2013 Peach Wine

[Turock]

Bentonite CAN strip flavor if you over-dose. Used in correct amounts, there's no problem. I didn't go back and read the first post again, but peach will have little flavor if you use water. I wish you could taste our peach made with no water---it tastes JUST LIKE eating a peach!! It's so addictive to drink--not because of alcohol, but because of the flavor. Next time--use no water and you'll have a good result.

Before you hit this with Super Kleer, why not try a dose of pectic enzyme? Seems that might help alot after the f-pack. Then try Super Kleer if it doesn't clarify in a couple weeks after the enzyme addition.

 

[thinman56]

Hmm, it didn't occur to me to try pectic enzyme, I'll give that a shot and see if it helps before I go to super kleer. I did just give it a good de-gassing and it gave off more CO2, so that might have been inhibiting the clearing as well.

Thanks again...

 

[LeChat]

I figured I might as well post here instead of making a new thread.

To contextualize, I also had a batch of peach that I was having trouble getting to clear. Tried pectic enzyme for 2 weeks and it seemed to be a bit clearer but still not crystal. Tried cold stabilizing for 1 week, nothing precipitated. Now this weekend, I added bentonite (hydrated) to my wine and stirred on the second day. It's been 2 days and the wine is much LESS clear than it was 4 weeks ago. It is very very cloudy, almost like juice with pulp.

How long does bentonite take to clear?

 

[Turock]

Here's the thing about bentonite. It works the best the lower the PH of the wine is because proteins have a higher positive charge when the PH is lower. Bentonite is a negative charge, so you get better attraction when the proteins have a higher positive charge. AND bentonite works best when the wine is warmer--which is why you sometimes read that bentonite should be added to the secondary for clearing in late spring or summer. Because of all the clarity issues--and protein haze--that you have with peach, it's always best to use bentonite in the PRIMARY--not waiting to do it in the secondary. Along with the bentonite in the primary, you should also start using a better pectinase like Lallzyme C-Max for peach. It de-pectinizes better and also aids in better clearing.

Cold stabilization will only work well if potassium carb was used for raising PH. I know what you're going thru with the wine clouding up again--it's very frustrating. But that is the way it will look after the bentonite. I would move the wine to a warmer area and see if it starts to clear. It might take several weeks. We have had the experience with pear that it didn't clear until about 3 months after adding bentonite to the secondary. If it starts to clear in a month, after moving it to a warmer area, then it will probably clear for you. If it remains stubbornly cloudy after a couple months, hit it with some Super Kleer.

 

[LeChat]

Thanks for the help Turock!

You can be sure I will nuke my must with Bentonite in primary next time I do peach!

I was under the impression that Bentonite was very fast acting so I was a bit concerned when I did not see an immediate transformation... I guess I should have learned by now that patience is key.


Here are a few pictures for reference.

 

[Turock]

It actually looks like it's clearing up in the neck--just be patient with it.

The only time we've had rapid clearing with bentonite is when we used it in the primary. In the secondary, it was always a long wait. However, there is a product called Speedy Bentonite that E C Kraus sells. They claim it will clear a wine in 6 hours to 2 or 3 days. I've never used it, so don't know how well it works.

Give it a good amount of time to clear for you and if you do resort to Super Klleer later on, be sure to rack the wine first, before adding. You might be surprised--with the pectic enzyme and bentonite in there, you may get it clear if you give it enough time.

We make alot of fruit wines and most of them have no water added. The must is very dense. So we started to bentonite all these wines in the primary. Same for our white grape. PLUS--we use the Lallzyme C-Max. We don't use regular pectic enzyme anymore. The only thing we don't bentonite the primary for is on reds made from grapes.

 

[thinman56]

Turns out mine just needed a good de-gassing, it's finally clearing nicely.

It is a little thin on flavor, although I expect the ABV to be ~11%. Is it too late to do a little ice-wine treatment to get a little water out and firm up the flavor? We have another week of single-digit temps coming up here in Maine, good time to set it outside for some free freezing.

 

[Turock]

This is why you should always bulk age peach for 1 year--to not only get the sediment out of it, but so all the CO2 comes off it. I really don't like manual degassing of wines.

Peach will be thin on flavor if you use water for dilution OR peaches without really good flavor. The peaches also need to be dead ripe. Best peach wine we make is made with "trash fruit" that the orchards can't sell and are going to feed to the pigs. They're partially rotten and brusied. We just cut out the bad spots and we only pay 25 cents per pound for them.

Freezing might help. But this will concentrate the alcohol too--that's not too good on fruit wines. I never discourage experimentation. But if that doesn't help the flavor enough, you could always buy a pound or two of frozen peaches and make an f-pack from them. Mash them up, add some sugar, place it in a straining bag and let the juice drip out--then add to the carboy. If you do this, be sure to add sorbate and some meta. Then let the carboy sit for a while to clarify.

 

[thinman56]

Hmm, if I'm just trying to boost the peach flavor a little, can I skip the sugar in the F-pack and just add some peach back in? It's already ~1.000 to 1.002 SG. Still add sorbate and meta for the natural sugars?

 

[Turock]

The sugar in the f-pack draws the juices out of the peaches. You don't have to use ALOT of sugar. Yes, even if you wouldn't use sugar, you'd still have to sorbate. BUT---I wouldn't do this NOW. I'd wait until the wine was clear and bulk aged for about 1 year because you can't add sorbate to cloudy wine and expect it to work. When we do f-packs, we do it after bulk aging and the wine is clear. Also, this gives the wine time to firm up flavors and maybe by then, it doesn't need more flavor. Very hard to evaluate a young wine. I'd just push this off in a corner and evaluate it when you get close to the 1 year mark.

 

[thinman56]

Turock - thanks for all this, will give it a try. I have a pretty good stockpile, so no need to rush...

 

[LeChat]

So here is an update:

I treated my 2013 peach with bentonite and waited 3 weeks. At that point, it did not appear like it would clear at all.

So I treated with Chitosan and Kieselsol (in the proper order). As soon as I dropped the second substance in, a large quantity of particulate precipitated out of solution. I then racked and topped.

Now here is a picture of where it is at. It is still looking pretty hazy. Any chance this will clear on it's own?

If I filter with a 1 micron filter, will this help clear it?

 

[seth8530]

Are you sure you gave it enough time after adding the fining agents?

 

[LeChat]

I have never had trouble getting a wine to clear before. It is possible that more time will help.

However, it looks uniformly hazy. There does not appear to be any stratification which I would have expected if it was clearing.

 

[Dale1978]

just a suggestion - you may want to dose it again with pectin enzyme - I had to do a Banana like that - It did not want to clear with fining agents - so I decided to dose it again with pectin and within a couple of days it cleared up

 

[LeChat]

Dale, I treated with pectin enzyme before fermentation and again before adding bentonite. Are you suggesting that I should do it again at this time?

 

[Dale1978]

how long did you give it on the second dosing before you added the bentonite? it maybe that you did not allow it time to work before you added the bentonite - but if it was mine yes i would probably hit it again with pectin

 

[LeChat]

Unfortunately, I lost my notes for this batch. Re-reading my posts, it looks like I gave 3 weeks for pectin enzyme to work. How much enzyme would you add?

 

[Turock]

LeChat---what is the temp that you are storing this wine in? If it's in a cool basement, get it to a warmer area. It's amazing how a warmer temp will often help clarify a wine. I would try this before adding anything else. A year of bulk aging should also be expected on peach wine.

 

[peaches9324]

stinky peach

I got a peach in the secondary and I tried to keep it fermenting in bucket at 69 but it crept up to 74 over night on the first night brought it down to 69 again. It went into carboy early and I noticed stinky ferment in secondary I degassed it some and added a lil yeast nutrient that seemed to help the smell a lil but I still notice it and I want to add some reduless don't want to introduce a copper rod to it Turock could you please tell me what site I might go to purchase? Don't need this in bulk fi scott labs or do they sell in the amount I will need? And how much should I use?
thanks alot