Bottled clear but sediment 3 months later

[Shurt1073]

I bought a raspberry fruit mist wine kit and added a ½ juice pack red grape concentrate plus 5 ½ cups of sugar to give me a starting SG of 1.072 with a tad over the 6 gallons recommended in my fermenter. Right at 15 days later my SG was below .996 so I moved to the next step of racking into a glass carboy, added the package of Sulphite/Sorbate and Kieselsol. Next day, added the flavor pack and 3oz of raspberry flavoring from Brewers Best (I had extra from a couple years ago). Also added the chitosan and waited another three weeks to rack and bottle according to the instructions. YUM! It was great.

A couple weeks ago, I grab a bottle of my raspberry wine and it was full of sediment three months after bottling. This sediment was not obvious when I bottled.

So, I want to insure this does NOT happen again. I've called Label Peelers and Winexpert ... neither returned my calls. After searching the forums I found several problems with my wine. Lack of Campden tablets, or potassium metabisuphite during bottling and it should have set for twice as long although the instructions says it was ready to bottle. Again, the floaters you see at the bottom of this bottle were not visible at bottling.

Is it possible to us a filter to clean this up? Back into a carboy for an extended period to settle out? Down the drain?

 

[cmason1957]

Not down the drain. It takes a whole bunch for any of us to suggest that.

One easy choice might be, just pour through cheese cloth / coffee filter and decant the wine carefully.

Back into the carboy would probably work, but seems like a lot of work. Filtering would probably just clog up and lead to frustration, the general advice is don't filter cloudy / dirty wine.

How to avoid this next time is probably more helpful. I tend to not totally follow directions about when to add that clearing agent. I wait until after I have added everything I plan to add and make sure it has sat and degassed a good long time. Generally 3-6 months and I add the clearing agents as a next to the last step, last step being filtering clear wine to polish it, not remove anything. When I do bulk age for that long, I add 1/4 tsp to 6 gallons of wine every 3-4 months and depending on when the last dose gets added a bit more at bottling time.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Agreed.
For this batch, because you said you did not add Kmeta, your wine will/may have a limited shelf life. I would pour all bottles back into a carboy, add Kmeta, age for another 3 months, minimum. If you age longer than 3 months, add more Kmeta at approximately 3 month intervals.

 

[Shurt1073]

I want to be a better wine maker and it kills me this wine has issues.

 

[Bmd2k1]

Not down the drain. It takes a whole bunch for any of us to suggest that.

One easy choice might be, just pour through cheese cloth / coffee filter and decant the wine carefully.

Back into the carboy would probably work, but seems like a lot of work. Filtering would probably just clog up and lead to frustration, the general advice is don't filter cloudy / dirty wine.

How to avoid this next time is probably more helpful. I tend to not totally follow directions about when to add that clearing agent. I wait until after I have added everything I plan to add and make sure it has sat and degassed a good long time. Generally 3-6 months and I add the clearing agents as a next to the last step, last step being filtering clear wine to polish it, not remove anything. When I do bulk age for that long, I add 1/4 tsp to 6 gallons of wine every 3-4 months and depending on when the last dose gets added a bit more at bottling time.

For ur bulk aged vinos....how long prior to bottling are you adding the clearing agents?

Cheers!

 

[Shurt1073]

For ur bulk aged vinos....how long prior to bottling are you adding the clearing agents?

Cheers!

Went by the instructions and it was 10-11 days before bottling. It was a wine kit and we by the instructions and in the past I've had really good luck with those kits.

 

[cmason1957]

For ur bulk aged vinos....how long prior to bottling are you adding the clearing agents?

Cheers!

If the question was to me, the answer is sometime before bottling. I don't do much on a specific time-line. Its more when the spirit moves me and my cellar rat. But it will be at least a week, maybe a month before bottling.

 

[QuiQuog]

A couple of points to nitpick, but no real solution.

 

[QuiQuog]

Accidentally hit post

For this batch, because you said you did not add Kmeta, your wine will/may have a limited shelf life.

I think he did add kmeta, as he said this:

I moved to the next step of racking into a glass carboy, added the package of Sulphite/Sorbate and Kieselsol.

Isn't this a pack that contains both potassium sorbate and Potassium metabisulphite? Packet D?
This would also solve this problem:

 

[QuiQuog]

Dang it, I did it again!
This would also solve this problem:

I found several problems with my wine. Lack of Campden tablets, or potassium metabisuphite during bottling

You added it already. Am I misreading something?

 

[Ohio Bob]

Dang it, I did it again!
This would also solve this problem:

You added it already. Am I misreading something?

He added it 3 weeks before bottling. Not good practice, in my opinion, to not add again at bottling.

 

[Shurt1073]

Dang it, I did it again!
This would also solve this problem:

You added it already. Am I misreading something?

No .. you are not missing anything. I added what the kit provided at the time it told me but I'm reading that it is good to add more at bottling?

 

[winemaker81]

I want to be a better wine maker and it kills me this wine has issues.

If this is the worst thing that happens to you, you're doing fine. Do not beat yourself up. Eventually you'll laugh about this one, although today is not that day.

From your description, you did everything right. My best guess is that solids remained in suspension after the K&C, and/or your rack wasn't as clean as you thought it was.

I agree that the wine needed more time in bulk. Kits can be bottled at 4 weeks. The process works as advertised, but you'll find the majority of the folks on this forum say to give the wine more time in bulk. Clearing is one of those things where it makes sense to give the wine time.

Craig's idea of pouring each bottle through a cheesecloth or coffee filter works. However, if you have 2 cases of wine, I'd probably unbottle, put it back in a carboy, and give it a month or two.

There are situations where fining agents fail, and one of those is fruit pectin which holds things in suspension. I'd be tempted to add pectic enzyme (use a double dose). See what drops after that.

 

[David Violante]

Bryan has some good advice. I also agree, don’t beat yourself up. This experience along with those of others and the good advice here is exactly what will make you a good winemaker. As you said, it tastes great! Now you have some other tools in the toolbox you didn’t have before. That’s a win!

 

[hawkwing]

I noticed that you said the instructions said it’s was ready to bottle but then you also said you modified the instructions. So are the instructions still valid?
I figure it’s either fermenting in the bottle from the sugars in the flavor pack or it wasn’t completely clear. Any signs of carbonation?

Is there much sediment? If it’s not fermenting in the bottle you could just opt to decant.

It looks as if you added the sulfite and sorbate pack. If it’s not fermenting it just needed more time to clear. Filtering is often done to prevent sediment in a bottle.