# SP not clearing



## JDesCotes (Feb 18, 2014)

When I check on the sp in the morning it has about two inches of crystal clear SP on top and the rest is cloudy. by nighttime, the entire thing is cloudy again... I degassed it again just to be sure all the co2 was out and It did foam up quite a bit (over an inch) 

It has now been 3 days and isn't progressing... Can I add another dose of sparkolloid?


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## derunner (Feb 18, 2014)

What temperature is your wine when you are degassing? At 75F it is much easier to get co2 out of the wine than at 60F. How are degassing? Stir rod, spoon handle, vacuum racking? I now rack with a vacuum to degas which is far easier than the others. It can be difficult to tell if you are getting all the c02 out, at some point you may just be whipping air into your wine. When I was degassing by hand, I bought one the cheap break bleeder hand vacuum pumps from an auto store or harbor freight. You have to have a glass carboy for this to work. but you can pump up about 25 in of vacuum with one of these and if the wine is degassed you will not see bubbles. If there is c02, it will pull it out. I still use this as a test for each batch of wine just to make sure I have pulled all the c02 out.

As for clearing, if you have the patience it will clear. I think my skeeterpee did the same thing and took 4-6 weeks to clear. The key is to work up some inventory so you can let your wines age and clear naturally and you don't have to rush to bottling.


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## JDesCotes (Feb 18, 2014)

My SP is in the basement so it is probably about 68. I use a drill mounted rod with plastic foldable "blades" on the end. When I drill it, no more bubbles come out, but I will try once more today just to be sure.


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## derunner (Feb 18, 2014)

JDesCotes said:


> My SP is in the basement so it is probably about 68. I use a drill mounted rod with plastic foldable "blades" on the end. When I drill it, no more bubbles come out, but I will try once more today just to be sure.



Does your drill have 2 speeds? Mine did and I found I did not get many bubbles in the low range, but had to be very careful of eruptions in the high range. pulsing it and changing directions regularly to avoid eruptions. You should avoid creating a vortex when using these drill mounted stir rods by pulsing the drill. A vortex can suck oxygen into your wine.


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## JDesCotes (Feb 18, 2014)

My drill has like 28 speeds and 2 tork settings. Far too complicated for me... But I have it at the fastest speed and max tork and it seems to do the job well enough. I've always used the vortex as my indication for starting to spin the other way


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## REDBOATNY (Feb 18, 2014)

It seems I have to leave on sparkoloid for at least 7 days. It looks like it is not working, then all of a sudden it goes clear in the last 2 days.


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## JDesCotes (Feb 19, 2014)

Ah, I racked off of the sparkolloid after 4 days and it refused to clear any more... Yesterday I put in another dose of sparkolloid and I now have an inch of crystal clear on the top. Guess I'll leave it on the sparkolloid for another week or two and see if it clears up.


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