# Clearing pectin haze



## JB1956 (Jul 30, 2020)

My first batch of Skeeter Pee is taking longer to clear than expected. I followed the standard recipe but I see now that some folks like to add peptic enzyme prior to pitching the yeast. I added DualFine (Chitosan and Kieselsol) over three weeks ago and I think that stuff would clear a gallon of latex paint in a week. I’m wondering if I have some pectin haze going on.
Would adding peptic enzyme now help?


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## cmason1957 (Jul 30, 2020)

It won't really hurt to add pectic enzyme. It's one of the things you can add any time, but now that alcohol is in the mix add a double or triple dose. You might also make sure it doesn't have any gas. Put some in you hydrometer test cylinder, cover it with your palm and shake it. When you take your hand off, listen for a puff.


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## JB1956 (Aug 2, 2020)

cmason1957 said:


> It won't really hurt to add pectic enzyme. It's one of the things you can add any time, but now that alcohol is in the mix add a double or triple dose. You might also make sure it doesn't have any gas. Put some in you hydrometer test cylinder, cover it with your palm and shake it. When you take your hand off, listen for a puff.


Thanks cmason. Good call on the CO2. There was a bit when I shook it up so I've been whipping it daily. 
I also added all the Peptic Enzyme I had on hand which amounted to a little more than a double dose. There is some sediment forming now so hopefully that and time will clear it up.


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## G259 (Aug 2, 2020)

Lol! It's peCtic enzyme, no worries though, quite a few people do that.
I don't know if wine promotes digestion, but I'll keep trying!
Probably my OCD as well!

You are probably good with the amount you have, time will clear it once the CO2 is gone..


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## JB1956 (Aug 2, 2020)

G259 said:


> Lol! It's peCtic enzyme, no worries though, quite a few people do that.
> I don't know if wine promotes digestion, but I'll keep trying!
> Probably my OCD as well!
> 
> You are probably good with the amount you have, time will clear it once the CO2 is gone..


Thanks for pointing that out. We'll blame it on spell check.


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## DizzyIzzy (Aug 3, 2020)

JB1956 said:


> My first batch of Skeeter Pee is taking longer to clear than expected. I followed the standard recipe but I see now that some folks like to add peptic enzyme prior to pitching the yeast. I added DualFine (Chitosan and Kieselsol) over three weeks ago and I think that stuff would clear a gallon of latex paint in a week. I’m wondering if I have some pectin haze going on.
> Would adding peptic enzyme now help?
> 
> View attachment 64175


JB.........that's exactly how my first and only, current, SP looks! We are twin winemakers!! Mine feels a little tinglely on the tongue, so I am guessing CO2. I will probably degas with my AIO, and if it doesn't clear soon will try the crushed eggshell trick. Good luck, and keep us posted on the outcome...........Dizzy


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## KCCam (Aug 3, 2020)

Yes, Skeeter Pee has lots of gas. My one and only SP attempt created my one and only volcano, touch wood. Luckily it was still in primary, so it was more like a slow lava flow than geyser, lol. I don't know if I'm correct, but I had a batch of DB that cleared in 2 days with KC (Kieselsol/Chitosan, DualFine, whatever). When I accidently stirred up the lees, they would not settle back out. I know eventually they would, but 1 to 2 days to clear initially, then after stirring it was still cloudy after a week. If you stir in pectic enzyme, you may need more fining agent if you want to clear quickly. In my case, I had some Sparkaloid left over, and 1/4 dose of that cleared it up in a day.


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## JB1956 (Aug 4, 2020)

So check this out. I stirred it a couple of times and got a little bit of CO2 out but it didn’t really make any difference with the haze. Last night I tried putting it under a vacuum with a brake bleeder. After 24 hours it looks like this. This is the first time I’ve used the bleeder and it made a believer out of me.


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## KCCam (Aug 4, 2020)

JB1956 said:


> So check this out. I stirred it a couple of times and got a little bit of CO2 out but it didn’t really make any difference with the haze. Last night I tried putting it under a vacuum with a brake bleeder. After 24 hours it looks like this. This is the first time I’ve used the bleeder and it made a believer out of me. View attachment 64460


Can't quite read the gauge. How much vacuum does it pull? Just curious.


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## JB1956 (Aug 5, 2020)

KCCam said:


> Can't quite read the gauge. How much vacuum does it pull? Just curious.


It will pull 27 inHg pretty easily. That seems to be plenty to do the job. It leaks down to 18 inHg overnight.
Use at your own discretion. There are plenty of other threads discussing carboy implosions.


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## JB1956 (Sep 3, 2020)

Well I’m back to waiting for my Skeeter pee to clear. I wanted to get more lemon flavor so I followed the advice in "this thread" and infused 12 ounces of Everclear with lemon zest and let it sit for a month to absorb the flavor and clear. By that time the Skeeter pee was also crystal clear. I’m not sure what kind of scientific principle I proved but when I combined the clear Everclear infusion with the clear Skeeter pee it immediately went cloudy. It’s been sitting for a few days now and is showing no signs of clearing. Where do I go from here? Let it sit? Add more Dual-fine? Bottle it?


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## KCCam (Sep 3, 2020)

Probably “Ouzo Effect”. That stumped me too, but I think it was @sour_grapes that mentioned it in some thread. It is very interesting reading. Also why limoncello is cloudy. It won’t settle out, if that’s what it is. It’s tiny droplets of the lemon oil.


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## KCCam (Sep 3, 2020)

KCCam said:


> Probably “Ouzo Effect”. That stumped me too, but I think it was @sour_grapes that mentioned it in some thread. It is very interesting reading. Also why limoncello is cloudy. It won’t settle out, if that’s what it is. It’s tiny droplets of the lemon oil.


The oil dissolves in ethanol, but not water, so it’s clear when in the Everclear, but comes out of solution when diluted with water.


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## sour_grapes (Sep 3, 2020)

KCCam said:


> Probably “Ouzo Effect”. That stumped me too, but I think it was @sour_grapes that mentioned it in some thread. It is very interesting reading. Also why limoncello is cloudy. It won’t settle out, if that’s what it is. It’s tiny droplets of the lemon oil.



Correct you are!

To be fair, it was @stickman who first identified this on this forum (at least recently).


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## KCCam (Sep 3, 2020)

sour_grapes said:


> Correct you are!
> 
> To be fair, it was @stickman who first identified this on this forum (at least recently).


Thanks, to both of you. It was extremely interesting to see the amount of scientific energy expended on explaining this curiosity.


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## JB1956 (Sep 3, 2020)

Very interesting!
When I saw "Ouzo Effect" I figured it was some kind of drunken wives tale but it is indeed a legitimate phenomena.
The knowledge here is amazing, thank you all!


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## winemanden (Sep 6, 2020)

JB1956 said:


> Very interesting!
> When I saw "Ouzo Effect" I figured it was some kind of drunken wives tale but it is indeed a legitimate phenomena.
> The knowledge here is amazing, thank you all!


As long as it tastes good, don't worry, just enjoy it. If you offer it to anyone, and they ask "why is it cloudy?". Just say "It's meant to be cloudy!"


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## johnnash (Sep 6, 2020)

Why clear it ?
degas, sweeten and add juice to desired taste hit it with the everclear, bottle, chill and drink up. Lemonaide is cloudy!


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## JB1956 (Sep 7, 2020)

johnnash said:


> Why clear it ?
> degas, sweeten and add juice to desired taste hit it with the everclear, bottle, chill and drink up. Lemonaide is cloudy!



That's my plan, I added a couple of cups of sugar and it is delicious. I finally have something to share with my sweet wine friends.


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