Can I add clearing agent again?

[Monty Knapp]

I joined this forum recently and I'm on my 2nd batch of Dragons Blood wine. That's actually how I found this forum, by searching for more great recipes like Dragon's Blood.
Anyway, I've been reading the threads and found some discussion about Dragon's Blood wine developing sediment after it was bottled. A problem with using Sparkoloid in fruit wines and later "whisps" (protein chains?) appearing in the wine. So I checked my 1st batch of DB. And sure enough there are little "floaters" in the wine even though it was cleared and filtered before bottling. No big deal at this point. It will all be drank in another month.

My 2nd batch is done and waiting for the local store to get clear bottles back in stock, but it will probably have the same problem down the road. So what are my options?
Can I add bentonite at this late date, then rack it and filter it again?

 

[salcoco]

I would wait about three months from the end of fermentation to bottle. the wispy threads you see in the first batch is yeast that settled out of the wine. after three months filer if desired and then bottle.

 

[bkisel]

Yes, I believe you can. But as posted above wait if you have that option..

 

[Monty Knapp]

Well, I got to thinking and doing bentonite or any other clearing agent wouldn't work since there is no sediment or cloudiness in the wine at this point. I'd have to wait anyway. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Scooter68]

Actually products like Bentonite can clear things you don't see that are negatively charged. It's not limited to clearing just visible things. BUT as mentioned time is your best clearing agent. You can look at it this way. After fermentation complete you will rack 1 or 2 times in the next 14-30 days in most cases. Then you rack again 3 months from the last racking and then 3 months after that. That takes you to about 7 - 8 months in, the 3 racking will put you at about 10 - 11 months when you can then start focusing on filtering and then the finally treatment of K-Meta and if you are going to back-sweeten you will need to treat with sorbate when you give it that final treatment of K-meta. Then Back-sweeten, allow one more week and you are at about 12 months and ready to bottle.

 

[cgallamo]

Can you upload a picture of the "wisps" it does seem possible it could be protein and removable with bentonite.

 

[Monty Knapp]

Actually products like Bentonite can clear things you don't see that are negatively charged. It's not limited to clearing just visible things. BUT as mentioned time is your best clearing agent. You can look at it this way. After fermentation complete you will rack 1 or 2 times in the next 14-30 days in most cases. Then you rack again 3 months from the last racking and then 3 months after that. That takes you to about 7 - 8 months in, the 3 racking will put you at about 10 - 11 months when you can then start focusing on filtering and then the finally treatment of K-Meta and if you are going to back-sweeten you will need to treat with sorbate when you give it that final treatment of K-meta. Then Back-sweeten, allow one more week and you are at about 12 months and ready to bottle.

Thanks for the info.
I wondered if Bentonite might remove things not visible. That's good to know.

 

[b.yorik]

Hello. Who does do lighting up of wine by means of preparation "of Poligrin" Martin Vialatte Oenologie (consists of casein, bentonite, pvpp)? Well takes away oxidized polifenol. What your results?

 

[wildhair]

BUT as mentioned time is your best clearing agent. You can look at it this way. After fermentation complete you will rack 1 or 2 times in the next 14-30 days in most cases. Then you rack again 3 months from the last racking and then 3 months after that. That takes you to about 7 - 8 months in, the 3 racking will put you at about 10 - 11 months when you can then start focusing on filtering and then the finally treatment of K-Meta and if you are going to back-sweeten you will need to treat with sorbate when you give it that final treatment of K-meta. Then Back-sweeten, allow one more week and you are at about 12 months and ready to bottle.

Well, this helps a bit with a similar Q I had - when to stabilize and when to add clearing agent. The Dragon Blood recipe called for stabilizing w/ K-meta and Pot Sorbate and adding Sparkoliod at the same time almost immediately after fermentation stops. So did a kit wine I just finished. That seemed kinda quick. And it's been a bit hard to find info on at what point to add clearing agent and at what point to stabilize - lots of opinions. Some guys add K-meta at each racking, some don't.
Let me see if I got this straight, Scooter68-
1. Wine hits <1.00 - rack into secondary
2. Rack again in 2-4 weeks (rack #1 - wine is 1 month old)
3. Rack again 3 months later (rack #2 - wine is 4 months old)
4. Rack again 3 months - rack #3 - (wine is 7 months old)
5. Rack again 3 months - rack #4 - wine is 10 months old.
NOW - Add Pot. sorbate & k-meta to stabilize. Add clearing agent if needed at this point.
6. Rack again in 2 weeks if clearing agent is used.
7. Backsweeten, wait 2 - 4 weeks - then
8. Bottle

Some places called to add the K-meta and Pot Sorb. as soon as the wine is dry ( <1.00 and stays there for 3 days). Is there a reason NOT to stabilize right away?
Is it better to wait and let the wine clear on it's own? If the wine hasn't cleared on it's own after 6 months or so - Should I add clearing agent after the 3rd racking, then when I rack the 4th time at 10 months - THEN stabilize w/ K-meta and pot. sorb. and backsweeten?

it's Q of when to use the K-meta and when to add the clearing agent that has me a bit confused. Just my 2nd year at this, after all. ;-)

 

[meadmaker1]

Best to just wait. Then wait, after that wait. Then when you absolutely need the car boy to start another bach buy another carboy so you can wait some more. If it settles in your bottles it will settle in a car boy.

 

[Scooter68]

I think that I would be very careful about using some clear agents more than once. And especially careful to follow directions for them. Bentonite is about the only one I can think of that I might use twice. Time again is the best cure. The only issue that time might not cure is a bad pectic haze. In that case pectic enzyme and possibly some serious filtering might help.

 

[Monty Knapp]

Well, this is a Dragon's Blood recipe, so I won't be waiting months and months for clearing/racking......
I bottled this as is. Looks fine so far. No big deal if some additional sediment "materializes", but don't expect any that would really amount to anything. The wine will be gone long before mid-summer anyway.
What I have done on 2 Dragon's Blood batches since this one is add both sparkolloid and bentonite when it's time to clear. This results in a lot of fluffy sediment, so at first/only racking I end up carrying over more sediment than I would like, but at this point I back sweeten, wait, taste, adjust, then filter, so the filtering takes care of the carrier over sediment.