Bentonite Use

[Asmarino]

Being the Poor Tinkerer I am, I opted for buying this product: FOSSIL POWER Pharmaceutical grade Calcium Bentonite Clay for the best value and the size of my wallet at the time.

Being a Pharm tech by education, I was totally suckered in with that Pharmaceutical Grade, knowing it should be of a class higher than Food Grade. Now that I got it at long last though, I don't know how to use it, how much of it to use (post-fermentation stage right now) and what product quality defects I should be looking for, or even if this is suitable at all (I just learned that there's a sodium bentonite too).

Please send help!

 

[winemaker81]

The method I use for making a bentonite slurry is here. The post includes some background.

Barry (@BPL) described his method here. The articles listed in his post are worth reading.

Regardless of what method you use for making a slurry, do not overdo the amount. All fining agents can strip various things from a wine if the dosage is too high. I add just enough to do the job, although figuring that out took a bit of research.

 

[BPL]

The method I use for making a bentonite slurry is here. The post includes some background.

Barry (@BPL) described his method here. The articles listed in his post are worth reading.

Regardless of what method you use for making a slurry, do not overdo the amount. All fining agents can strip various things from a wine if the dosage is too high. I add just enough to do the job, although figuring that out took a bit of research.

To be clear, "my" method is not MINE at all. Being a thief, I copied the basic method . The method I use is based on MY studying, published documentation, and lengthy discussions with a PHD chemist /professional wine maker who did his thesis on bentonite.

I shared the method here to help the community of winemakers.

Thanks though,

Barry

 

[winemaker81]

To be clear, "my" method is not MINE at all

You deserve credit for making the effort to learn and figure out a method.

"My" method is the result of reading a lot of articles, sorting out the less useful, and figuring out what makes sense.

Warning: what I do today may change tomorrow ... it's an evolution.