TC not clearing

[Dysonno1]

Hi guys

Ive made a demijohn experimental TC with apple juice and fruit smoothies... Everythings gone well but its just not clearing.. Its a lovely golden orange colour but like I said is just not clearing.

I have a bottle of vinclear and wanted to ask if I use this to clear will it still leave enough yeast in suspension for good carbonation when conditioning in the bottle.

Also will addition of a campden with the vinclear be beneficial or will this kill off the yeast???

Thanks guys..

 

[oldbloke]

What sort of AJ? If it was a cloudy one, the TC won't clear naturally. Fruit smoothies often have some stuff in that could be problematic too.
How long's it been going? If it's not up to 3 weeks yet, I'd leave it, unless you're certain it's stopped fermenting.
Campden will stun the yeast but not kill it, it may get going again if it likes the environment, but if there's not much of it (say after racking into bottles, leaving most of the trub behind) it may never do much.
I suspect Vinclear would take the yeast out, but I don't know for sure.
Maybe you just have to accept a cloudy brew here - does it look like "in process" cloudiness, or "part of the drink" cloudiness? Not that I'm sure I'd be able to tell myself...

 

[Dysonno1]

Its deffo stopped fermentation and has been clearing next to 2 other experimental brews that are almost ready to rack..

Used a clear AJ... Does look like its done all of its settling... As its an experiment I may give it a few more weeks to clear rack it into two clean demijohns.. Add vinclear to one and not to the other

Thanks for reply oldbloke.... Any other opinions guys??

 

[oldbloke]

Always worth trying sticking it somewhere cold for a few days, see if that encourages solids to drop out

 

[graysalchemy]

I would say your problem is pectin, fruit smoothies have alot of fruit solids in them. Did you use Pectolase at all? You really need to use it as a precaution even with straight apple juice. You could try adding 2 tsp per gallon post fermentation. The normal rate for pre fermentation is 1 tsp per gallon.

This will probably help. :thumb:

 

[Jonny69]

AS GA mentioned, there's probably pectin in the smoothie from something like strawberry or banana. Add a teaspoon of pectolase per gallon and it'll break down the pectin. Pectin haze takes ages to clear by itself - at least a couple of weeks minimum if it's in the cool. It will go, but you might want to hurry things along by using finings if you're in a rush to clear it.

You will probably leave enough yeast in there for a secondary fermentation, but it might take a while to get going. You might find some bottles fizz up quicker than others etc.

 

[Dysonno1]

Thanks guys.... I did put 1tsp pectalose in at the beginning of fermentation... I guess patience is the key