kill the yeast it just stops it reproducing. So if there was a lot of yeast in the wine it could go on a long time before it died off. Therefore, you fine and clear the wine, and then add the potassium sorbate to stop the very small amount of yeast that is always left from reproducing and starting to grow again. Similarly campden tablets at 50ppm just stun the yeast. So the order is, ferment to dryness, add finings and CT, when clear add one more CT and rack. Then add Sorbate and bottle or sweeten with confidence it wont blow up.

narmour · Mar 27, 2013

I would have to disagree with oldjiver, if there is still CO2 in solution the yeast will never drop out as they adhere to gas bubbles. And if the yeast hasn't been stabilised, there is always the potential to create more CO2. I would always stabilise first, degass fully, wait some more, and then clear. If you do this you may not even need to add finings as the wine could clear by itself.

Moley · Mar 27, 2013

I rack my wines about a week after all signs of fermentation have finished, and after taking a quick sip through a drinking straw to make sure it has fermented all the way out. I tend to take a hydrometer reading after racking to confirm what my tongue has already told me.

I rack on to crushed Campden tablets or the equivalent in SodMet solution, then I shake most of the bubbles out, then I add the sorbate, then I shake it again, then I add my finings and shake it some more. All three are added usually within half an hour.

foraged_plonker · Mar 29, 2013

Many thanks for the responses, it seems I have an answer to why my filtered, stabalised wine (only one batch luckily) is throwing a sediment in the botles. As a follow up question if i may... how then do we stop fermentation at a specific gravity say 995 for a meduim wine and ensure all the yeasts are sedimented away. The bottles that have thrown sediment I stopped with pot sorb at 998 and then left for 8 wks in the dj to what I thought was clear, filtered and bottled. Three months on they have a 'bitty' sediment.

I guess its ferment to dryness from now on, CT and sorb, then finings, leave to clear and then filter?

What then, is the best to backsweeten to med? is there a ratio for wine sweetener to a gallon or is it a bit at a time?

I guess I could rebottle the dirty bottles via a filter or finings in a dj and stand in bulk again? potentially when this weather breaks hey could kick off again?

Any advice more tham welcome!

Finings

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