dandelion wine help

[Paco]

No drug store open today here. No pectinase used. Lets assume it's pectin haze, will the Isinglass work to clear pectin haze?

 

[Racer]

I dont think it will clear a pectin haze.If pectin is the problem the only way to get it to clear is with a proper dose of pectic enzyme.I did have a wine one time that I thought I had used pectic enzyme in. I used superclear and only saw some clearing in the wine. Only after trying pectic enzyme after the fact did I figure out my mistake of apparently not adding it at the beginning of making that wine or not having added the right amount to keep from having a pectin problem.Since your trying to be as gentle as possible with this wine try testing for pectin as your problem first.

 

[Paco]

Still looking for denaturated alcohol for the pectine test... will keep post on the outcome.

Anyone know if another alcohol type can be used for the pectin test? I'm suggested to use methylated spirit but, as said, I haven't found any yet. I have here methyl alcohol. Would that work for the test? According to my very short investigation (Wikipedia) it's not the same product.

 

[Manimal]

I have an apple wine on the go right now that was taking forever to clear on its own, so I tried various clarification methods such as pectic enzyme, bentonite, isinglass and dropping the temperature to about 2 degrees Celsius all to no avail. So I tried a combination of gelatin and kieselsol which cleared the wine almost completely within 48 hours. It doesn't seem to have considerably altered the aroma or flavour, either. I'm letting it sit for another week or two before racking off in order to let it clear completely. Definitely worth a try!!!

 

[Wade E]

SuperKleer does a good job fast and has worked for me when all others havent. Usually like Manimal says it works that fast but I had a Spiced apple wine that nothing was working on so I tried this and it took 1 1/2 weeks to do but it did it and it came out great. Its all I stock now but try not to use fining agents. Ive heard that Sparkaloid works very well to but its a little more complicated to use and is a little harsher on your wine as you have to use boiling water I believe.

 

[Luc]

It is freezing cold around here about -5 celsius.

So my wine is out there standing in the garden.
It is not yet clear.
I am testing cold stabilising.
I am in no hurry.

Luc

 

[Paco]

Finally made the pectin test. Found out, with help from Yahoo Answers, that I could use methyl hydrate or Isopropyl alcohol. The test turned out positive. The sample cleared almost instantly. It look like withe wine in which I had sneezed in.

Not to look for pectin enzyme. I believe I will found it at the LHBS... I hope.

Thanks all for help.

 

[Paco]

Cheating rules...

 

[Paco]

Here's the link to my Picasa web album for people to compare before and after the test. I'll post my result from the pectinase treatment when done with.

 

[Racer]

Glad you got your answer! Hope you can find pectic enzyme easy enough and get your wine to clear for you.

 

[moose-1110]

My first try at dandilion wine was this summer, as of two weeks ago it still was not clearing up, so I added some pectic enzyme and so far in the three days since I have added it, the wine looks like it is finally starting to clear.

 

[Paco]

It's been now three days that I inoculate the pectine enzym and there's definitly something going on in the carboy. Already sedimentation in the bottom and the wine has a lot of floating flake like sediments concentrating toward the bottom. I would even advance to say that the light is passing better than some days ago!

According to my investigation and study of many Dandelion recipes, it appear that whenever grapes/raisins are added, pectine enzym is part of the ingredients bill. When there's no grape/raisins, there's no pectin enzym. Intersting as my first assumption was that it was the citrus (orange and lemon) that introduced the pectin from the boil of the must.

Maybe we should compare our recipes ingredients...

Mine is:

- 4 to 5 liters Dandelion flowers
- 6 liters boiling water
- 1.5 Kg white table sugar
- 2 sliced lemons
- 2 sliced oranges
- 250 ml dried raisins (golden)
- 1 packet of yeast

 

[Paco]

The wine has cleared quite well at this point. It's been racked of this "pectin lee". I'm happy with the result. Some people, including the LHBS clerck, were very suspicious that the enzym would work at this point (high alcohol level). The wine turned out very colored; it has the color of an English Pale ale! It is a bit bitter and a little taste of high alcohol/solvent. I'm not sure I can remedy that. I may sweeten the bitterness (and dryness) with sugar...?

Next recipe will be slightly different.

Thanks all for help.

 

[Luc]

Your recipe is not far off from my own:

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2008/02/paardenbloemenwijn-dandelion-wine.html

I have made it a few times and I can give you one advise which you should really take: AGE.

Let it age for at least a year and you will be amazed how good it is.

I see you added 1,5 kg sugar and raisins (which contain sugar) to 6 liter water. I presume you have about 7 liters wine then ???
If so the alcohol would be around 14% which is far to high for a white wine.

Luc

 

[Paco]

I made ~23-25 liters which started at 1.092 and reached 0.994 according to my notes. That would be around 13% according to my brewing software.

I didn't remove the green material from the flowers. This is probably the cause of the bitterness.

As for the high alcohol/solvent taste, I tend to think it's because I didn't fed the yeast "properly" with additional nutrients and/or because I didn't use a wine yeast (that's because I was looking to reproduce something I've tasted and liked - I was suspicious about a bread yeast but liked what came from it [aunt recipe]). What's strange is I do not pick that high alcohol/solvent from the aroma (nose); only from the taste (mouth).

Maybe it's infected...

 

[Paco]

The wine is now bottled. I had to add quite a bit of sweetness to balance the biterness and the high alcohol aroma. I'm pretty happy with the result. I't still has a bit of haze (once I compared clear bottle against a kit white wine) but it's pretty clear considering what it(we) went through.

Next batch (this spring) will be better. True wine yeast and pectinase from the start.
Thanks again for the help!

 

[Luc]

Paco,

Trust me on this: do not drink it yet.
Wait a year. You will be amazed what aging does to
dandelion wine....

Luc

 

[Paco]

AHH! :-o

But it's been made in May 2008!?!

 

[Luc]

AHH! :-o

But it's been made in May 2008!?!

Sorry I missed that. I read the thread back just now and I did not realise that this had been started so long ago.....

I was also thinking of a batch dandelion wine which I made a few months ago. Before anybody starts wondering: yes you can store dandelions for quite a long time in the freezer.......

Indeed the wine will be drinkable be now.

Luc

 

[Boozehag]

Just been looking at the pics on here of others dandelion batches. I was searching for why my wine hasnt cleared. My batch is bright yellow compared to what I have seen on here. Anyway I just wanted to say thanks for all the info on here, Im gonig to try some of Jack Kellars tests to see why my first three wines have not cleared yet.