Clearing wine ?

[Mr.Everready]

Hi, I made up a 30 bottle kit of Solomon Grundy Pinot Grigio. Followed the instructions, leaving a few extra days just incase.

The wine was in a fv so it's hard to see if it was clear or not and as this was my first wine I wasn't exactly sure how it was supposed to look. :lol:
I went to bottle the wine last night using a filter just incase there was anything to take out. It turns out there was rather alot Over nearly 3 hours I managed to filter 3 dj's and decided to just put the rest of the unfiltered wine in to another 2 dj's. So I've now got 2 dj's of a rather cloudy wine.

A few questions. I've put solid bungs on the unfiltered dj's, is this ok or does it need an airlock instead.
Will the wine clear in time ?
If it doesn't what can I do to get it to clear ? I used the finings supplied and have no more to put in.

 

[Moley]

Never use solid bungs unless you are absolutely 110% certain the wine is completely finished and stabilised. DJs will not withstand any pressure whatsoever. To put it another way, I do not possess one single solitary solid bung.

Unless there is any sort of pectin, starch or protein haze (which you shouldn't get with a kit wine), all wine will clear naturally, given time. Put them in a cool place for a couple of weeks.

Incidentally, I filtered 30 litres last night, in under one hour, through one filter pad. If yours is taking any longer or using more pads, you're being too impatient.

 

[Mr.Everready]

I certainly hope it's finished cos I've got 6 corked bottles sitting in the kitchen. :pray:

I'll leave the cloudy wine in the dj's for a while and see if they start to clear. The kit did say it would only take a few days so I left it a few more and assumed that it would be ok.

The more I read here, the more I realise that the instructions should be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[Moley]

Corked bottles will withstand a little bit of pressure, bunged demijohns won't.

The more I read here, the more I realise that the instructions should be taken with a pinch of salt.

:thumb:

 

[stu9000]

If you browse a few posts you'll read anecdotal stories of bottle bombs that give good reason to be very careful.
As Moley says, use bubblers rather than corks.

Clearing wine has been a bit of a bug bear of mine recently.
Passing on good advice, "time" is the best way, rack it and let it settle.

Im putting more effort into degassing at the moment, in the hope that I get better results.

Ive not used filters yet. Im interested in giving it a go, but have read that its NOT designed to clear out unclear wine but is more of a final polish. I figured I needed better results before I started down that road. If it took an hour per dj is it possible the filter pad is getting clogged?

My basic red wine routine is to wait for the bubbling to finish, rack to DJs (with bubblers on) and leave it another 2 weeks to drop more sediment, then add stabilizer, degass and bottle.

Cheers
S

 

[Mr.Everready]

The filters certainly were clogged stu. It was one of the wine kits that should clear in a couple of days so I assumed this would happen :rofl:

The 2 dj's I have with the cloudy wine look as though they may be clearing but very very slowly ( considering it's supposed to be done in 2 days ) it's maybe only done a few mm in a couple of days. At this rate it might be drinkable for Christmas !!!

If it doesn't clear can I add more finings to it or is one load all you can do ?

 

[Mr.Everready]

Just a wee update :)

Opened my first bottle last night, as the screw went through the cork I heard a slight hiss. The bottles won't last too long so they should be safe enough

I got a hold of a couple of holed bungs to put on the uncleared wine. When I took off the solid bungs there was a defenite release of gas but as I've said they now have airlocks on them.

As for the other 2 dj's with the filtered wine. They too have solid bungs and I have nothing to replace them with at the moment. Can I take the bungs out and give them a good shake to release the co2 or will that spoil the wine at all ?

 

[Mr.Everready]

PS, the wine from the bottle was lovely. The wife had a glass back to back with a supermarket version and she prefered mine, this is under 2 weeks old too !

It's very very clear, light, fruity and dry.

 

[Moley]

As for the other 2 dj's with the filtered wine. They too have solid bungs and I have nothing to replace them with at the moment. Can I take the bungs out and give them a good shake to release the co2 or will that spoil the wine at all ?

I wouldn't, if it has been filtererd there shouldn't be any more gas to release. Ease the bungs every few days, just to be on the safe side.

PS, the wine from the bottle was lovely. The wife had a glass back to back with a supermarket version and she prefered mine, this is under 2 weeks old too !

:thumb: Great, ain't it? :

Not sure if it was last year or the year before, Mrs.Mole bought a couple of bottles of PG which were supposed to be half-priced at £6 instead of £12. They really were quite decent. Almost as good as a 40p WOW.

We never buy commercial wines now, and I enjoy a good laugh at supermarkets' beer prices.

 

[Mr.Everready]

I managed to aquire another couple of holed bungs and airlocks. When I changed them over there really any rush of air. Better to be safe anyway. :thumb:

As for the beer side. I've made up an Aussie lager and a Geordies lager. Still not overly impressed, (as described in other posts) hopefully further conditioning will sort them.
Also got an Aussie PA bottled that I have still to try. That was my first brew in a water bath and also batch primed. Hopefully the constant temp of the water bath may make it better than the others.
I've 3, 2 can kits coming. I'm expecting better from them.