Clear wine turns cloudy - what the heck is going on?

[Rappatuz]

Last summer, I picked wild strawberries like my life depended on it. By the end of summer I had 5.25 kgs (11.6 lbs). I ended up using 3.6 kgs (7.9 lbs) in an all wild strawberry wine which was started early August (the rest was used in a forest berry wine with wild blueberries and raspberries). The wine fermented to 0.996 and is about 11 % ABV.

I racked the wine several times until it got clear (almost as clear as water with a dark red color) with no visible sediments left in suspension or on the bottom. Now, after several months of storage the wine is all cloudy to the point where the gallon carboy won't allow any light through when held up to a lamp. What the heck is going on?



-Rappatuz

 

[salcoco]

wine could have developed a pectin haze. try a dfouoble dose of pecic enzyme. if this doesn't work try some Super KC Klear

 

[Rappatuz]

wine could have developed a pectin haze. try a dfouoble dose of pecic enzyme. if this doesn't work try some Super KC Klear

I used pectic enzymes prior to fermentation and actually upped the dose a bit to make sure it would do the job properly. Weird.

I don't own a filter but have considered getting one. Would a coarse filter (possibly followed by a finer filter) do the job?

-Rappatuz

 

[salcoco]

try the pectin enzyme first then the clarifier filtering might not do any good

 

[hounddawg]

i agree with the rest about peptic, as well as super kleer, now everytime i rack i use vacuumpumpmans vacuum pump, Steve has a great system, it has a hole house filter so ever rack and even bottle i filters, reds 5 microns, whites 1 micron, if one can afford them , it speeds up everything at every rack it filters and degasses, plus Steves gives world class service,
Dawg

 

[Paolo_pin]

Well i do not have experience about pectic haze. To me, pectines acts as a stabilizing agents only, that means they can fix steady any haze, but they are not the first agent of the haze. I would suggest you to make some easy assays to understand better what is happening.
1. buy some bentonite, prepare a solution of 1 g in 100 ml of water, dissolve it carefully and then add 1 ml of it to 50 ml of wine, in a closed vial. Then way few days to check if the turbidity deseapper. It will tell us if a pectine is protecting cloud fall down.
2. try to filter a little amount of wine and put it in two vials. One vial, just closed it, The second one, put it in 80°C water bath for 40 minutes. At the end, take the vial out from the bath and let it cool down for 6 hours. Now, compare the two vials and check if you can see any cloud difference (it will tell us a roughly the amount of proteins in your wine). Usually, late haze is due to protein content.
3. Take two vials, put in both 10 ml of filtred wine. In nr. 1, add 10 ml of pure distillated water. In nr. 2, add 10 ml of 96% white alchol. Stir carefully and store for 12 hrs. At the end, check if you get a deposit in vial nr. 2. More or less, it will tell us the pectic amount we have in your wine.

 

[Thatnewguy]

Does the wine have an off smell to it at all?

 

[Rappatuz]

Well i do not have experience about pectic haze. To me, pectines acts as a stabilizing agents only, that means they can fix steady any haze, but they are not the first agent of the haze. I would suggest you to make some easy assays to understand better what is happening.
1. buy some bentonite, prepare a solution of 1 g in 100 ml of water, dissolve it carefully and then add 1 ml of it to 50 ml of wine, in a closed vial. Then way few days to check if the turbidity deseapper. It will tell us if a pectine is protecting cloud fall down.
2. try to filter a little amount of wine and put it in two vials. One vial, just closed it, The second one, put it in 80°C water bath for 40 minutes. At the end, take the vial out from the bath and let it cool down for 6 hours. Now, compare the two vials and check if you can see any cloud difference (it will tell us a roughly the amount of proteins in your wine). Usually, late haze is due to protein content.
3. Take two vials, put in both 10 ml of filtred wine. In nr. 1, add 10 ml of pure distillated water. In nr. 2, add 10 ml of 96% white alchol. Stir carefully and store for 12 hrs. At the end, check if you get a deposit in vial nr. 2. More or less, it will tell us the pectic amount we have in your wine.

That's quite a process. I don't have a filter, though. The wine seems to have a cleared a little since my OP and sediments have settled on the inner walls of the carboy. Most probably they're proteins like pointed out.

I think this may solve itself - simply by waiting for proteins to drop out and do a racking or two.

Does the wine have an off smell to it at all?

No, but it has a wonderful aroma

 

[hounddawg]

That's quite a process. I don't have a filter, though. The wine seems to have a cleared a little since my OP and sediments have settled on the inner walls of the carboy. Most probably they're proteins like pointed out.

I think this may solve itself - simply by waiting for proteins to drop out and do a racking or two.



No, but it has a wonderful aroma

time takes the place of filters, my pear wines get close to 2 years of bulk aging to clear, Patience is key to clarification
Dawg

 

[Rappatuz]

time takes the place of filters, my pear wines get close to 2 years of bulk aging to clear, Patience is key to clarification
Dawg

Two years? That's quite a time. Hope it still retains its fruitiness after bottling

The weird thing about my wine is that it was perfectly clear, then it turned hazy over time. But I guess that's one of the things a wine can do.

 

[hounddawg]

Two years? That's quite a time. Hope it still retains its fruitiness after bottling

The weird thing about my wine is that it was perfectly clear, then it turned hazy over time. But I guess that's one of the things a wine can do.

yes the pear apple is my most popular by far followedd by blackberry,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Two years? That's quite a time. Hope it still retains its fruitiness after bottling

The weird thing about my wine is that it was perfectly clear, then it turned hazy over time. But I guess that's one of the things a wine can do

that late cloudy is a real head scratcher,
Dawg