WOW won't clear

Hi all,

I've been brewing wine for about 9 months or so, and have been reading the forum for tips and recipe ideas -- it's a really great resource! All of my brews have so far gone without a hitch, but now I have a WOW that stubbornly refuses to clear. Let me tell you what I've done...

My recipe was: 1L each of RGJ, AJ, cranberry and raspberry (juice drink) plus all the usual suspects. This is my second time making this recipe, the first one turned out great and I had some requests for more! The original batch just required a single 1ml dosage of Kwik Clear, and it was crystal. With this one, 1ml dropped some sediment, but it was far from clear. I added another 1ml: more sediment but still not clear. I wondered if I had a pectin haze (perhaps I had forgotten to add pectolase initially?), so I racked into a clean DJ onto 1tsp pectolase. Several days later, no change. I then added a third round of finings, again this has thrown sediment but it is still not clear!

Any ideas what's going on here? I'm reluctant to keep just adding stuff. It smells and tastes fine. Can finings go off and lose their 'potency'? Not that they're very old. The only difference I can think of between the two brews is the first had its primary in a DJ under airlock, whereas this cloudy one was brewed in a bucket with a lid left slightly unsealed so the CO2 could escape, and it sat for maybe 2 weeks after fermentation was complete as I was waiting for a DJ to come free.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. Really hope you can help!

David

PS, when I say 1ml of finings, I mean 1ml of A and then 1ml of B.

Can finings go off and lose their 'potency'?

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I have had this before and ended up drinking it cloudy with no ill effects.

Which fining are you using and how long has it been open?

KwiK Clear has a very long shelf life once opened yet Youngs Clear It (also 2 part) says use within a month so your finings may not be up to the job any more.

I'm using Kwik Clear. Bought and opened September last year. The date on the box is June 2018.

Did you take a SG reading once you thought fermentation had stopped ?

Did you add wine stopper before the finings ?

dw153 said:

I'm using Kwik Clear. Bought and opened September last year. The date on the box is June 2018.

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I would say its past its best but as i said above i have had cloudy ones before.

Roddy said:

Did you take a SG reading once you thought fermentation had stopped ?

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I took a reading when I thought it should have finished (and when two others started at the same time had finished) and it was about 1.005. I only have 2 DJs anyway, so I finished the other two and left this one in its FV. I didn't take another reading before transferring to the DJ about two weeks later, I just assumed it would have finished by then.

Roddy said:

Did you add wine stopper before the finings ?

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Yes, I added Stabiliser and a Campden tablet when I racked. I then de-gassed, let it settle overnight and added finings the next day.

Chippy_Tea said:

I would say its past its best but as i said above i have had cloudy ones before

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That's a shame. Should I abandon this box of KC now, or just use more of it? Are there any other clearing products that last longer for the 1 gallon brewer who simply doesn't brew enough to use the whole pack before they go off?

I would try it on the next brew you do rather than bin it, june 2018 is a long way of.

That's a shame. Should I abandon this box of KC now, or just use more of it? Are there any other clearing products that last longer for the 1 gallon brewer who simply doesn't brew enough to use the whole pack before they go off?

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My KwiK Clear never lasted more than 2 or 3 months so i don't know if it gets less effective over time i wouldn't bin it just double up next time and see how it goes, if as you say you do not use much maybe try a powdered fining.

OK, thanks. There wouldn't be any problem adding a larger amount of KwiK Clear, would there, if that's what's required to get the wine to clear? Not like adding too much sulphite can cause headaches for example.

Is there anything you'd recommend as a powdered fining? Bentonite?

Also, on a slightly unrelated note, when you brew a larger batch (20+ litres) what do you let the wine clear in? I've assumed letting it clear in a plastic bucket isn't as easy as in a clear vessel since you can't actually see when it's clear, but perhaps I'm wrong...

You could put it into a carboy if you wanted to see it as it clears, i think most of us use a FV though, you will see some clarity to it when looking on it from above though nowhere near as much as you would from the side.

chewie said:

You could put it into a carboy if you wanted to see it as it clears, i think most of us use a FV though, you will see some clarity to it when looking on it from above though nowhere near as much as you would from the side.

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That sounds sensible, thanks :)